My Husband's Girlfriend - Sheryl Browne Page 0,101

life.’

‘You never believed me!’ Laura screamed. ‘I tried to tell you what he did. You never—’

‘Because it was a lie!’ Sherry screamed back.

‘No, Mother,’ Laura seethed. ‘You’re the liar. Everything you are is a lie. You’ll stop at nothing to maintain your pathetic fake image; to keep a man who hates you. He despises you almost as much as I do! You killed my baby! You killed me!’

Christ almighty. Joe hadn’t noticed the kitchen knife lying on the floor until she picked it up. ‘Laura …’ He yanked hard against the cuffs. ‘I hear you. I heard everything. You don’t need to do this. Please …’ Seeing a movement beyond her, his gaze shot to the door. God, no. His insides turned over as he realised who it was. ‘Put the knife down, Laura. Let me help you.’ Praying hard, he heaved his shoulder up against the tabletop.

‘She destroys things! She breaks things! She ruined my marriage!’ Laura wasn’t listening. ‘It was her who led that little boy to the swimming pool. She wanted me to get blamed. She wants me to be scared. To keep quiet. She wants to get rid of me. She always fucking well has! Bitch.’

Seeing her press the sharp tip of the knife to Sherry’s throat, Joe felt his gut clench with terror. ‘Laura, don’t,’ he pleaded. ‘This won’t bring Jacob back.’

‘You shouldn’t have tried to make me believe it was me who killed my baby, Mother. I remember, you see. I was the one trying to s-s-save him, and you … I know what you did!’ Laura’s chest heaved.

Fuck! Joe couldn’t see any way she wouldn’t push that knife home. In her mind, she had nothing left to lose that her mother hadn’t already taken away.

‘Do you know what the irony of all this is, darling Mother?’ she went on with caustic amusement. ‘Do you? He really was Grant’s child. And he killed him.’ She paused, watching her mother carefully. ‘Oh dear, are you shocked, Sherry? Finally, are you hearing me? Jacob wasn’t fathered by some boy in the village. I never went out with any boys from the village. Never had sex with anyone else. Jacob was Grant’s child. He slapped him to stop him crying, and then left him to drown in the pool while he sat pouring brandy down his neck and not giving a shit. And you cleaned up his mess, just to hold onto him. You had no respect for me. No respect for yourself either. Where is he? Where did you bury him?’

‘Laura, don’t!’ Joe’s heart slammed against his chest as she raised the knife, and then almost gave out as Sarah stepped into the room.

‘Laura,’ she said shakily, tears rolling down her face, ‘I’ve lost my little boy. Can you help me find him?’

Fifty-Seven

Sarah

‘Ollie?’ Laura blinked up at her, stupefied.

Sarah nodded, her gaze swivelling to Joe. She caught his warning glance as he attempted to wrestle the handcuffs that were securing his wrists from under the leg of the table. Understanding that he didn’t want her drawing attention to him, she fixed her eyes back on Laura. ‘He went missing,’ she whispered, her throat thick with tears.

‘When?’ As she rose unsteadily to her feet, Laura’s expression was a mixture of disbelief and confusion. ‘Where?’

‘This morning. From my house. My garden,’ Sarah told her, her heart wrenching with unbearable guilt. Her sweet, innocent boy … please, dear God, let me find him. She prayed that Laura might empathise with her in some small way and give him back to her.

‘But …’ Laura glanced down, her forehead creasing into a frown. ‘She couldn’t have. She was here.’

‘Who couldn’t have? Couldn’t have what?’ Sarah asked desperately. ‘Laura, please, tell me where he is.’

Laura’s gaze was fixed dazedly on her mother, who was now on her knees, a hand pressed to her chest and apparently gasping for breath. ‘She’s been here all morning,’ she said. ‘I’ve been here with her. She couldn’t have.’

Couldn’t have taken him? Was that what she meant? Nausea roiling inside her, Sarah searched Laura’s face, icy realisation spreading through her as she noted the other woman’s shocked bewilderment. Laura truly didn’t know where he was. Ollie wasn’t here. She’d searched the house and the stables. The swimming pool, that had been the first place she’d looked, time seeming to stand still as she’d approached it, stared down into its deep, unyielding depths. He really wasn’t here. Dread clutched at her chest as harsh reality hit her. Her