Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
EMMA
H e looked at me like I’d accused him of first-degree murder. Then all hell broke loose as he marched out of the room, shouting to speak to Alma. I wanted to follow him, to see what was happening, but I wasn’t that steady on my feet, and I was only wearing the damn T-shirt they’d put me in. So I stayed where I was, determined to use the time to get myself together and ready to leave.
I could hear him shouting down the hallway, and I stood on shaky legs, listening for a while. Then, I noticed my clothes, freshly laundered, on a chair beside the door, and I picked them up and walked towards the bathroom to lock myself inside.
Once I was in the bathroom, I took the quickest shower I’d ever taken, then put my clothes on, feeling a little stronger with each passing minute. Every now and then, though, I couldn’t help but touch my neck, flashbacks burning me with shame and anger.
Why was he stalking me, even in my nightmares?
None of this was fucking fair.
I didn’t deserve his wrath, and I hoped to God that he’d burn in hell and leave me the fuck alone.
Tentatively, I unlocked the bathroom door. The room was still empty, so I crept towards the door to leave. As I stepped out and began to head down the corridor, I could hear voices shouting. I reached the staircase, grabbing the banister tightly to help me stay upright as my head swirled and my legs threatened to collapse beneath me with the effort of walking. As I began to descend, I saw Alma march across the foyer with her coat on and a bag slung over her shoulders.
“Thirty-eight years I’ve worked here,” she barked. “And you believe her word over mine? It’s disgusting what you’re accusing me of.”
I froze, moving to stand against the wall so they wouldn’t see me on the stairs.
“The facts speak for themselves,” Alex snarled, coming into view as he stormed towards her. “I invited a guest into my home, and she was injured. The only person who I can attribute any responsibility for that happening to her is you. You served the tea that she drank right before she passed out. She was fine up until that point. And I knew, I knew in my gut that something was wrong. So, I’ll ask you again, is there anything you want to tell me?”
As he advanced towards her, she backed up towards the door.
“I don’t have to answer to you,” she spat. “And I’m not going to stand here and listen to your ridiculous accusations and defend myself because I don’t have to. My reputation and my work ethic here has always been first-class. It speaks for itself. I won’t stay here for a second longer and have you tarnish my good name. Good luck finding a housemaid as conscientious as I am.” And with that, she turned and walked out the door, slamming it behind her.
I didn’t know how to feel about her leaving. She said she’d worked here for thirty-eight years. That had to mean something. But Alex was right; something must have been put into that tea.
Was she really the one that drugged me?
I started to walk down the stairs again, and catching movement out of the corner of his eye, Alex turned to face me.
“You fired her,” I stated, not sure what else to say. “After thirty-eight years, you just fired her.”
“She failed in her care,” he stated plainly. “She’s lucky that’s all I did.”
“But you don’t know for sure it was her.” My throat went dry, and my stomach rolled as I replied, “You poured the tea. You had your back to me. How do I know it wasn’t you who drugged me?”
He gasped. “For fuck’s sake, Emma. I wouldn’t do that. And I know my word means fuck all right now, but Jesus, I’m not a fucking monster.”
“I don’t know anything anymore,” I said, holding the staircase rail to keep me steady. “For all I know you could be S.K.A.M., sending me threatening emails and... other stuff.”
“I saw the article in the newspaper about you being harassed.” His face screwed up in disbelief. “But I thought that was just paper talk. Gold exaggerating to make a bigger story.” He glanced up at me in confusion as he took a step closer. “Has he really threatened you?”
“Yes. I’ve been threatened and I’m truly scared of him. I’m scared for my life. I’m scared right now if you really want to know.”
Alex blew out a breath and walked forward, sitting down on the last step of the stairs.
“I had no idea it was that bad.” He ran his fingers through his hair and then threw his head back and said, “Fuck! No wonder you don’t trust me. You don’t trust anyone. And why should you?”
“I just want to go home,” I stated, staying frozen to the step I was standing on, hoping he’d move to let me pass and let me go.
“I hate to think of you being scared. The last thing I’d ever want is to hurt you or make you feel like you weren’t safe with me. I know actions speak louder than words, but trust me, I intend to show you through every fucking action I can that I’d never harm you. I might like his art, but that doesn’t mean I have to like everything he does, especially not this.”
“And what about Sirius Bell?” I asked, and Alex’s brows shot up.
“What about him?”
“I’m not stupid. I know S.K.A.M. was involved in that. I know... details about the killing. But I also know, he had to have an accomplice to do what he did.”
“And let me guess, you think that was me?” Alex looked shocked, then distraught. “That murder happened on Sunday night, maybe the early hours of Monday morning. Sunday night, I was at charity event to raise money for the homeless. I spent the night in the hotel where the event took place. There are witnesses that can attest to that and CCTV that can prove I didn’t leave the hotel until nine thirty the next morning. The same morning that I got a message from you to tell me you’d left the newspaper. If it makes you feel better, I can drive us to the hotel right now to watch the CCTV. I know the owner; he’ll give me access.”
He was so adamant, so convincing in his words, that I wanted to believe him. And he said he had proof that he was willing to show me.
Why would he go to those lengths to lie?
It had to be the truth.
“You’ve been threatened,” he went on, “And now you’ve been drugged. I feel ashamed for what has happened. But I wasn’t the one to do this. I invited you here because...” He paused and stared up at me, his eyes penetrating like he wanted to break through my walls and soothe my fracturing soul. “I like you, Emma. I enjoyed meeting you at the gallery, and I wanted to get to know you better. So, I asked you here with the intention of helping your career, but I can’t deny, I had an ulterior motive. Maybe I was selfish, but I wanted to get you alone so I could be with you. Talk to you.”
