“I do,” Rob said. “I’m sorry. And there’s more. Clippings of articles from when we thought Aiden had drowned.”
I closed my eyes and tried to steady my breathing. “Do you think he took Aiden?”
Rob frowned. “He’s obsessed with you. I dunno whether it fits the pattern but I think he’s capable of anything. I’m sorry, Em.”
“But… I saw Amy on that TV show and I was sure it was her. She’s evil, she’s…” I trailed off, thinking about the masks people wear. I’d seen Amy for who she was during that interview, and now I had seen Jake for who he was, too. He was clearly unhinged, and that meant I had to assume he was capable of anything.
I thought back to the moment I was told about my parents’ accident. Mum and Dad had been on their way to London for a weekend away when their brakes failed on the motorway. They told me it was because of water in the brake fluid. An easy problem to miss when you’re not good with cars. It was all so feasible. But what if it was Jake tampering with the engine?
I thought back to that time. Who had I told? Who knew? Most of the village, probably. Mum was the GP and she treated most of the town. I would have mentioned it to anyone while doing my chores, shopping in the newsagents, or sending a parcel in the post office. It would only have taken Jake to overhear, or have a conversation with Mum herself. Or maybe someone mentioned it at school. Gossip was rife amongst the Bishoptown residents and not a lot happens, so a short trip to London might make itself into the daily chatter. Did you know Gina Price is going to London for the weekend? Well, she must be still trying to get over the death of her grandson. I wonder if they’ll see a show…
Yes, he could easily have heard about my parents’ trip down to London.
“Rob, I can’t bear this,” I whispered. “I’m trying to be strong. The air in here…”
“Take a step outside,” he said. He wrapped his arm around my waist. “Just for a moment. Breathe.”
38
The rain was soothing, and I didn’t care about the cold. I was freezing to the bones of me anyway, and it had nothing to do with the October weather. I leaned against the slick exterior of the garage and let the rain wash over me. The place smelled like wet cement and mould. That would be the smell I would most associate with Jake as time wore on. Wet cement and mould. That was him, slippery and foul, a man with two sides. How had I fallen for him?
He had manufactured it. All of it. He’d seen the way I’d fallen apart after Aiden and he’d seized the opportunity while he had the chance. With my parents out of the picture he knew I had no one to take care of me, and he knew I would fail to take care of myself. So there he was, swooping in like a knight in shining armour, becoming my protector and my healer. He introduced me to paints again. He helped me find a job. He set me back on my feet, always with an arm behind my back propping me up.
Rob emerged from the garage with his head held low. When he came closer, he pulled me into a hug. “I never should have left. I’m so sorry, Emma. I shouldn’t have left you grieving for Aiden by yourself. I was fucking selfish and I’m sorry.”
Though I hugged him back, I felt like a shell. Now I understood how Aiden could sleepwalk through his life without uttering a single syllable. I got it. My heart shrivelled up inside my rib cage, barely fluttering. I was hollowed out.
He shut the garage door and led us to the truck. Once inside he removed his cap and rubbed the rain water from his skin.
“Aside from the pictures of you as a minor and the girl, there’s nothing. At least, there’s nothing that might prove whether he killed your parents,” he said. “He didn’t keep any souvenirs if he did do it, just those clippings, and I guess you could say it was his obsession with you that made him keep them. I think he did it, though. It makes sense. It fits in with all these lies.”
“Does it?” I spluttered. My throat was so choked that I could hardly get my words out. “Are we jumping to conclusions, here? He’s… he’s my husband and I’m accusing him of murder.”
“Emma, I really think he did it. And I think you believe it too.”
The sick part was that I did believe it. I wanted to be wrong, but I believed it.
“It’s not your fault, Em. He took advantage of you like he did that girl. That’s what he does.”
“I know… I just…” I stared down at my stomach. Was I carrying the child of a murderer? “How could I have fallen in love with him?”
“Did you though? Wasn’t it just the security he offered that you fell in love with? If you were really in love with him, would there have been this spark between us?”
