Trust Me - Sheryl Browne Page 0,86

for herself, she would be going through withdrawal symptoms: aches and pains, mood swings, poor sleep, feeling that people were out to get her – him, mainly – even hallucinations. She would be terrified dealing with that on her own, which was all thanks to him.

Taking her aside after delivering her blood sample, he’d asked her if she wanted any medication to help ease the symptoms of coming off amphetamines. She’d refused – she couldn’t trust her GP, after all, could she? Christ, he wished he’d handled things better, taken a step back and looked at things less emotively. He’d said she was being paranoid. She was. It was obvious why now, but his reaction hadn’t helped. He’d immediately been defensive, which could only have fuelled her fears, and he’d made some brutal accusations. He was losing her. Because of his own inexcusable behaviour, his world was disintegrating. He would lose his kids too, the only family he’d felt he’d ever had. His gut wrenched as he felt it again, the loneliness that had been his constant companion until he’d met Emily, the woman he’d felt safe opening up to, the woman he loved. He always had. There didn’t seem any way to convince her of that now. She was deeply suspicious of him. He couldn’t escape the fact that she was right to be.

Checking his phone in the hope of a reply and finding none, he sighed in despair and toyed with the idea of ringing Ben and asking him to check on her; then decided against it. His son wasn’t busting a gut to speak to him either. He’d rejected his two previous calls, making his point succinctly. Jake didn’t blame him. He was very aware of the bewilderment and anger Ben would be feeling, the impotency of watching his parents’ marriage disintegrate and knowing there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Not sure whether Millie would be keen to talk to him either, he debated for a second, then braced himself and called her. He was surprised when she answered. ‘Hey,’ he said uncertainly. ‘How’s things?’

‘Not great,’ Millie replied bluntly. ‘Not likely to be, really, are they?’

Jake’s heart dropped. What else had he expected her to say? ‘Not out with the boyfriend tonight then?’ he asked, careful to keep any hint of disapproval from his voice. He had no idea who it was she was seeing, and despite telling Emily she was overreacting, that she should allow Millie to make her own mistakes, he’d been quietly worrying. Emily had said he was older. Jake had begun to wonder how much older. And how long Millie had been seeing him. If it was serious, it had occurred to him also to wonder why they knew nothing about him. DS Regan obviously hadn’t contacted her yet. Jake was pretty sure Millie would have shared that information if she had.

‘No. Did you want to speak to Mum?’ She cut the subject dead, sending a ripple of apprehension down his spine. ‘She’s lying down so her phone’s probably off. I could go and get her if you like.’

‘No, don’t disturb her. She’s still struggling with this viral infection,’ Jake lied, for Emily’s sake. He doubted she would want the kids to know about the amphetamines. ‘Could you give her a message for me? I texted her but she might not have seen it.’

‘Shoot,’ Millie said.

‘Could you tell her that in light of the possible break-ins here, I’m spending the night at the surgery?’

Millie went quiet. ‘Break-ins?’ she repeated curiously after a second.

‘Looks like it.’ Jake sighed tiredly. ‘The CCTV out back was smashed. The security firm have supplied an urgent replacement, but—’

‘When?’ Millie cut in. ‘I mean, when were you broken into?’

‘A couple of nights back. Other occasions before then. I’m not sure—’

‘What did they take?’ Again Millie interrupted him.

‘Drugs.’ Jake guessed it wouldn’t hurt to tell her. ‘Why else break into a doctor’s surgery?’

‘Shit,’ Millie responded after a second, sounding shocked. ‘Are you going to the police?’

‘Not yet,’ Jake said. He couldn’t tell her why he wasn’t; that he wanted to be sure he wasn’t implicating her mother. There was no way Emily would be up to answering questions from the police right now, and there were bound to be some. ‘I’ll have to eventually, but I’m hoping the new camera will pick something up.’

‘Is there no chance of retrieving anything from the old one?’ Millie asked.

‘I’m not sure. The security firm’s taking a look. They’re getting back to