Twelve Days - The Beginning (38 page)

Elise was seriously mad now but also realised that she wasn’t going to get anywhere with the security guard. She desperately needed her own space; she needed to be on her own. She needed to be able to breathe without worrying that someone would come and check on her and she needed to think. She was going to be seeing Dale tonight and she needed to work out
what she was going to say to him. How she was going to broach the subject so that she could get the outcome that she needed. She couldn’t do any of those things stuck in Vaughn’s house with a beefcake watching her every move. She needed to get out.

When they had left the flat a few minutes ago, she had spotted her car parked just outside and realised that the keys were on the hook in the kitchen – she remembered seeing Sean hang them up yesterday. All she needed to do was distract him long enough so that she could get the keys and then make a run out of the door to her car. Hopefully, she would be able to get there before he realised she was gone and then she could treat herself to a few hours of peace at least. Vaughn would be seriously angry, she knew that. But she would leave her mobile phone on so that he could contact her and reassure himself that she was safe.

First of all she had to get to the keys so she needed to get Sean out of the lounge long enough to enable her to quickly dash into the adjoining kitchen. Her handbag! That was in the bedroom with her phone in it. She would ask him to fetch that for her which should just about give her enough time to grab the keys.

She started by apologising; she wouldn’t get anywhere if she didn’t start being nice to him.

“I’m sorry, Sean.” She said. “I appreciate you’re just doing your job, it’s just really hard for me being constantly watched all the time. I’ll talk to Vaughn about it tonight and I won’t say anything to him about you needing another job. You’ve been nothing but professional and it’s not right for me to threaten you like that.” She looked across to him and saw that he was nodding slightly in acknowledgement of her apology. “I really am sorry.” she finished.

Recognising that he was starting to warm to her a little again, she decided to go for broke and execute the rest of her hastily concocted plan.

“I wonder,” she asked “would you be able to pop into the bedroom and get my bag for me? There is some lip balm in there which I could do with after that walk outside. Thank you.”

Ever the professional, Sean obliged and quietly headed off in the direction of the bedroom. As soon as he had gone, Elise leaped up from the sofa and dashed into the kitchen as if her life depended on it, rapidly grabbing the keys off the hook and just about making it back to the sofa before Sean returned.

“There you go, Miss.” Sean said handing Elise her bag. Outwardly he appeared the same as every and showed no sign of realising that she had been anywhere other than sat on the sofa the whole time that he had been gone.

“Thank you.” she said and proceeded to search through her bag for the lip balm that she didn’t really need. After applying a thin layer, she returned it to the bag and checked that her phone was also in there.

She sat back on the sofa for a while, crossing and un-crossing her legs and then decided it was time to put phase two of her plan into action. Slipping the keys surreptitiously into her bag, she rose to go into the kitchen on the pretence of making a cup of tea. Predictably Sean followed her and so she filled the kettle and switched it on to boil before she suddenly grasped her head and her tummy. Mumbling ‘dizzy...’ she swayed and fell into Sean’s arms.

“Careful, Miss Grayson.” He admonished, “Perhaps you have done too much. Let me take you back to the sofa and I can finish making the drinks.”

“OK – thank you, Sean” she said, once again marvelling at how easy it was for her to lie these days - even pretending to be ill. She wasn’t proud of herself but her life was just such a crazy place right now that she needed every tool that she could use to navigate her way through it.

Sean helped her carefully back into the lounge and then settled her on the sofa before returning to the kitchen to make the drinks. The kettle was nearly boiling and the noise filled the quiet of the flat; something that she had been banking on. Carefully she got back up from the sofa and grabbed her bag before tiptoeing down the hallway towards the front door.

A quick glance in the kitchen told her that Sean was engrossed in making the tea and was also on the phone again, no doubt updating Vaughn on her little ‘dizzy’ spell. He had his back to the window which overlooked the courtyard so, seizing the opportunity, she crept to the front door and then opened it as quietly as she could before hastily making her way down the stairs and through the gate out onto the street and the refuge of her car.

Jumping in, Elise quickly started the engine and drove out of the parking space, heading in the direction of the main road. She had no particular destination so decided she may as well just follow the road until it joined with the coast road and she could make any further decisions then.

So engrossed was she in getting away that she didn’t stop to make the basic checks in her mirrors before driving off and as she left Vaughn’s flat behind, she failed to notice the familiar car pulling out onto the road behind her.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Elise had been driving down the coast road for less than ten minutes and in that time her phone had rung virtually constantly. A glance at the caller display told her that both Vaughn and Cole were trying to contact her and whilst she hated to worry them, she really needed this time to herself to regain some perspective. She was planning to stop in a short while anyway when she got to the little picnic area, so she would call them then to reassure them that she was OK.

Briefly she spared a thought for Sean who had no doubt had his head well and truly chewed off and only hoped that he wasn’t going to lose his job over it. It wasn’t really his fault.