I waved a dismissive hand. “That… that’s because of Aiden coming back. Our emotions were all over the place.” I tried to ignore the hurt look in his eyes. “Why didn’t the police find any foul play when they investigated Mum and Dad’s deaths?”
“Probably because they weren’t expecting any. Your parents didn’t have any enemies. No one would expect them to be murdered.”
“We should call the police,” I said.
He nodded. “And we need to figure out what to do next. It’s lunchtime now. He’ll still be at the school, right?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll go to your place and get some stuff. You can stay with us in the B&B.”
I shook my head. As much as I hated to do this to my best friend, it was now necessary. “I want to go to Josie’s. Your mum is too much of a wildcard, Rob. She makes decisions without consulting me and she’s too stubborn. She thinks she knows what’s best for Aiden all the time and I don’t want to be fighting with her. Besides, I’m due to give birth in days and your parents haven’t got the room.” The thought of my impending arrival weighed so heavy on my shoulders that I let them sag. I rested my head against the window of Rob’s truck. “What am I going to do?”
His warm fingers caressed my hand before squeezing it tight. The way my hand fit right into his injected a little warmth into my bones. It wasn’t much, but it was something.
“I’m not going anywhere this time, Emma. I’m going to help you.”
Yes, but for how long? I thought. “You’ve said that before.”
Rob sighed. “I mean it this time.”
“How do I know you’re not lying to me again? You lied last time, didn’t you? You told me, in the weeks after the flood, that you wouldn’t leave my side, that no matter what we would be together. You lied.”
“It’s not a lie if you believe it to be true. I thought we would be.”
I wiped a tear from my eye. “Sorry. I… I’m just upset. We should go.”
Rob started the engine and we finally left the storage yard. When we arrived at Jake’s house—not my home, not anymore—Rob phoned the police and left an anonymous tip that Jake Price had stashed drugs in a storage garage outside Bishoptown. I forced myself into the shower and let the hot water wash away the smell of mould from the wet garage walls. Then I dressed, collected my suitcase, and repacked some of the things I’d packed from the night before, along with more of Aiden’s clothes. Rob loaded his truck with as much baby paraphernalia as he could, while I tried to get in touch with Josie.
“Still no answer?” Rob wiped rain and sweat away from his forehead with the back of his hand and straightened up. His face was red from the effort of carrying heavy suitcases into the truck.
I shook my head. “I thought she’d still be off work. She’s taken some time off to deal with Hugh’s disappearance.”
“Do you want to stay with my mum and dad?”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “No. I have a key for Josie’s. We’ll go pick up Aiden and then I’ll call Josie when I get there. I’ve left a voicemail for now.”
“Are you sure she’s going to be okay with this?”
A sudden cramp rippled through my abdomen and I creased over.
“Emma?”
I straightened up as the pain dissipated. “I’m okay. Josie will be fine. I’d do the same for her given the circumstances, so she won’t have a problem with it
.”
Rob nodded to indicate it was good enough for him, but he frowned at the same time. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
“Just the baby kicking.”
But I was quivering down to my toes. The pain had felt a lot worse than the baby kicking and I had no idea whether Josie would take me in. All I knew was that I didn’t want to be around Rob’s parents. Not after the trick his mum pulled that upset Aiden, and not after his dad had been questioned by the police. No. I needed to be somewhere that would be safe for Aiden. Though things were a mess with Hugh gone, I knew that Josie’s was the best option. It sounded as though Hugh wasn’t coming back, at least not for the foreseeable future, so I got to live with Josie alone for a week or two until I’d had the baby and could look for a flat in the village.
