Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
Gemma
Ethan marches across the lane and I almost slip on some ice as I try to catch him up.
The dog drags him while whimpering, eager to get back home after its ordeal.
I glance up and, once again, Ray is looking out of his bedroom window right at me.
I guess he heard the barking and wondered what the hell was going on.
Zoe walks up the path with her hound and she stops at the lamppost, where the dog relieves itself.
This is turning into a nightmare. We’re a spectacle once again.
I slip and slide on the ice all the way to Quinn’s drive.
Ethan has barely said anything to me since I told him I heard a person, not a dog, in our house. ‘Ethan, slow down.’
‘Quinn or Harry were at our house. It’s their dog. They heard me coming, hurried out and forgot their dog somehow.’
The security light comes on as we near Quinn’s front door.
Does he know how absurd that sounds? I do, but then again, I can’t explain why their dog was in our house. Why would anyone break into someone’s house and bring a dog?
He hammers on their door constantly. The lights are on but no one answers. Footsteps get louder behind me. I turn. ‘Quinn, Harry,’ I say.
Ethan turns. ‘Okay, so which one of you broke into our house? Actually, don’t bother. You forgot your dog.’
Quinn’s brows furrow, and Harry bends down and ruffles the dog’s fur before taking the lead from Ethan. Quinn takes a step back from my angry husband. ‘Ethan, let’s talk about this calmly,’ she says.
‘Calmly. Okay, let’s start.’ His voice quietens. ‘Letters, worms, and now a dog in our house. Quinn, what’s going on?’
I didn’t tell him about the article secreted in the hamper.
There’s no way I could. Why did I allow us to come here only to be confronted by the past I wanted to forget?
I guess in my mind, I thought everyone from the past would have moved on, but no, Ray recognises me and Quinn is still here.
And there were maybe others I don’t remember.
‘I don’t know.’ Quinn shrugs.
Harry stands and blinks a couple of times. ‘Diggerty was in the garden and he dug another hole. Mum and I have been looking for him for half an hour now. We don’t know how he got into your house.’
‘Right, I’m sure you don’t.’ Ethan rolls his eyes.
It sounds reasonable to me. I can’t imagine Quinn sneaking around our house in the heeled boots she’s wearing. She’d have been clip-clopping all over the place, and I didn’t hear that sound above me.
Ethan continues. ‘Are you trying to get rid of us? I know you were close to Dorette. She mentored you.’
Wait, how does Ethan know about the mentoring? I haven’t told him what Quinn and I talked about. He must have spoken to her when he was working on the apartment.
He’s waving his arms as he speaks. ‘You wanted the house, didn’t you?
Dorette had no more living relatives except Gemma; you were probably like a daughter to her so you thought it should be yours and now you’re angry that she didn’t leave it to you.
You’re so angry, you’re sidling up to Gemma, sending horrible letters to everyone and making them think we sent them and now this.
You’re trying to scare us away, all because you’re livid that the house isn’t yours.
Is this not enough for you?’ He points at her huge house.
Tears stream down Quinn’s cheeks.
I can’t believe Ethan said all that. I feel as though I don’t know him at all. Harry steps closer to his mum and puts his arms around her. ‘Leave my mum alone.’ Harry looks scared and blinks repeatedly.
Everyone is scared of Ethan and I am too. ‘Ethan, leave it.’
‘No. There is something sick about this lane and these people,’ he shouts, knowing that at the very least Zoe would have heard. ‘I tell you what, for whoever’s listening or curtain twitching,’ his voice is louder still, ‘Hurt my family, I will kill you.’
Quinn holds Harry closely.
I turn my head and my heart sinks when I see a police officer standing behind us with his radio in one hand. ‘Come with me please, sir.’
Ethan lets out a frustrated roar and follows the officer back up Quinn’s drive.
I place a gentle hand on Quinn’s arm. ‘I’m really sorry, Quinn. I know you wouldn’t have broken into our house.’ I wonder now if she’ll ever want to see me again.
She smiles sympathetically. ‘It’s okay. I’d be upset if someone broke into our house but it wasn’t us.
Diggerty escaped, he escapes a lot, but he always comes when we call him.
Someone took our dog, and they must have left him in your house.
Whoever’s playing with you is playing with me too, and I’m scared.
Please take care, Gemma. We don’t know how dangerous this person might be.
Call me if you need anything, and I’m sure Ethan will calm down soon. ’
Harry paces by the door with the dog, and I hear Ethan’s voice coming from the lane. I need to find out what’s going on. Quinn places a protective arm around her son.
‘I’m glad you called the police,’ Quinn says.
‘Maybe they can get to the bottom of all this.’ I think she can tell I’m itching to leave but I don’t want to go until I know Quinn and I are definitely okay.
‘Go,’ she says. ‘You need to be with him and please tell him that I’d never do anything to hurt you all. ’
‘Thanks, Quinn.’
I leave her and hurry back. There is a police car parked outside ours. Ethan has calmed down now and they’re talking so I join them.
‘Gemma, the kind officer is going to take a look at the house, check the rest of it to see if there is anyone still in there.’
I let out a slow breath, relieved that the police officer believes us – well that and the fact that he doesn’t seem to be taking Ethan to the station for threatening to kill all the neighbours.
I think he can see this is all because we’re frustrated and upset.
As we head to ours, I glance back at Ray’s house again and he appears at the end of his drive.
He’s lurking in the darkness with a grin on his face.
He almost blends into the side of his hedge, but I can tell he wanted me to see him.
It wasn’t Quinn and maybe it wasn’t Tessa’s nephew, James.
Ray has it in for us, or should I say, me.
He remembers the past and he remembers me and what I did.
Quinn and I thought it would be funny to spray paint one of the huge pond ornaments in that garden pink.
My heart sinks when I think back to Aunt Dorette telling me that someone had vandalised a neighbour’s pond and that the spray paint had killed most of the fish.
I didn’t want to go into that garden but I did because Quinn said it would be funny and, wanting her approval, I went along with it.
I’m as much to blame and I can’t go back in time and change things, but I realise that Ray is a man who never forgets.
He remembers everything. That’s what was said in the hamper note.
I wonder if he knows everything about the day Jasmine disappeared.
I’m still standing on the pavement. Zoe passes with her dog and nods at me as she heads back towards where she lives.
It’s just me and Ray, here alone on the street. No one else would see him if they walked by, but I can see the whites of his eyes and the outline of his face as the moonlight catches it.
He steps out from the hedge. ‘Go back to where you came from, Gemma. Go back before it’s too late.’