New Pine Road in Forest Grove. Please come quickly.’
‘We’ll have an ambulance and the police with you soon, Melissa. Can you check your husband’s breathing for me?’
Melissa put her free hand on Patrick’s firm chest again, so familiar to her and still warm, thank God. ‘I can see he is. His chest is moving up and down but – but he’s so pale.’
‘Where is the stab wound on your husband’s body?’
‘Stomach, the right side.’
‘You’ll need to stem the bleeding,’ the operator said.
‘Get another towel, there’s some in the dryer,’ Melissa instructed Lewis. ‘My son’s getting a towel,’ she explained to the operator.
‘Good. Ask him to press it against the wound, hard.’
‘Press the towel against Dad’s wound, okay, darling?’ she asked Lewis as he pulled out a mustard-coloured towel. He sank down to the floor, his father’s blood pooling around the knees of his jeans as he pressed the towel against Patrick’s side.
‘How did this happen, Melissa?’ the operator asked.
‘I have no idea, I came home from work to find him like this. My kids had only been back five minutes; he was like this when they found him.’
‘And they didn’t call an ambulance?’
‘No. They must have been in shock,’ Melissa said.
Lilly pulled Grace close to her, leaning down to whisper something in her ear as a lock of her long caramel hair trailed over her little sister’s arm.
‘How old are they, Melissa?’ the operator asked.
‘The twins are fifteen, my youngest is ten.’
‘Can you pop the phone on speakerphone and ask the children what happened?’
Melissa did as she asked, placing the phone on her leg. ‘Guys,’ she said, fixing them all with her gaze, ‘you need to tell us exactly what happened.’
‘We found Dad like this,’ Lewis said, brown eyes darting towards the knife and away again. ‘Literally just before you walked in, Mum. We didn’t know he’d been stabbed, right?’ He looked at his sisters, who quickly nodded.
Melissa frowned. She looked over at the knife then at each of her children in turn. She had carried them within her, their fibres mixed with hers, their heartbeats matching hers. She knew them inside out.
And that was why, in that moment, she knew they were lying.
‘Okay, the ambulance is just two minutes away now,’ the operator said. ‘Just stay on the line, okay? Don’t touch anything. The police will want to seal the scene.’
Scene . . . as in crime scene.
Melissa felt nausea build inside. She looked at the kids, who all looked panicked.
In the distance, sirens suddenly punctured the air.
Grace jumped at the sound, face terrified.
‘Oh, Gracey,’ Melissa said. She beckoned her younger daughter towards her. Grace ran over, wrapping her arms around Melissa’s waist as she looked down at her father’s prone body with wide eyes. Lilly walked over and knelt down by her twin brother, the hem of her dress dipping in blood. She placed her hand over Lewis’s to help him stem their father’s blood and they exchanged a solemn look.
‘We’re all here, darling,’ Melissa said to Patrick as she leaned in close to whisper in his ear. ‘Your family are here.’
Family.
She looked at each of the children. What had happened here? Why were they acting so strangely?
There was an urgent knock on the door then. Melissa gently took Lilly’s hand, helping her lay it over the towel covering Patrick’s head wound, then she ran down the hallway, opening the front door to two paramedics. They ran into the kitchen with her and started work on Patrick as the children stepped away, going to Melissa.
She held them all close to her as she watched, struggling to comprehend that this was her husband lying before her on their kitchen floor.
Then she froze.
Where was the knife?
Chapter Four
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Thursday 18th April, 2019
4.32 p.m.
Belinda Bell
Does anybody know what’s happening on New Pine Road? Rather a lot of sirens and police cars heading that way.
Rebecca Feine
I was just walking the dog down there! I thought I heard sirens but assumed it was coming from Ashbridge.
Peter Mileham
Hope it’s nothing serious, know lots of people who live on that road :-( Tommy Mileham, have you seen this, Dad?
Ellie Mileham
I was at the park with the kids, Peter. One ambulance, two police cars. Definitely heading to New Pine Road area. Really worried. Hope everyone’s okay.