I couldn’t believe I was even at this junction in my life, but that’s what happens when all the control is taken from you. The worst part was how I’d let Jake take even more control from me. I’d let him persuade me to sell my parents’ house. I’d put my money into a joint account. I’d taken a job where I worked with him. I’d done all those stupid things because I loved and trusted him. Though I regretted it as I climbed back into Rob’s truck and watched the rain blur Bishoptown into an abstract painting, there came a time when I stopped regretting my decisions. No one should regret loving and trusting another human being. Yes, sometimes we direct our love and trust to the wrong person, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have done it at all. Hearts should be protected, but they shouldn’t be forced to close. The withered piece of coal hidden deep in my chest had once been full of love. But as we picked up Aiden and drove on to Josie’s house, it was full of nothing but hate.
39
It was late afternoon by the time we reached Josie’s house. The sun wouldn’t set for hours, but dark clouds had descended, preventing sunlight from penetrating the murky sky. I opened the door to the truck and climbed out, holding my protruding pregnant belly. The rain fell over us in one great torrent, and instantly I was transported back to that fateful day ten years ago when I lost my son. But this time, he was by my side. I held onto his arm with one hand and readjusted the hood on his raincoat with the other. Beneath the hood he was there, quiet as a church mouse, pale as a raw potato, and lifeless as a mannequin. My son. The boy whose only reactions since coming back to me had been destructive and violent. I wrapped a protective arm around his shoulder and walked him up to the house.
“Do you think the police have been to the garage yet?” I asked, raising my voice above the wind. “Stevenson’s not called.”
“He’ll ring you when they’ve put two and two together. At least you’re safe here away from him. They’ll have arrested him by the end of the day.”
I bent down to retrieve the spare key from the bottom of a pile of decorative rocks placed around a potted plant. The thing about Bishoptown is that nothing really happens. No one gets burgled, so no one thinks to keep their house safe. I dug the key out from the bottom of the fake rock.
“They’ll have him for the relationship with that girl in Bournemouth. I put it all front and centre so they’d find it right away,” Rob said. He carried the heaviest of my suitcases. “Then we need to figure out if Jake really took Aiden and why.” Rob glanced back at Aiden and lowered his voice. “Aiden hasn’t told us it was Jake.”
His words made me feel exhausted. There was too much to consider. Too many thoughts swirling around my mind in a whirlpool of words like kidnap and murder. I shut my eyes and forced the thoughts away.
“Are you all right?” Rob asked. “Do you want me to open the door?”
I nodded and handed him the key, stroking my stomach with one hand.
Though the rain was soaking us through and the wind was howling above the forest that sat in the valley beneath us, I still didn’t rush to get into the house. The place reminded me of a happier time. Seeing just this door brought back memories of Hugh and Josie’s parties when Aiden was little. The five of us—me, Rob, Aiden, Josie, and Hugh—would light the fire in the living room and watch films before putting Aiden to bed and breaking out the wine and cheese. This was supposed to be a house filled with laughter, not a refuge for two wronged women. Hugh, the surprise philanderer, disappearing with another woman, and Jake, the surprise stalker, spending hours locked away in his garage painting bizarre portraits of me. Another cramp tore through my lower body and I leaned into it, biting my lip against the pain. Rob placed a hand on my back.
“Are you in labour?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I had these pains with Aiden; they were Braxton-Hicks.”
“Let’s get you inside and sat down. You need to get your feet up and relax.” He gave me a smile that was half-pitying and stiff with concern.
“Relax.” I laughed.
Rob shook his head with a hollow chuckle. He pushed the key into the door and twisted it. The suitcase was cumbersome so he had to shove it forward with his knees as he opened the door. He bent down to lift it up as the door swung open.
At first I was looking down at Rob, but when I lifted my eyes, I screamed. A large, heavy object swung down, hitting Rob’s skull with a crack, and above that heavy object stood a man with a toothy grin, his cheeks stretched wide from the manic smile, and blood splattered across his face.
“Hello, darling,” he said.
I spun around and pushed Aiden forwards. “Get in the car!”
But Jake reached out and grasped my hair from behind, yanking me back with such force that I lost balance and fell into him. His fingernails scratched my scalp and his fist pulled painfully on my hair as I tripped over Rob’s lifeless body. But I didn’t care about the searing pain—all I cared about was Aiden, standing in the driveway, still as a statue.
