The Darkness Beneath, page 28
‘How convenient.’
Luke let out a sigh. ‘You’re being unreasonable, Jenna.’
‘Am I?’
‘Yes, you are. What would you have had me do? I don’t know why you’re being like this. I try to help someone out and now I’m being made out to be a bad guy.’
He was being frustratingly smooth with an answer for everything and now twisting things around, presenting himself as the victim.
‘Maybe I’m being like this because I hate being played for a fool. I know you like her, are you going to deny that?’
‘She’s a pretty lady,’ Luke admitted, ‘But you are overreacting.’
He picked at an invisible fleck of dust on the comforter and seemed to be looking for the right words for what he wanted to say next. ‘I’m off to college in ten days.’
‘I’m aware of that.’
‘And we’re going to be over five hundred miles apart.’
‘Your point is?’ Jenna asked tartly, ignoring the sliver of dread snaking its way into her belly.
‘I don’t see how things are going to work between us, especially when you’re already paranoid.’
‘I’m being paranoid with good reason.’
‘No, you’re not, and when I’m at Penn you’re going to be worrying about all of the girls I am with there.’
‘I won’t.’
‘We both know that’s a lie.’ Luke took hold of both her hands, looked at her with those vivid blue eyes she loved so much. ‘I deserve to have some freedom while I’m at college, Jenna, just as you deserve to have freedom back here. We can’t hold each other back.’
‘Are you breaking up with me?’
‘I think it’s best if we have a break from each other for a while.’
And in that moment Jenna’s world as she knew it ended.
She spent twenty minutes begging him to change his mind, even saying she would overlook the whole Sarah thing. When Luke refused to reconsider, told her his mind was firmly made up, her tears turned to anger and she kicked him out of the house.
Over the next two hours she went from shock and sadness to self-pity and mortification. How was she going to face her friends? They all knew Luke had cheated on her and now he’d dumped her. The self-pity and mortification soon manifested into bitterness and rage. She needed a target for her anger and focused on Sarah Treadwell, convinced if she hadn’t shown up in Purity her relationship wouldn’t have fallen apart.
Sarah would pay for what she had done.
Jenna spent the next two days in her PJs, refusing to leave the house, not ready to face anyone and desperate to plot her revenge against Sarah. She considered and discounted a dozen possibilities, knew she wanted to cause the woman pain and humiliation, but not actually hurt her. The idea of using the pills came to her when she was looking in the medicine cabinet for painkillers, needing to numb the blinding headache she had from her continual crying.
She looked at the bottle of laxatives, her mind working overtime, considering how she would be able to get Sarah to digest them. If they were crushed up small they could probably be disguised in food, but how would she make this work? She could hardly show up at the guesthouse bearing food gifts. She had never spoken to Sarah before and the woman probably knew she was Luke’s girlfriend, so would automatically be suspicious.
After giving it more thought, she picked up her cellphone and texted Tommy.
Are you still up for helping me? xx
It took only seconds for him to reply.
Sure. What’s up? Xx
Can you come over? xx
Fifteen minutes later she opened the door to him, forcing a bright smile.
She told him her idea as they drank from bottles of soda in the backyard.
‘I can’t do it without your help, Tommy.’
He was immediately attentive. ‘What do you need me to do?’
‘If I make the brownies, can you get them to Sarah?’
‘I can try.’
‘She likes chocolate, right?’
‘Yeah, I guess she does.’
‘So if I make a batch, crush in the pills, and give them to you, you can take them over to the guesthouse, make sure she eats one?’
‘Are you sure this is safe? We don’t want to put her in the hospital or anything.’
‘It’s perfectly safe. My mom sometimes takes them and she’s a nurse. I don’t want to hurt her, just give her an upset belly, maybe make her a little sick.’
Jenna thought of Luke, wished there was a way she could do the same to him, make him suffer for hurting her, but he would never accept brownies from her. He hadn’t been in touch at all in the last couple of days, ignoring all of her texts and calls, and she suspected she wouldn’t see or hear from him before he left for college. She would have to focus her revenge plans on Sarah.