“Drug me?”
“No! I’d rather drug myself than you.”
I didn’t know what to think, but I knew one thing, I really wanted to leave.
“Please let me go,” I said quietly, starting to make my way down the stairs.
He sighed, his jaw clenched, and then he said, “I’ll drive you.”
“I’ll walk.”
“The next house is miles away. It’ll take you all day to walk back to Merivale.”
I was stubborn, but I was also weak. My legs wouldn’t make it to the end of his driveway with how unsteady they felt.
“Fine. I’ll get in the car with you on one condition,” I stated.
“Which is?”
“You give me a knife so I can defend myself if I need to.”
“Are you serious?” he spat.
“Deadly. It’s the only way you’ll get me into the car.”
“Fine.”
He stalked off, leaving me to stand in the foyer. Moments later, he returned with a carving knife and held the blade as he offered me the handle.
“Whatever makes you feel safe,” he said, and then he strode past me.
Alex walked to the door and held it open. Clutching the knife in my hand, I stepped forward and walked towards him, then sidled past him through the doorway to head outside. There was a black sports car parked on the drive, and I followed Alex as he went down the steps heading towards it. Then he opened the passenger door for me to get in.
“You’re such a gentleman,” I remarked with a hint of sarcasm as I climbed in.
“I am. And I’ll do whatever it takes to prove that,” he replied, carefully closing my door before walking around the car to get into the driver’s side
The engine roared to life, and I began to tell him, “My address for the Sat Nav is...”
But he cut me off.
“I already know where you live.”
“Of course you do,” I replied as he pulled off, racing down the drive of his estate. “Why did I expect anything less?”
We drove in silence for a while as I held the knife in my lap, and I could tell he wanted to say something, he kept flexing his jaw and sighing.
Eventually, he said, “I don’t want this to be the end.”
“I don’t want to feel frightened every day, but we don’t always get what we want.”
He turned to look at me before focusing on the road ahead.
“I’m here for you. I’ll always be here,” he told me.
“I think I need to focus on getting my life sorted,” I replied. “I just want to be left alone.”
He didn’t answer. Just carried on driving.
I took my phone from my bag that I’d put in the footwell of the car and started to scroll to find Gracie’s number. As I did, Alex said, “I hope you don’t mind, but I unlocked your phone when you were unconscious.”
“You did what?” I snapped.
Were there any more surprises he was going to hit me with today?
“It wasn’t for anything bad. Honestly. I wanted to let your family know you were unwell, but I couldn’t find any contacts for them. But I saw that the last message you’d sent, apart from the one you sent to me, was to someone called Gracie. So, I tried calling her, but I only got her voicemail. I left a few messages. I tried to reach out to your loved ones, Emma. That’s all. Would I do that if I was the bad guy here?”
“I guess not,” I answered, feeling conflicted and a whole lot concerned that Gracie hadn’t called back. It wasn’t like her. Something wasn’t right.
At the same time, I was still pissed off that he’d been through my phone, but I suppose he was doing the right thing. At least, that explanation made sense. And when I looked at my message thread to Gracie, I saw he’d typed out, ‘Please call Emma. This is her friend, Alex, and she’s been taken ill. I don’t want to worry you, but I wanted to reach out to someone to let them know she’s safe and being taken care of. Hope to speak to you soon.’ My call log also showed fifteen calls to Gracie’s number; none of them had connected.
“My parents aren’t here anymore,” I told him, the ice in my veins slowly thawing at the realisation that maybe he wasn’t as bad as I’d thought.
“I know,” he replied in a solemn tone. “I did a little more research after going through your phone. You’re an orphan like me.”
God, why did him saying that make my heart hurt?
“I’m not happy that you went through my phone,” I said, ignoring his last comment. “Even if it was to help.” I was still berating him, but my anger was starting to wane.
In response, he took his phone out of the inside pocket of his jacket and handed it to me.
“You can go through mine if it makes you feel better.”
“It wouldn’t,” I said, and then an idea struck me, and I asked, “But what’s your passcode?” If I could look through his contacts and messages, I could see if there was anything from S.K.A.M., provided he hadn’t deleted it.
“It’s four, two, nine, three,” he told me with confidence.
I tapped the numbers on the screen and started to check his messages and emails. But after going through his phone with a fine-tooth comb, I found nothing, so I placed it in the centre of the console and sat back.
“Happy?” he asked.
“No. You probably have multiple phones.”
“I am never going to win, am I?” He sighed.
“And I’m never gonna drop my guard,” I replied.
We pulled up outside my house about twenty minutes later, and Alex shut off the engine and grabbed his phone from where I’d left it on the console. He had no intention of dropping me at the kerb and driving away, that was clear. He was going to get out and walk me to my door.
“I’ll be fine,” I said. “You don’t have to get out.” But he just scoffed and opened his door.
I got out of the car, still holding the knife and feeling a little steadier on my feet now.
“You can leave me here, I can make it to my door,” I said, but he didn’t listen, just gestured to the path that our little row of houses shared and said, “After you.”
I was done arguing, so I huffed and walked ahead, rooting through my bag for my front door key. Once we reached my front step, I turned and said, “I’ve got it from here.” Expecting him to leave, but he didn’t.
“I’ll leave when you’re inside your house and this door is closed,” he stated firmly.
I put the key in the lock.
Turned it and pushed the door open.
And what I saw made me cry out as my living room came into view.