‘In the lounge,’ Steve shouted.
Jake went through, his gut twisting as the man turned his anguished gaze towards him. He was on the sofa, his arms around his wife. She was slumped against his shoulder, close to unconsciousness. ‘Jennifer,’ he said, dropping his bag and crouching down in front of her. ‘It’s Jake. Jake Merriden.’
She lifted her head, looked drowsily towards him as he took hold of her hand, moving his fingers to her wrist to feel her pulse. It was rapid, her cardiac rhythm escalated to dangerous levels. Her pupils were dilated. Even the temperature of her skin told him she was running a fever.
‘Jake,’ she murmured, attempting to focus. ‘I’m sorry. So …’
‘We need to get her on her side.Now,’ Jake instructed, as her hand went limp in his.
Jake had never been so glad in his life to see an ambulance arrive. He prayed fervently as he followed it that Jennifer didn’t have a seizure before it reached the hospital. Why hadn’t heseenthis? She’d been doing well, sounding so positive when she’d last come in, as if she’d thought life was worth living again. Clearly she hadn’t. He thought back to her most recent appointment. She’d been in a rush, she’d said, due to take the kids she taught on a nature trail through the park. He thought now that maybe she’d been putting on a front, feeling down and ashamed and reluctant to talk about it. Why the hellhadn’t he picked up the signs?
He found Steve outside the resuscitation unit while his wife was being attended to inside. Jake should be at home with his own wife, but there was no way he could simply just leave him. There wasn’t anybody else to support him – Steve’s family wasn’t local and Jennifer had lost her mother at around the same time they’d lost the baby she’d finally conceived through IVF treatment. As far as Jake knew, she had no other family.
‘Do you want to tell me what happened?’ he asked gently, thinking the man might need someone to talk to.
Steve swiped a hand over his eyes, sucked in a tight breath and reached inside his jacket pocket. ‘This happened,’ he seethed, handing Jake a letter. ‘There’s some sick fucker in this village in serious need of medication, or locking up.’
Jake swallowed back the constriction in his throat. He knew what it was before he read it. When he did, his blood froze.
Do the parents know their children’s teacher is a suicidal criminal reliant on antidepressants?
‘Her job is her life,’ Steve said, choking back his emotion. ‘She’s been terrified she’ll lose it since she was arrested for shoplifting.’
Jake knew all about it. Jennifer had been so lost in her grief, she’d walked out of the baby shop with a pram. That was when she’d reached her lowest ebb, unable to see a future where life seemed worth living.
Twenty-Six
Finding Emily curled up on the sofa in her pyjamas, her eyes fixed on her tablet, Jake walked across to her. She didn’t look up. He hesitated to sit down next to her. He doubted she would want him anywhere near her considering how they’d parted, thanks to his damn idiocy. ‘Browsing anything interesting?’ he asked, and held his breath.
‘Sixties tribute bands,’ she answered with a shrug. ‘I wanted to hire one for Edward Simpson’s birthday party.’
He furrowed his brow. ‘I hadn’t realised you were still organising that,’ he said, surprised. He recalled her mentioning it, but it seemed like aeons ago now. She’d discussed bands with Sally, he remembered. He’d forgotten all about it since. He’d imagined Emily might have too, with all that had happened.
‘I thought I would, despite everything.’ She looked up at last. Her eyes, skimming his, were filled with soul-crushing disillusionment, which pierced his heart like a knife. Was he losing her? The woman who’d been there for him, supported him even when he’d questioned his own ability? The person he wouldn’t know how to be without?
‘I don’t appear to be able to do anything to stop my family falling apart,’ she went on, ‘but I thought, with all that’s going on, this might be a way to try to keep the community together.’
Jake felt the guilt he’d been carrying since he’d accused her of sending the letters weigh heavily in his chest. This was who Emily was: thoughtful, caring. Now that he knew she was taking Ritalin, he couldn’t be sure she hadn’t been distracted and inadvertently leaked information that someone else had used, but she wasn’t capable of causing the unbearable suffering that whoever was sending these letters was clearly intent on. That was born of pure evil.
Unfurling herself, Emily rose from the sofa. Barefoot, she was a head shorter than he was, and looked so small and vulnerable right now, he just wanted to hold her. He didn’t think she’d allow him to. Why in God’s name had he said the things he had? He hadn’t meant to. Why hadn’t she shown him the email she claimed to have seen? She’d said she’d deleted it. Had she? Jake wondered if it had even existed, but it would certainly explain her paranoia, her unshakeable belief that he was having sex with every woman in the vicinity.
‘Emily …’ He moved towards her, searching for a way to begin to talk to her, to apologise. ‘We need to—’
‘You managed to make it home then?’ she asked.
Hearing the facetiousness in her voice, he prayed they weren’t heading for another argument. ‘I had a call-out,’ he said guardedly.
‘Gosh, now there’s a surprise.’ Glancing at him with a mixture of disdain and hurt, Emily turned away, heading for the kitchen.
Jake followed, a chill of trepidation running through him as he noticed the open wine bottle and a half-filled glass on the island. The effects of Ritalin were similar to those of speed when taken by people who didn’t need it. Mixed with alcohol, those effects were intensified, masking the impact of alcohol on the system, which made it a dangerous combination. He needed to talk to her, but first he had to convince her shecould talk tohim.
Bracing himself, he tugged in a breath. ‘It was Steve Wheeler. His wife took an overdose.’ He said it bluntly, disclosing information he shouldn’t, particularly under the circumstances, because he needed her to know why he’d had no choice but to go. He hated himself for it, but he also needed to see her reaction.
‘Jenny?’ About to fill up her glass, Emily stopped. ‘But …why?’ She shook her head, as if not quite comprehending. ‘She was doing so well.’
‘She received a letter threatening to reveal her medical history,’ Jake answered, watching her carefully.
‘Oh my God, no.’ Pressing a hand to her mouth, she stared at him, horrified. He felt his heart clunk shakily back into its moorings as he saw the tears in her eyes, which confirmed how wrong he’d been. Emily was aware of all that Jennifer Wheeler had gone through. She’d looked after her when the woman had come broken and bereft to the surgery. She would never be involved in something as despicable as this. Heknewher. She was the only person he’d ever felt safe confiding in. What the hell had he been thinking?