She made the brownies on Sunday afternoon while her mom was on shift. The directions on the bottle said to take one pill, but she wanted to be sure they were effective and also that Sarah suffered a little, so she crushed four into the dough mix, sprinkling plenty of cocoa powder in and adding extra chocolate to try and disguise any taste. When they were in the oven baking, she texted Tommy and told him to come over.
‘Something smells good,’ he told her by way of greeting when she answered the door.
‘That’s the idea, but I wouldn’t recommend you eat them.’
‘You’re sure you want to do this?’ he asked as she scooped the brownies up from the oven tray, laid them neatly in a Tupperware dish.
‘Absolutely,’ Jenna told him, sealing the lid. ‘Why? Are you having second thoughts?’
‘No.’ Tommy looked annoyed she was doubting him. ‘I already said I would help you. I just wanted to check you were definitely cool with it before there’s no turning back.’
Jenna leant back against the counter, gave him her most beseeching look. He was growing into his looks and she didn’t doubt he would break hearts one day, but he was no Luke. She knew he adored her though and for that she was grateful. She was willing to throw him a carrot now and again.
‘I am definitely cool with it, if not I wouldn’t have spent the morning baking. I want you to know that I appreciate your help with this, Tommy.’ She reached up to caress his cheek, turned up her smile. ‘You’re such a good friend and I don’t know what I would do without you.’
She reached up on tiptoe, brushed her lips against his cheek, and felt him inhale sharply.
Yes, he was worth keeping around.
*
Tommy had been staying over at the guesthouse and Jenna got his message a little after five. As she got in her car she felt both giddy and nervous, the idea of finally meeting Sarah face to face making her palms clammy.
She rang the front doorbell, waited as the seconds ticked by, listening to the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks below, relieved and disappointed when it was Tommy who opened the door.
He must have sensed she was nervous and gave her a reassuring smile. ‘It’s all good,’ he whispered. ‘I showed her the brownies, told her to help herself. She said they smelt great.’
‘Where is she?’
‘In the kitchen. Why don’t we go upstairs? It will seem less suspicious if we’re not hovering around.’
Jenna peered down the hallway in the direction of the kitchen, keen to see if the brownies had yet been touched. She guessed Tommy was right though and she followed him up the stairs to the second floor, a little dubious when he opened the door to his bedroom.
She didn’t want him getting the wrong idea.
Fortunately, Clarke heard them and came bumbling down the hallway.
‘Whatcha doing?’
Tommy looked annoyed, but Jenna was relieved to see him. She never thought she would say that about Clarke Golding. The guy was odd and hard work to be around, but she figured safety in numbers. At least with Clarke present Tommy wouldn’t try anything.
‘We’re just hanging out,’ she told him, forcing a bright smile. ‘You wanna come join us?’
Tommy’s expression darkened, but Clarke seemed delighted.
‘We can play video games?’
‘Sure, why not?’ Jenna agreed, the idea of spending her evening in a geek pad about as appealing as visiting the dentist. It beat the alternative of trying to fend off Tommy if he tried to hit on her though. She wanted that like she wanted a hole in the head, but needed to keep him on her side. If he tried to kiss her and she rejected him, he could turn spiteful and tell Sarah about the brownies. She didn’t need that.
Clarke fetched his Xbox, set it up to the television in Tommy’s room. Jenna tried her best to feign interest in the racing game on screen, but her mind kept wandering to Sarah and she wondered whether the woman had yet sampled her brownies.
‘We should go check,’ she urged Tommy, as Clarke ejected the game, was preparing to insert another disc.
‘I guess we could go get a drink.’
They left Clarke to set up the new game, made their way down the hallway towards the stairs. Before they reached them a gut-wrenching scream pierced through the building.
Sarah?
Jenna paled. She wanted to see the woman vomiting or at least stuck on the toilet, but the scream didn’t sound good. It was pure agony.