“Get in the car and lock the doors!” I screamed. Rob had the car keys in his pocket, which I tried to convey with my eyes, but Aiden could only stare at me.
“He’s not going anywhere. Are you, Aiden?” Jake said. His voice was so calm and collected that a shiver ran down my spine.
I pulled away from Jake, desperately trying to release myself from his grip, but my feet couldn’t find purchase on Josie’s tiled floor. I kept slipping on something wet. When I looked down, I saw that I was slipping on Rob’s blood. His red blood seeped into the material of my shoes and for a brief instant they appeared as mundane as feet covered in red paint. I suppressed a retch, trying to stay focussed on everything going on.
“Let him go, Jake. It’s me you want.”
Jake’s free hand wrapped around my neck. “That’s what you’d like to think, isn’t it?” His hot breath tickled my ears. I smelled the sourness of stale Scotch on his breath. “Come on, Aiden. You, me, and your mum have got a lot to talk about.”
“Please,” I begged. “Please, Aiden. Run away. Get help.” I cried out as my hair was yanked back even harder, and Jake started to drag me back, away from Rob, and away from my son. I tried to scream as loud as I could, but the hand around my throat worked its way up and clamped over my mouth. I struggled as Jake pulled me further into the house, and all the time, Aiden stood there watching it happen.
Time seemed to stood still. I was kicking and screaming in Jake’s grasp, while Aiden stood in the doorway with his eyes wide and his face slack. Was he afraid? Did he care? I didn’t know. I couldn’t tell. I started to cry.
Aiden stepped into the house. He had to lift his knees to step over his father’s lifeless body.
“Good boy, Aiden,” Jake said. “Now pull the arsehole further into the house, will you?” Aiden bent down and dragged Rob further into the house. I felt sick. I’d stopped struggling. I was just watching as my son obeyed the monster I’d married. “Take the phone out of his pocket, and then lock the door and bring me the key.” Aiden did everything Jake said as if in a stupor. I could only watch as my son handed the key over to Jake, who had to let go of my mouth to take the key and put it in his pocket.
“What are you doing, Aiden?�
� I said. “Why did you do that?”
But he didn’t answer.
40
“What have you done with Josie?”
Jake finally allowed me to stand, but he pushed me through the hallway by the crook of my elbow. I didn’t struggle, because I knew he was stronger and that if I tried anything, he’d have the upper hand. My mind was sharper than it had ever been, brought into focus from the adrenaline and anger coursing through me. If I was going to do anything about Jake’s attack, I would need to wait for the perfect moment, as hard as that would be while Rob was injured on the ground and Josie was nowhere to be seen.
“She’s a little tied up at the moment.” The corner of his mouth lifted in amusement.
“What are you going to do with me?” I asked.
Jake pushed me into the living room and gestured towards the sofa. “We’re going to talk. Aiden, why don’t you sit down next to your mother? And why don’t you make yourselves comfortable? Take off those coats, and while you’re at it, Emma, hand me your phone.”
I reluctantly did what he wanted. Jake threw my phone and Rob’s onto the Barratts’ carpet and stamped hard on the screens. Then he kicked them away into the corner of the room.
It sickened me to see the way Aiden obeyed him. Since my son had come back from the dead he’d had this strange way of doing whatever Jake asked of him. I’d never really understood it, but I’d put it down as some strange residual aftereffect of spending ten years of confinement at the hands of another man. But now? He had the choice to leave and he didn’t.
“You took Aiden,” I said.
Jake frowned. “That’s not what I want to talk about.”
“I loved you.”
“And I loved you, but look how you repaid me. You snuck around looking into my private things. You accused me of kidnapping your son.” Jake paced up and down the living room. I could see that he was wearing the same outfit he left for work in, but he’d removed his tweed jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his check shirt. There were droplets of blood on the collar of his shirt, up his neck, and splashed across his cheek.
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