Trust Me - Sheryl Browne Page 0,112

into an inferno, as well as historical events that were painful for both of them – he picked up his car keys. Opening the front door to let Millie out before him, he gave her shoulders a squeeze as they walked towards his car.

Millie was quiet for a while on the journey. Eventually she turned to him. ‘I’m sorry I told Ben about Lewis being his father,’ she said, almost blurting it out, as if she’d had to summon her courage.

Jake reached for her hand. ‘It’s okay, Millie,’ he said, squeezing it. ‘He had to know.’

‘Yes, but it should have come from Mum, not me. I should have thought about it, been more mature.’

‘You were distraught, Mils. We all were.’ Pulling up outside Anna’s house, Jake took a breath. ‘We can’t undo things, Millie, but we can learn from them. I think that’s the lesson to take from this, don’t you? The mature thing to do?’

Millie nodded, but Jake guessed from her expression that she would still beat herself up for some time to come. ‘Are you sure you’ll be okay?’ he asked.

She took a second, and then nodded firmly. ‘I’m fine,’ she lied – for his sake, he guessed. ‘I need some space, to try and get my life back, you know?’

Jake nodded in turn. He understood, but knew she had a long journey ahead – it wouldn’t be easy for her to get over what had happened. He was reluctant to let her out of his sight, but smothering her wouldn’t help her rebuild her confidence. They were just going to have to trust her to tread carefully in future. ‘Remember, if you need to talk about anything, anything at all, I’m listening.’

She glanced at him. ‘I know,’ she said, and then surprised him by leaning over to give him a neck-breaking hug. ‘Remember, if you need to talk, whatever shit’s happening between you and Mum, I’m there for you too.’

Hearing her sounding more like the spirited Millie he knew, Jake felt some of his apprehension abate a little.

‘Love you,’ she said, turning to open her door.

‘Love you right back,’ he said throatily as she climbed out. ‘Remember to call your mum when you need a lift home.’

‘I will.’ Closing the door, Millie gave him a wave and then turned towards Anna, who was standing on the doorstep waiting for her.

Guessing that she wasn’t going anywhere else – that she had learned from her experience and hopefully wouldn’t easily make the same mistake again – Jake breathed a sigh of relief and drove on to the hospital. He wanted to visit Edward, who was making a good clinical recovery, thank God. He also wanted to check on Natasha, who hadn’t yet regained consciousness, and bring himself up to speed with her expected prognosis. He’d been hugely relieved to hear that Zoe had been brought out of her medically induced coma. She was still under ICU observation, but the swelling had been considerably reduced, thereby reducing pressure on her brain and preventing secondary injury. Dean had sounded nothing but relieved when he’d called him. Jake very much doubted he’d had anything to do with her fall. All he could hope was that Zoe would remember enough to exonerate him.

Parking in the hospital car park, he texted Emily, telling her how long he expected to be, and then walked to the main entrance.

‘Dr Merriden,’ someone called as he approached it.

Looking up, his stomach knotted nervously as he saw DS Regan.

‘I just wondered whether you were aware of any other letters sent out that we might not know of?’ she asked when she reached him.

Thinking she might have been about to mention the explosion, possibly asking him his whereabouts, Jake felt relief flood through him. ‘None that I’ve heard about,’ he said, guessing she would be thinking that someone might have confided in him. ‘I take it you’re not making much headway?’

‘Not much, no.’ She sighed disappointedly. ‘We’ll keep on it, but I’m afraid we’re coming up with nothing forensically yet. I’ll let you know if we do.’

‘Thanks.’ Jake smiled his appreciation, though with Millie and Emily in mind, he was praying it might all just fade away. ‘Any idea what might have caused the car workshop fire?’ he asked, holding her gaze and hoping to Christ she couldn’t read anything in his eyes.

Regan shook her head. ‘Looks like it was an unfortunate accident,’ she said. ‘There were cigarette and spliff ends littering the forecourt. It seems Lewis was fond of