Tommy’s eyes widened. ‘What’s happened? You said this was safe.’
‘It was. I swear it wasn’t supposed to hurt her.’
He raced down the stairs and Jenna followed, her legs shaking. What if Sarah was badly injured or dead? She had baked the brownies, laced them with laxatives. Would she go to jail?
The scream had come from the basement where Bella Golding housed the laundry facilities. The door was already ajar, and Tommy reached it first, peering down the steps.
Jenna noticed his face drain of color and his chin start to wobble.
‘What is it?’
When he didn’t reply she tried again. ‘What the hell is it, Tommy?’
He had no words and, as Jenna joined him in the doorway, neither did she.
Lying at the foot of the stairs, her neck twisted at an unusual angle, was Sarah. She wasn’t moving, her eyes staring towards the ceiling, blood pouring from a wound in the back of her head.
‘Shit, Jenna,’ Tommy whispered, trying to take in the scene. ‘What have we done?’
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
There was no one in the bathroom.
After Nell had calmed down from the initial shock, anger had taken over that someone had broken into the house, had violated the place where she slept. They had moved rooms for the night and Alex took a sample of the blood from the wall with him when he left the following morning. He was annoyed about the security system, keen to know how anyone had managed to bypass it. Before going to bed he had checked all of the doors and windows, finally concluding the intruder had entered through the unlocked conservatory window on the ground floor.
Nell had promised him she hadn’t left it open, could only think that one of Michael’s laborers had. Both men showed for work ten minutes after Alex had left. Nell had wondered if they would appear, given that Michael was in the hospital, but they seemed to know what they were supposed to be doing so she left them to it.
Shortly after they arrived there was a loud knock at the door.
Nell glanced back at Carlos, who was painting the hallway, hesitant to open the door after the previous night’s scare, then told herself to pull it together.
Pete Moorhouse, one of her brother’s old friends, stood on the front step. Behind him two men sat perched on the hood of a truck, having a smoke while they waited.
‘Miss O’Connor.’ Pete raised his cap, shuffling from foot to foot.
‘Hi Pete, how are you?’
‘Uh, good, thanks. I was sorry to hear about what happened to your brother.
‘Thank you.’
‘Anyway, thing is, I’ve been to visit with him. The boys and I…’ He hooked a thumb in the direction of the two men waiting behind him, who both waved a hand in greeting. ‘We want to try and help. We’re between jobs at the moment so I told Michael we would come over and put in a few days’ work on the guesthouse for you. Try to keep things ticking over while he can’t be here.’
Nell’s jaw gaped before she found a smile, surprised and touched by the offer. ‘Thank you. That’s so kind of you. I don’t know what to say.’
‘No thanks necessary, Miss O’Connor. Michael is a good man and I know he would do the same for me. We’re all mad as hell about what happened to him and we want to do our bit to help.’
‘It’s Nell, please, and thank you so much.’
She wouldn’t have had the first clue to tell them what to do, but fortunately Michael had been clear in his directions when he spoke with Pete at the hospital and his guys brought in the jackhammer, ready to tackle the concrete floor in the conservatory, where the pool was going to be.
Feeling redundant, Nell made coffees for everyone then took herself upstairs with a tin of paint to sort out the damage to her bedroom. Alex had already cleaned the blood off as best as he could, but the words were still visible and Nell wanted them gone – though even with the wall freshly painted her bedroom still felt violated.
Someone had been in here, possibly going through her stuff, kneeling on the bed where she slept. It left her feeling uncomfortable and the sooner the attic was converted and she could move upstairs, the better.
Figuring she should visit Michael, she changed out of the old paint-splattered cargo pants she had been using to work in, assessed her reflection in the bathroom mirror, scowling at the bruising around her cut lip. She spent a few minutes attempting to disguise it with powder, knowing her brother would go nuts when he learned about her fight with Curtis Milborn. He was still recovering and she didn’t want to do anything to risk raising his blood pressure.