As she continued to drive, Elise felt the hairs on the back of her neck prickle and she realised that it wasn’t the first time she had had the sensation since she had got in her car. She couldn’t put her finger on it but she felt for all the world like she was being followed, however the nearest car was a good distance away down the road – too far away for her to really see it and certainly too far away for it to be following her.

Shrugging at the paranoia that seemed that have taken hold ever since she had been on virtual house arrest, she approached the picnic area and indicated to pull in. There was a car already waiting to pull out so she slowed down to allow them to exit first before she began to make her turn, the entrance being relatively narrow and only really suitable for one car at a time. As she waited for the car to pull out onto the main road, she automatically glanced in her rear view mirror to ensure that the car behind her had also slowed down, the last thing that she needed right now was a rear end shunt. The car exiting the picnic area had by now pulled out so they each held up their hand in the universal ‘thank you’ signal before she once again checked her rear view mirror before commencing her turn – and in that second she stopped breathing. Completely.

Her heart began to pound painfully against her battered ribs as she recognised the vehicle approaching behind her. She felt a cold sensation run from her head all the way through her body as she finally realised why Vaughn had been so protective of her and why Sean had been told not to let her out of his sight. And why she had felt like she was being followed.

That was because she was being followed.

The car now slowing almost to a stop behind her was one that she knew intimately well and belonged to the one person that she feared most in the world. The car behind her belonged to Dale and as she instinctively floored the accelerator in a futile attempt to get away, the last thing she remembered hearing was the sickening crash of metal against metal as she lost control of her car and ploughed straight into the vehicle coming down the road in the opposite direction.

-

This time when Elise woke up she knew that she was in hospital; there was no mistaking the sterile walls and scratchy bed linen, the bright lights and the beeping monitors. She was also suffering no memory loss this time and knew with absolute certainty where she was and why she was here.

Although she had been knocked unconscious, the accident hadn’t been too bad overall because she hadn’t been travelling at great speed and she had first woken up whilst being lifted into the ambulance. The paramedics had been able to reassure her that no one had been hurt in the other vehicle - she had just glanced off the side of the other car and they had been able to stop safely a short distance later. Her car however, hadn’t fared so well according to the paramedic and Elise feared that due to its age, it was more than likely that it would be a write-off.

She also clearly remembered Dale being at the scene, desperately trying to get to her and being held back by the police as they allowed the paramedics to do their job. He was doing a really good impression of the devoted and concerned husband, so much so that he had managed to talk the ambulance crew into letting him on board. The second he stepped into the back however she had screamed as loud as her battered ribs would allow and the paramedic had instantly removed him. Having Dale in such close proximity to her had triggered a panic attack and she vaguely remembered the ambulance crew giving her an injection of some kind which had calmed her down, and before she knew it, she had been fast asleep again.

She was wide-awake now though and relieved to realise that she didn’t actually hurt anywhere, other than her ribs which were still healing. Looking around the room, her eyes settled on the call button by the side of the bed and she pressed it in the hope that it would call a doctor or nurse who could tell her exactly what was wrong if anything.

Within a few seconds, a nurse came in followed by a very relieved looking Vaughn who rushed to the side of her bed and immediately grabbed her hand.

“Jesus Christ, Elise, you have to stop scaring the shit out of me. What the hell did you think you were playing at? You could have been killed – again.” He was angry and rightfully so.

The nurse began fussing with some of the monitors and wires and then checked her chart at the end of the bed.

“You’ve been very lucky, young lady.” She said, “Considering the nature of the impact, you’ve got away with just a handful of cuts and scrapes so we only need to keep you in for a few more hours to make sure you don’t have another bout of concussion.” Vaughn must have told them about her recent injuries.

“Thank you.” Elise said and then turned to Vaughn. “I’m sorry, baby, really I am. I didn’t realise. I just got so sick of all the secrets, all the text messages and whispered conversations and no one was telling me anything. I didn’t know what to think. Then when we went for a walk and Sean started acting all weird and I just lost it I guess. I just needed to get some head space – some time alone. I had no idea that he would follow me - it didn’t even occur to me to worry especially as I was going to talk to him tonight anyway.”

The nurse nodded as she replaced the chart and then quietly exited the room. “You have ten minutes, Mr Granger.” She said before she closed the door behind her.

“I know, baby,” Vaughn said as he looked into her eyes, “and I am so sorry that we didn’t tell you anything but we all felt that it would be best not to worry you. You needed to use all your strength to get better and we didn’t want anything to jeopardise you making a full recovery. I was trying to sort it all out.” He stopped and grinned wryly. “He was just smarter than I gave him credit for but I won’t be making that mistake again.”

Elise reached out with her other hand and traced the worry lines on his face, smoothing them away and rubbing her thumb along his lip to iron out the remains of the frown.

