When Past & Present Collide: WP&PC (2 page)

The first night was the worst
; it took hours for anything to completely sink in. My mind had played so many tricks on me over the previous few days that I was starting to question what had been real or not. But the first time the police had turned up to my work, and the cry that had ripped out of my chest, I don’t think I would ever not have nightmares about that day ever again.

I was going around checking all the doors and windows for the 5
th
time that evening, my mind was questioning if I had locked up. I went into Sammy’s room and the cold made me shiver. I turned around and screeched so loud I think the neighbours down the way could hear me. “Who the fuck opened his window? You know Sammy can’t sleep if it’s cold.” A pair of arms wrapped around me and Jacob’s voice whispered into my ear, “I did baby. I’m so sorry, I forgot, I promise it won’t happen again.” I nodded and looked down to the crib, “come on let’s leave him be.” Jacob shook his head while we headed out of his room.

The living room fell silent when I entered. I glance
d around at all the prying eyes. “Don’t you all have some fucking work to do?” People on phones stopped and glanced at me but Tim shook his head to them. “What the fuck Tim? Don’t shake your head at them. Open your bloody eyes and look around. They’re all here drinking my fucking tea and doing no fucking work. What the hell?”

“Ella,” Frank said in his harsh tone as he appeared in the door way. “Language please
, you’re better than that,” he said as he shook his head and sat down in his usual chair.

“Language, fucking language.
Is this fucking my house or not? Because as far as I know it was my name signed on the dotted line.” He stood up and came across to me, “you know it is angel, but these people here are only trying to help, they don’t need to listen to your constant swear words.” I shook my head and turned around, “whatever Frank, I’m off to clean.”

Someone was brushing their thumb over my knuckles. I would say it was a man but i
t could have been a woman, I didn’t even have the upper body strength to lift my head and acknowledge who it was. All I know is it was soothing me; like they were trying to reassure me that everything would be fine. How they were so sure of themselves was beyond me. The only thing I was assured of was that they weren’t doing enough to catch this wacko that had ruined my very existence.

Actually I lied
; they were doing so much more. They were all joking around in my house, drinking my tea, using my electric to be able to use all their apparently great technology, which was helping them with jack shit as we were still none the wiser who had done this to us.

No
, they were useless; I think I had more men in my home than I did on the streets. Oh yeah, they had fancy helicopters with heat recognition, but what use was heat recognition if it was likely you were looking in the wrong place? No one had a clue and they had questioned anyone they thought might hate me.

Chapter Two

Day Four

Jacob.

    
I was sitting in my parent’s kitchen; they were drinking tea like nothing was wrong.

“You know dear,” my mother said as she was putting sugar
in her tea, “it’s still not fair what she has done to us.”

My eyes widened as she sat their stirring her tea. Fuck me
, did I just hear her correct? It was my father’s words coming out of my mother’s mouth.

I glar
ed at her, “are you serious, mum?” Her face sank. I could tell she was choosing her words carefully so she wouldn’t upset me more.

She sat up straighter, something I’ve never seen he
r do before. “Yes, Jacob, I’m serious.” My father stood behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder as she placed hers over his. I knew they loved each other so much and would back each other up. “We both feel that what she has done is outrageous. We have loved Samuel from the day he was born and we would love more contact with him, it’s not fair that we can only see him every other weekend.”

I stood up as my chair scraped across their kitchen floor; I dragged my fingers t
hrough my hair.

“Jesus fucking Christ
, mum.”

She quickly followed me
, pointing her fingers up in the air.

“Don’t you dare use the L
ords name in my house, especially with a swear word attached to it, Jacob Green, I’m deadly serious.”

I turned around
. I had never gone against my parent’s wishes but she had gone way too far this time.

“It’s
entirely your own fault, mum. When she needed us the most where were we, mum? Oh yes, slandering her name to anyone who would listen.” Mum went to speak but I interrupted her. “No, mum, I’m speaking. When she was in the hospital and tried to tell you the truth, did you listen?”

“Did you?” she said back in haste.

I looked down as this hit a nerve, “No, mum. But trust me; I’m paying the consequences for it, still to this day. Don’t you think if I could take that week back, I would swap it in a hurry? She needed us and we walked away. And no, mum, don’t look at me like that, she has given me a chance to be in Samuel’s life and I’m sorry you only get to see him every other week. But between him spending the days with Ella and the weekends rebuilding our family, well, I’m sorry it’s the best we can do. The least you could have done was to say sorry to Ella, but for some reason you have become as stubborn as dad.” I said as I pointed towards him.

