Genny shook her head. “No. There’s a difference. We had it with that girl who stalked Jude a couple of years ago — remember? Places were referenced and there was too much knowledge. It was fear-inducing, and these were meant to be too.”
“Okay. Why’s she not said anything? Why are we — ” Nate looked at me “— finding this out now?”
“Because she didn’t want to worry anyone, and she was worried it’d make Jesse flap.” She looked over at me. “Sorry. Don’t flap.”
“I’m not flapping.” I really wasn’t. The easiest thing to do would’ve been to get someone to drive me home and distance myself, but that would’ve only been easy for twenty minutes. After that, I’d have been getting a cab to find Jerrica, because I’d pretty much sussed by now that I couldn’t leave her alone. I didn’t want to.
She wasn’t my mother. She was nothing like her.
“What’s on CCTV?” Nate stood up. “Can the person be identified?”
Genny carried on drinking, sinking further into the chair. “They’re small. Slight. Probably a woman, judging by how they move — I’ve only watched it once. Want my guess? It’s the same woman who stalked Jude.”
“I thought she’d moved out of the area?” I finished my drink.
She was nudging Guy’s stationery around his desk with her foot. “So did I. We’ll find out more in the next day or so. Jesse, you’ve got the same security as Nate at your house — ”
“I’ll feel better if Jerrica stays with me tonight. Jesse, you’re welcome to stay.” He turned to me. “I’ve got the girls and my parents with me, and Amber who’s going to drop in the next few weeks. Leon’s about, too, but I’d feel better — ”
“We’ll stay with you.” I stood up, my legs no longer shaking.
Nate almost smiled. “Thanks, man.”
It was okay. It was going to be okay.
Jude didn’t need alcohol full stop, so we got him to drive me, Jerrica and Nate back to his, which worked, as Jude had left his car there before the game. He’d heard what had happened and suggested himself that it was Rosie West, the woman who’d made his life a misery for a good few months a couple of years ago, offering up the information that she had moved back to Manchester because he’d hired an investigator to keep tabs on her.
Jerrica was quiet in the car on the way back to her brother’s. Her hand was in mine as we sat together in the back seat, but she didn’t say much and she didn’t move herself closer to me.
When we got back to Nate’s, our planned Chinese order now a lot larger and being delivered to Nate’s address, she busied herself in the kitchen, making a fuss over Libbie and Zara, although Libbie just wanted to follow Jude around everywhere, her crush still going strong.
It was Jerrica’s dad who managed to get us back to some sort of normality, talking about the win, picking up on bits of play he was curious about. Jude wasn’t fazed by the possible return of Rosie, or Libbie’s infatuation, and indulged Jerrica’s dad in the game talk, as well as pouring over the rest of the results in the Premier League and yesterday’s championship.
Tomorrow, or Tuesday, I’d find some way to thank him, because right now, he was the one keeping our heads up and stopping fear and anger from kicking up a stink.
Jerrica didn’t sit next to me at dinner. She didn’t sit next to me on the sofas afterwards, taking her nieces upstairs to bed with Nate instead. I waited for her to come back down, but she didn’t appear, Nate coming into the room on his own.
“Is she okay?” I asked him in front over everyone, stopping already with the keeping things on the quiet.
“She’s feeling guilty and blaming herself, which like I said, there’s an element to that which is true. If she’d told us, it might not have happened.” He sat down next to Amber, his arm going around her shoulders, his other hand resting on her belly. “Go and see her.”
I stood up, looking at her parents. “Thank you for everything this evening.”
Her father nodded, and her mother gave me a beam and raised her hands, making the same heart shape I’d made at Jerrica.
I couldn’t stop the smile or the slight heat of embarrassment, especially when I turned to see Nate and Jude doing exactly the same thing.
“Fuckers, the lot of you. Except Jerrica’s mum.”
I left the room to the sound of laughter, which at least made me feel a little better.
I knew there was the chance that someone had targeted Jerrica because she was seeing me, in which case, I’d inadvertently put her at risk. I also knew that even with that knowledge, I wouldn’t have done anything differently, just maybe hired a team of bodyguards or something slightly less dramatic.
I didn’t knock on her door, but I did open it slowly.
Jerrica sat on her bed, her face wet with tears, her eyes staring out of the window, watching the sunset.
“Hey.” I kept my voice low, trying to sound soothing, not sure if it was working.
