Trust Me - Sheryl Browne Page 0,75

have turned to her, not so long ago. And she to him. She was tempted to say, You remember you have a daughter then?, but refrained. The pain he was causing her was excruciating – she felt as if her heart was tearing apart inside her – but she didn’t want to hurt him back. ‘She texted me,’ she said. ‘She said she’d be back later.’

Closing his eyes, Jake nodded. His relief this time was palpable. He loved his daughter. Ben, too. She could never do anything to damage his relationship with them. She couldn’t lie for him, though, either. He must know that.

‘But she still hasn’t given you any information about the boyfriend?’ he asked hopefully.

Emily shook her head. ‘She’ll have to if the police need to know, though, won’t she?’ She desperately didn’t want Millie dragged into any of this, but she was beginning to think it might be a blessing in disguise if she was forced to disclose more information about the man, such as who he was and where he lived. Emily needed to know. She needed to protect her daughter. The cold foreboding in the pit of her stomach told her she did.

Jake nodded. ‘She won’t have much choice,’ he said, searching her eyes, a kaleidoscope of emotion in his own: confusion, despair, frustration.

‘I’d better get on and make sure Tom’s office is available for Sally to use.’ Emily moved towards the door. She couldn’t stand here, so close to the man she loved, with this vast space between them. The man who once would have soothed away her worries with soft kisses, whose comforting embrace around her would have made her feel safe. She’d thought he was her rock, that he would catch her if ever she fell. And now … Did he realise she was clinging on by her fingernails? Would he be there if she let go?

‘Emily, wait.’ He stepped towards her. ‘There’s something else,’ he said, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes.

She looked at him cautiously.

‘I tried to talk to you about it last night. Clumsily, stupidly. I wasn’t thinking straight. I was tired, overwrought after what happened with Jennifer Wheeler. And then when we argued, I …’ He faltered, kneaded his forehead and looked back at her. ‘I need you to take another blood test,’ he announced.

She stared at him, stunned. ‘You’re not serious?’ She struggled to get the words past the constriction in her throat.

Jake locked his gaze on hers. ‘Deadly.’

‘A drugs test?’ She felt every sinew in her body tighten. ‘You actually think that I’m self-medicating? Writing out my own prescriptions? Or am I stealing drugs from the safe, Jake, is that it?’

‘Emily …’ He glanced over his shoulder. ‘Please just hear me out.’

Clearly he was worried the police might overhear. Let them. He was insane. Or else he really was trying to drive her insane. Emily had heard enough.

‘Let me past, Jake,’ she said, sure that the contempt in her eyes must be obvious. She didn’t care. What was it he wanted? For her to attempt suicide? Tears welling up so fast they almost choked her, she tried to step round him.

‘Emily, don’t.’ He caught hold of her arms. ‘Just listen to me, will you?’

He was keeping his voice low. So she would be seen as the volatile, drugged-up, aggressive one? ‘Let me go.’ She tried to pull away. Whatever she’d done, she wouldn’t stay here to be tortured by him.

‘Jesus! Listen to me.’ Jake only held her tighter. ‘If you’re not self-medicating, someone is feeding you these drugs, do you understand?’

Emily stopped struggling, blinked uncomprehendingly at him.

‘Amphetamines.’ His face was pale, his eyes fearful. ‘You’re being poisoned, Emily. You have to take another blood test.’

Twenty-Nine

‘There’s no way I’m letting Sally take my blood,’ Emily said, looking shakily at Jake over the glass of water he’d fetched her. She half expected him to say Why? or It’s not Sally, such was his propensity to jump to the woman’s defence.

But he didn’t. Nodding instead, he reached to relieve her of the glass, placed it on the table and went to collect the appropriate equipment to take the specimen himself.

‘Who would do such a thing?’ she asked him as he helped bare her arm and attached the tourniquet, all of which he did calmly and efficiently.

You? she wondered, icy fingers tugging at her heart as she noticed the taut set of his jaw, the small tic playing agitatedly at his cheek. Might he be capable of it? The