My father moved back to be behind my mum. “That’s enough
, Jacob! Your mother is hurting just as much as you.”

I laughed; I truly laughed my
heart out. “Are you two even listening to yourselves? Why are we sitting here arguing over something that could have been sorted years ago? If only you had apologised to Ella about not believing her. She has given you plenty of chances and every fucking time you have both thrown her generosity back in her face. You’re lucky you get him every other weekend because if I had my choice you would never see him again.”

T
his time my mum stepped forward. “Right, that’s enough, Jacob. We have given you the world. If it wasn’t for us you wouldn’t even own your own company, you should show us some respect in our home.”

I flopped onto the sofa laughing in hysterics, “Mum, dad
, if it means so much to you, you can take it back. Hell, yeah I’ve worked my arse off for that company since I started high school. But what’s money if you have no family to share it with? I would give it all away to have Ella and Samuel in my life full time.” I looked up as tears started to fall down my cheeks. “They are my world, mum,” I said as I glanced to them both. “I would be happily penniless as long as I had them, and now what do I have? Nothing. Ella is broken to pieces and all you two care about is access. Sod access, we might not even survive this.”

I broke down crying as my mum took me in her arms, “we are here
, son. I’m so sorry. It’s hard on us too, we feel like we can’t help as everything is happening at Ella’s house.” I nodded, “I know and I’m sorry, mum, but you know what you both need to do.” She glanced towards my dad as he knelt down in front of me. “We do, son and we will promise. No more arguing, we’re all family and family stick together. What happened at Matthew’s interview yesterday?”

My eyes closed as I remember Ella screaming at anyone and everyone when she arrived home yesterday. She wouldn’t allow me to come wi
th her, she had said one of us needed to stay at home with Sammy, how could I argue with her on this? I had to hold myself together and just accept it.

“Let’s just say he slept in his own comfy bed last night.” They shook their heads.

“But why? He has the perfect motive,” my mum stated.

I stood up and paced back and forth
in front of their fire place. I stopped in front of the family portrait we had recently given them of me, Ella and Samuel, picking it up and stroking my fingers over the two people in this world who held my heart, I answered their question. “I know mum but there is no evidence pointing his way. Hell yeah he has a motive and no alibi, but with no evidence he can only be classed as a suspect. The police are keeping a close eye on him, but apart from seeking his original revenge on me and loving Ella, what else has he done wrong?”

“That’s more than enough wrong
, don’t you think?” my mum piped up.

“Well
, obviously not to the police!” I snapped. “They have his phone and computer from his home and office, plus they are going through all his security cameras at work and home, today. But mum, dad, it’s been four days. I don’t know how much longer Ella can hold out.” This time I finally saw compassion in my dad’s eyes.

“How is she
, son? Please don’t sugar coat it for us, we really do care about her. Heck, I know we have our differences of opinion but to be honest, we are getting on and just want to spend time with Samuel. We honestly do love Ella like one of our own.” My mum smiled and nodded in agreement.

I glanced up into his eyes. “She’s bad
, dad. She’s holding on by a thread. The doctors have given her some anti-depressants and sleeping pills but she refuses to take them. I’ve seen her vomit many times before but nothing like this. Her face is pale; the black bags under her eyes are so prominent, I doubt she will lose them for months.”

My mum
placed her hand back on my lap. “Is she eating?”

This was such a simple question
. I really wished I could answer a yes, but I knew I couldn’t lie to them; they really did need to know. “No mum. I don’t think she has eaten since Monday morning. She looks so frail and gaunt. I just want to hold her and comfort her but she can’t stay still. Can you fucking believe it? She has scrubbed that house top to bottom. She sleeps; well sleep isn’t even what I would call it. She sits in Sammy’s room, in his rocking chair; I think she gets some comfort in his room. She’s withdrawn from everyone.”

My dad looks heartbroken
. I think he thought she would somehow carry on. “Does she say much to you, son?”

I shake my head. Does she talk to me? I think we have said about 5 sentences to
each other since everything happened. “She only speaks to Tim, the family liaison officer and trust me, not in a pleasant manner.”

