A sudden searing pain told hold as a blunt object hit me from the side. My legs weakening, I gave in to the darkness, and the last thing I remembered was a strong hand clamping around my throat, a pair of cold blue eyes piercing my soul.
The next thing I knew I was squinting as the lights flicked on, the click of the trip on the fuse box returning me to consciousness. I caught sight of Theresa sitting across from me, her eyes wide with fear. ‘Theresa,’ I moaned, my head throbbing as white starry flashes speared my sight. I blinked, trying to focus my vision as footsteps broke the silence, coming in from the other room. I swallowed back a whimper. I had not imagined the face in the window. After all these years, Luke was still alive. He loomed over me, dressed in black, laughing in response to my terrified expression. It was a thin, brittle sound, his humour failing to reach his eyes. ‘Oh come on, little puppy, you must have known this wouldn’t end well.’
I swallowed, my throat tight as I realised my hands and feet were bound just like my sister’s. I still held the memory of the pressure of his thumbs on my windpipe as he had clamped down hard and squeezed. All that time I had craved his touch, and yet it had ended like this.
Luke circled me like a shark as he explained the motive behind his presence. ‘It’s time for you to face up to what you’ve done.’
‘What do you want?’ I said, knowing that screaming was pointless. Out here in the windswept landscape, there was nobody to hear.
‘What do I want? You tried to kill me. You must have known I’d come back one day. I planned it well, don’t you think?’ he said, his eyes flashing under the light of the bulb hanging overhead. ‘The flowers, silent phone calls, slipping in after hours to slash that wedding dress.’
‘It was you who let Jamie out of the car,’ I said, the fear of that day rising up to greet me. Thank God Alex had taken him away.
‘I can take credit for most of those things, but I wouldn’t hurt a child. You can thank your own stupidity for that one.’
As Luke’s words filtered in, I remembered back to that day: it was raining, I was late. Had I pressed the wrong button on the car key and blamed it on him instead? I hadn’t been looking. My fingers were wet. All at once, I knew that I had been the one to blame.
Luke paced the room, taking pleasure from his captive audience. ‘I have a lot of plans for my son. Only there’s one problem with that, isn’t there? Your husband’s taken him away.’
I sucked in a breath, fighting against my bindings as I tried to break free. How did he know? I hadn’t told anyone about what happened that day. Had he worked out the timings, come back for his child? The thought of Jamie brought my protective instinct to the forefront. I had to get away. I pushed my head back against the chair as I tried to wriggle free. I squirmed as Luke’s face entered my field of vision, his breath tainted with alcohol and cigarettes. His proximity made me shrink back. I had to face up to the past because even if I got away, what would I say? Nobody would believe me, certainly not my husband, that much I knew. He had made his feelings apparent the minute he walked out the door.
‘Theresa,’ Luke said, tearing his gaze away from me as he turned to my sister. ‘I was just having a little chat with Emma here. What’s it they say? “Beware the person who stabs you then tells the whole world they’re bleeding”?’ He touched the back of his head, his gaze returning to me. ‘If I only knew what a fucked-up little girl you were when we met. I lost everything because of you.’
Theresa struggled against her bindings as she muffled a helpless cry.
‘Let her go,’ I said, wincing from the pain of my sudden blow. ‘Please. This has nothing to do with her. I’ll take what’s coming to me but you’ve got to let my sister go.’
‘I don’t have to do anything,’ Luke said, walking towards her and loosening the scarf around her face. ‘So what do you think, Theresa?’ he said, a bemused smile on his lips.
She licked her lips, her eyes narrowed with determination. ‘I think she’s right,’ she said, clearing her throat. ‘Do what you want with her. Just let me go.’
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX
EMMA
2017
‘There’s no reason we can’t wipe the slate clean.’ I wriggled against my bindings. ‘Please, Luke, just let me go.’ My gaze fell to the container in Luke’s hands.
He exposed his teeth in a narrow smile. ‘How did it feel, falling victim when nobody believed you? Because that’s how it was with me. No matter how much I protested my innocence, I still had to leave my job. Your infatuation clung to me like a stinking boil.’ Placing the container on the floor, he began to unscrew the lid. ‘Well, now it’s time to give that boil a good lancing.’
The smell of petrol rose in the air, making fear chill the blood in my veins. ‘No,’ I said. ‘Please. I don’t deserve this.’ I knew what was coming. Luke was recreating the fire I had lit in the past, only this time my father would not be there to save me. After listening to Theresa, he had replaced her gag. She had been frightened, that was all. Surely she had not meant what she said?
Luke jabbed his finger to his chest as he leaned over me, expelling spittle with his words. ‘Did you really think I’d just forgive and forget?’
‘What do you want from me?’ I shouted, trying to buy some time. I knew he wanted to make this look like I had struck the match. I imagined Luke, encompassed by hatred and disgust, plotting to teach me some elaborate lesson with far darker things in mind.
‘An eye for an eye, isn’t that what the Bible says? You used to go to church, didn’t you? Did you stop because of me? Perhaps now is a good time to say your prayers.’ He picked up the container and began splashing its contents around the room. My eyes watered as the fumes filled the air.
‘Wait,’ I begged for the second time. ‘Please, Luke, let my sister go.’
Theresa worked the gag loose from her mouth as she rubbed her chin on her shoulder. ‘Luke, listen to me,’ she said, her words suddenly commanding. ‘I wish you’d approached me from the start, because I agree with you.’ She nodded in my direction. ‘Everything that went wrong in my life is because of her. You’ll be doing me a favour, now she’s signed over the business to me.’
Luke raised an eyebrow at this sudden act of betrayal. ‘You’re not serious,’ he said.
But Theresa was not going to stop now. ‘You said it yourself. She’s poison. Why do you think I let you friend me on Facebook?’ She paused, delivering the parting shot sure to win him over. ‘She’s not fit to raise a kid, but I am.’
I stared horrified as Luke nodded in agreement. ‘So you knew that was me?’ A ghost of a smile played on his lips.
‘Yes,’ Theresa said. ‘But first get rid of any evidence you were here. Alex is on his way back, but the tide should hold him for now. When he gets here, I’ll say I went out to the shops and when I returned, I was beaten back by the flames. It makes a lot more sense for her to be torched rather than the both of us. Don’t forget, I can help you get Jamie back.’
‘I don’t even know if he’s really mine, not for sure,’ Luke said, which proved he had not really thought beyond this day.
‘He is,’ Theresa said. ‘Alex had a DNA test done.’
‘No!’ I screamed, unable to believe what I was hearing. ‘This is murder. Theresa, how could you!’ But as he untied my sister, my words fell on deaf ears. I screamed and cried until I’d exhausted myself. It was like I wasn’t there.
‘Don’t pour it on her directly,’ Theresa warned, as he sloshed the last of the accelerant around me. ‘We have to keep it like it was before.’