Her efforts were wasted as her face was the first thing Michael zoned in on when she walked in the hospital room. He had been mid-conversation with Newt, who was sitting loyally by his bedside and they both glanced up hearing Nell’s footsteps.
‘Did you walk into a door?’ Michael asked sharply.
‘It’s a long story and perhaps better saved for another day.’
Newt shot her a knowing glance and she guessed he already knew some of what had happened. Word had spread quickly, probably thanks to Antonia. Her old high-school friend had a heart of gold, but did love to gossip. She wasn’t sure if he yet knew about Curtis being charged with Lizzie’s murder.
Michael held up his hands, glanced down at the bed. ‘I have time.’
Nell pulled up a chair and explained as casually as she could about confronting Curtis. She played down the swing he had taken at her, instead focusing on the part of the story where she had left him writhing in agony.
She could see Michael’s face reddening, a vein throbbing in his forehead. ‘Did you know about this?’ he fumed at Newt.
‘No, of course not… well, I might have heard a rumor.’
‘Great, just great, so you’re all keeping me in the dark again. And you both wonder why I worry.’
‘He killed Lizzie, Michael.’
‘He what?’
‘Alex arrested him and ran his prints against the knife used to stab Lizzie. He did it. He’s guilty. He confessed.’
She could see Michael needed to moment to process the news.
Newt looked shocked too. ‘Curtis killed Lizzie?’ he questioned. ‘Curtis Milborn?’
‘He did. It’s crazy, isn’t it?’
‘So, you didn’t just confront a wife beater. He’s a killer too.’
‘Look, I know you’re mad at me for getting involved between Curtis and Jenna, but if I hadn’t Alex wouldn’t have been able to link Curtis to Lizzie. He’s gonna go to jail, Michael, and the Kents finally have some closure.’
She could see her brother was torn and although he was still mad about her intervening he also understood how big a deal it was to her knowing that Lizzie’s killer had been caught after all this time.
Nell kept her visit brief, aware just looking at her bruised face was annoying him. Thankfully she hadn’t told him about the break in at the guesthouse last night. He didn’t need any other surprises to raise his blood pressure.
She would feel safer being alone if she had a gun for protection, but Alex wouldn’t hand over the weapon he had bought her, and she couldn’t blame him given her terrible aim. He had promised to take her back to the range for another practice, but he was so busy with work Nell didn’t like to push the issue. She supposed there was nothing to stop her going by herself. She wasn’t much use at the guesthouse at the moment and had the time to spare.
On a whim she turned the car around, heading down to the ferry port. She found the range okay, feeling nervous when she first walked in, but the guy on the front desk was friendly, renting her a gun and ammo, asking her if she had been before and talking her through everything. She thanked him and waited until he was gone before firing the gun, not wanting him to see her embarrassing aim. Safety glasses on, ear protectors in place, she positioned herself as Alex had taught her, lined the gun up with the bullseye and squeezed the trigger, cursing in frustration when she completely missed the target.
How could this be so difficult?
She finished the round, missing every shot, frustration bubbling up into anger. Part of her wanted to have a petulant fit and walk away, accept she couldn’t do this.
You won’t ever do it if you give up now. Don’t be a quitter.
Nell drew in a deep breath, trying to ease the knot of tension between her shoulder blades.
She wasn’t a quitter.
Forty minutes later she hit just inside the target and fist pumped the air, doing a little dance of satisfaction. She left the range knowing she wasn’t quite there yet, but her aim was improving. Unfortunately, her bank balance had taken a hit, as she had recklessly ploughed her way through ammo, but it didn’t wipe the smile off her face as she followed the country road that wound through forestland back up to the main highway.
She was singing along to the radio, a couple of miles from the shooting range, her mood brighter than it had been all day, when her tire blew, and she gripped both hands tightly on the wheel as she lost control of the car, veering sharply from one side of the road to the other, wrestling for control and swearing loudly as she edged closer to the trees at the side of the road. There was nothing she could do to avoid the collision and she squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for impact, jolting forward hard against her seatbelt as she crashed.
