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.
ChapterThirty-Nine
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 likekidnapandmurder. 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 stand 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?”