Dad smiled, “oh yes
, I can imagine, the poor bloke.”

I stood up
, time was getting on, “I best head back as Taylor and Beth are with her for me, and trust me she is making their life unbearable.”

They stood up and hugged me in turn. “We will keep
in touch, keep us updated. We are trying not to watch the news; they say all sorts of lies.” I nodded and headed to my car.

I si
t back in my car, closed my eyes and inhaled sharply before I noticed my phone flashing, ‘shit’ I say aloud. I’ve missed four calls from Taylor.

I quickly ra
ng him back. “Taylor,” I said as he answered. “Um, yeah Mr Green,” I stopped him before he carried on. “Taylor, it’s okay, please call me Jacob.” I heard him stutter, “Okay, The police are here, they are waiting to speak to you and Ella.”

I quickly turned the ignition
and started the car, “I’m heading back now, tell them I will be 10 minutes please, Taylor.” I threw my phone down on the passenger seat and headed over to Ella’s.

I smacked the
steering wheel as I have come to a stop ‘fucking rush hour traffic, for fucks sake’ I beeped as the driver of the car in front of me put his fingers up to me. I just carried on beeping and flashing my lights, ‘come on’ I shouted as we started to move again. My road rage was full to the roof; I finally put my foot down as all sorts of thoughts were going through my head.

Have they found evidence on Matt? Do they suspect someone else? Then my stomach churned and sweat was
pouring down my face. Oh shit. No.

I squealed into her drive, threw open my car door and ran as fast as I could into the house. Every
one was sitting waiting for me.

I walked in and sat by Ella
, I took her shaking hands into mine. I looked at her and moved a piece of her hair from her eyes. Leaning forward, I whispered so she knew it was me. “It’s okay I’m here.” She took a deep breath and looked at Chief Constable Jones.

I nodded so he knew he could proceed. “What do you two think of the idea of doing a press conference? We can ha
ve it all set up for tomorrow.”

Ella squeezed my hands. “W
e have to try,” she said in a quiet voice. I barely heard her as her voice was so raspy. It pained me to see her like this.

I looked back to the constable. “Yes okay. No questions and if I think it’s too much for Ella I’m pulling her straight out. Do you understand me?” He looked sad, “We do
, Jacob and trust me we don’t want to put her through any more than she needs. But I think we need to do this. If the person is out there and they see what they are doing to her, well let’s just say we are hoping they will get in touch. At this moment we have no clue, we are pulling everything out of the bag but our options are slowly running out. So I think it’s time we did this. We will proceed and set it up for tomorrow, late afternoon. It will be live; we have all we need to show from what we have collected so far. So we are just hoping we can refresh someone’s memory of that day.”

He gave me a sad smile as he looked at Ella, anyone could see she was broken just by a glance
, but I could see the sympathy in his eyes. I also know he felt awful for all the questions they had put her through yesterday. “Try and get some sleep. I will be back tomorrow to go over what you should expect. In the meantime, if you have any questions Tim can answer them for you.” He stood up and left us all in a state of shock all over again.

What wou
ld tomorrow bring? My main focus was Ella. Could she survive this? I needed a meeting with Frank and Tim, as soon as I settled her down. This might just destroy her past the brink of return.

Beth leant down in front of Ella, “Hey sweetie
, let’s hope we can refresh someone’s memory. How about I take you for a nice bath and wash your hair, so you can look pretty for the cameras.”

I quenched back as I could see Ella’s eyes darken. I knew Beth never meant anything bad by what she had said, but to Ella she didn’t care how she looked until he was safe. She glared at Beth, “please le
ave.” Beth stood back in shock.

I knelt down to her level, “come on sweetheart Beth never meant anything by it
, she is just trying to help.”

This time I gained the glare. “I’m nobody’s sweetheart.” She squealed.

I have to honestly say this destroyed a piece of me, but I knew she never meant it. She was hurting, like we all were.

She wobbled as she stood up, glanced around the room. “Get out all of you,” she screeched with her raspy voice, “get out of my hous
e and leave me the fuck alone.”

I caught her as she fell forward; she collapsed as she had no s
trength left in her frail body.

I
carried Ella to bed as there was no possible way she would be able to make it up the stairs alone. My heart was shredding to pieces as I watched the woman I loved flop into my arms.