Trust Me - Sheryl Browne Page 0,103

as she heard bone crack against bone.

‘Bastard,’ she seethed, thundering down the steps as, groaning and spitting blood, he dropped to his knees. Did he honestly think she was so pathetic she wouldn’t rather die fighting than allow him to do this?

Forty-Three

Jake

His mind racing, Jake walked with his father to his car. His heart stalled, undiluted fear ripping through him as he looked the front of it over, noting the dent in the bumper.

‘I take it you hadn’t noticed it?’ Tom said.

‘No.’ Jake glanced at him cautiously. His father was studying the damage, a perturbed look on his face.

Jake drew his gaze back to the car. Had he really not noticed the dent? He possibly wouldn’t have done this morning. He’d been in a rush, his thoughts on Edward. Had it really been there before, though? When Ben had taken the car? Surely he would have noticed if it had? Swallowing back the nausea climbing his throat, he looked again at his father, his eyes narrowed. ‘You know Ben had the car last night?’ he asked.

Tom widened his eyes in surprise. ‘Did he?’

‘He was at a party in Malvern.’

‘In which case, I’m glad I came by. I wouldn’t want you thinking he’d been drink driving.’ Tom held Jake’s gaze for a second, then looked away. ‘I wasn’t drinking and driving when I bumped into your car either, incidentally, before you add that to my list of sins. I was on my way to a meeting, running late.’

Jake nodded, his stomach twisting as he tried to work out what was going on here.

‘Anyway, I thought I would let you know I’m the culprit,’ Tom went on, ‘should the police wonder how you came by the dent.’

‘Right.’ Jake took a breath and massaged his temples, trying to release the band of tension that was tightening between them. He glanced again at Tom, who searched his eyes for a second and then gave him a small smile, one tinged with regret, which only added to Jake’s confusion.

‘I’d better get off,’ Tom said. ‘I thought I might drop by the hospital and check on Edward, if that’s okay with you? I realise he’s your patient, but you look as if you could use a shower and a couple of hours’ sleep.’

He could. But he doubted he would manage the latter.

‘Thanks. I appreciate it,’ he said.

As he watched Tom head off, Jake wrestled with a riot of conflicting emotions. Had he driven into his car in the car park? If so, why hadn’t he just come back into the office to let him know? Why hadn’t he rung or texted him? Was it possible he’d just noticed the dent and was covering for him or for Ben? Why would he do that? And where the bloody hell was Ben? More worryingly, if it was Ben who was responsible for the damage, where had he been last night?

Disorientated from lack of sleep and too many things coming at him, Jake went back to the house. He needed to shower, try to get his head together. Going up the stairs, he met Emily coming out of Millie’s room. ‘Okay?’ He scanned her face worriedly, hoping she hadn’t read anything into DS Regan’s questions. They were basically routine, after all, the same questions she was probably asking generally around the village. Or so Jake hoped.

‘Millie’s still not back,’ Emily answered, evading the question. ‘I was just checking if there was anything in her room that might give us a clue to where she might be.’

‘Shit.’ Jake’s gut twisted. The last thing they needed in the midst of all this was no contact from their daughter. ‘She’ll be okay,’ he said softly, quietly praying that this was true.

Emily didn’t look convinced. ‘Could you call her? I tried earlier, but …’

Millie wasn’t answering Emily’s calls, Jake guessed, still imagining she knew best. When would she grow up enough to realise that you never knew what was best, no matter how old you were? That being human meant you made mistakes, and that Emily had only been trying to look out for her, albeit she might have waded in too heavily? Did Millie not think they would be worried now, wondering whether something might have happened to her? A woman had been critically injured, and then there was what had happened to Zoe. Hadn’t DS Regan said there’d been someone else other than Dean at their flat before she fell? That sent a chill right through him. Millie might not be