“I’m okay now though, I’m safe. I promise to listen to you in the future.” She murmured and he briefly captured her thumb in-between his lips. They both allowed the movement to continue for a second longer and then she pulled her thumb away.

“Where is he anyway?” she asked, referring to Dale.

“Downstairs. The police are still questioning him. He hasn’t admitted to following you – he claims it was a coincidence that he was behind you. According to him, you are still very happily married and he has no idea why there is all this fuss.” Vaughn spat the words out as though it pained him to talk about it.

“What have you told them, Vaughn?” she asked, her voice small in the quiet of the room.

“Nothing. None of us have said anything. You asked us not to involve the police and until we have your agreement, we won’t. But Elise, you are so fucking way off the mark on this one. You need to tell the police and tell them now. That way he can be locked up and we can all get on with our lives.” Vaughn was getting angry again and she knew that he didn’t understand why she didn’t want to get the police involved.

“But what then, Vaughn?” she asked. “He won’t go to prison for all that long - if he even gets a prison sentence at all. What happens when he comes out? He’ll still be after me – you know he will. This is his pride that we are talking about and, despite everything, I am sure that Dale is still the proud man that he used to be. If he goes to jail, that will ruin everything for him and I don’t know if I can be responsible for doing that to someone else’s life. Especially not to someone who I once loved. I know it doesn’t make any sense to you and it doesn’t make a whole lot to me either, but I just can’t bring myself to press any charges. I won’t. I need to talk to him first and hope that I can get him to see sense. You have to trust me with this, Vaughn. Even despite everything that’s happened, I need to do this my own way.”

Vaughn looked at her in disbelief as if he couldn’t understand the words that had just come out of her mouth.

“I don’t understand why the hell you continue to defend that piece of shit, Elise.” He said. “Sure I buy the whole ‘I loved him once’ crap, but Christ, he has nearly killed you twice in less than one week – why the hell do you owe him anything? Do you want to know what was going on, Elise? Do you want to know why we were trying to protect you?” He paused and looked at her his fury continued to build. “Do you?” he spat out.

Wordlessly she nodded. She had a feeling that she wasn’t going to like this but she needed to know everything. She had to know what she was dealing with when she came face to face with him.

“He was threatening you Elise. Threatening to kill you. Every single text that we all had, every phone call, even letters sent to Cole’s house – they were all the same. Threatening your life, telling us that he would be there, watching you, all of the time. That you would never get away from him again. Cole wanted to go to the police – hell, I wanted to go to the police - but we had promised you that we wouldn’t. When you pleaded to see him, I hoped that maybe you were right and that perhaps you could talk to him and get him to see sense but you
wouldn’t bloody listen to us. You had to go and put yourself in danger and now you have played right into his hands. Don’t you see, Elise? I was having him followed but we had to be careful because if he found out then he could report us. Unfortunately he realised and he somehow managed to lose the guy that I had got on him – that’s what Sean was calling about after your walk. He had spotted Dale’s car and realised that he had got away from our guy. We were arranging to call the police in because it had just gone too far but you did your disappearing act before we had time. That means the police have nothing unless you are willing to talk Elise. You have to talk, you have to. That bastard can’t be allowed to get away with all of this. You have to forget your feelings of sentimentality and think about yourself, about us, about Cole, about everyone who loves you. We can’t see you like this and we can’t survive knowing that you are constantly in danger. You have to put a stop to this, Elise – for all of us.” Vaughn’s speech was so raw and so impassioned that Elise felt tears beginning to form and in the back of her mind she registered that that was pretty much all that she did these days – cry.

She looked up at him and saw the concern in his eyes, the emotion that he was trying to hold in check and when she spoke again, she did so both gently and calmly.

“I understand, baby, really I do. But please, please just let me try, just one last time. Let me talk to him just once. Get Sean or one of the officers to stand right outside the room so I can get help if I need to. Please Vaughn.” She pulled his head down towards hers and sealed her lips over his in a tender kiss. It was now or never.

“I love you, Vaughn Granger.” She whispered and she watched as he registered what she had just said and what she had just admitted. She needed to tell him, was glad that she had told him – it was another one of her ducks that she was desperately trying to get in a row.

When he went to speak, she placed her finger over his lips. “Sshhh...” she said. “I don’t need you to say anything, just believe that it’s true. I truly love you, Vaughn Granger – with all my heart.”

He shook his head in disbelief as he slowly left the room and she swiped away an ever-present tear as she watched him go.

From now on it was all about honesty and she needed Vaughn to understand how she felt. She could see how much it was costing him to watch her suffer and she already knew that it was killing Cole too. She understood that she had to sort this out for all of their sakes and ‘put a stop to it’ just as Vaughn had said but she still felt that she wanted just one last opportunity to try with Dale - to reason with him and see if she could understand what his motivation was. Maybe she was being completely foolish but she wanted to try one last time to make peace with him before she talked to the police and thereafter sealed her husband’s fate.