He smiles gratefully.
"She told me you had my back. I appreciate that. Thank you. Anyway, she ran off in a huff when I told her there was no way she was going out with him, I followed her back to her room, we had it out, I confessed everything to her. I told her about Brett killing my Mom and Sister and…."
"Wait, what the fuck?"
Samantha looks horrified. He maybe shouldn’t have dropped that in just like that.
"That's a story for another day. Where was I? Oh yeah, I told her everything, about how he forced me to break it off with her, we made it up. I can’t wait to make up with her properly. We have got two days of passionate sex to make up for."
"Ugh. I don't want to know about that Curls, get on with the story."
At least she was starting to sound more like her normal self.
"She told me about your fight and how you had been sticking up for me, then she realised you would be at work doing the shift. She flew into a panic thinking about you being anywhere near Brett so we went to the club to check on you. He was there with that sick smirk telling us he had taken you home."
She wrinkles her nose in disgust.
"He must have returned to work cool as a cucumber after kidnapping me and knocking me out. He is seriously deranged."
She could have won a trophy for understatement of the year.
"Oh you don't know the half of it. So we ran back to your room to check on you, I broke your door down and we found a note on the bed. A picture of you knocked out cold, I recognised the house and realised he had taken you here. So now you know everything we know, and we need to get out of here fast."
She shakes her head in confusion.
"Wait, where is Louise now?"
He knew guilt crossed his face as she asked the question.
"I uh, I sort of locked her in her room. She kept begging me to call the cops but I knew if we did that then, well… OK , I am going to be really blunt here, But I thought if we called the police then Brett might snap and kill you. So I locked her in her room and legged it over here."
"And you have no idea where Brett is?"
He gives a slight shake of the head.
"No clue, I thought he would have been here, lying in wait for me."
Samantha lets out a little cry. At first he thinks the pain is getting too much, but then he realises it’s something else.
"Drew, what if this is the trap? What if he knew you would try to play the hero and he was waiting for you to go so he could get to Louise."
He suddenly felt like he was the main cast in a horror movie he had no idea he was appearing in.
"What? No. No… it can't be… he wouldn't know I locked her in her room. No, she's safe. Now let's get out of here and go and check on her."
"You sound pretty worried for a man who is convinced she's safe."
He props an arm around Samantha to help her balance. She was very weak and needed a huge amount of support to walk a few steps.
"No, she's fine. I know she is. Come on, we need to go."
They slowly make our way to the front room.
"Can't you go any faster?" He didn’t mean to growl at her.
"Believe it or not Curls, this bump on the head is real, I can barely see straight let alone walk straight. Cut me some slack?"
"You're right. I'm sorry."
They both jump back as keys turn in the front door. This was it, Brett was here. It was too late for him to tell Samantha to go out the back, he had already walked through and seen them. He pulls her closer knowing she is unsteady. He had to be able to protect her just in case.
Brett turned the light on, the smirk on his face was clearly visible now. He was always smirking.
He wondered if begging would work. He could at least pretend to surrender, just to get Samantha out of here and checked over.
"Look Brett. Just let her go yeah? You can do whatever to me once she’s got some help for her head. She’s agreed not to tell anyone what happened." He squeezes her, needing her to play along.
"He's right. Please. This is between you two. Just let me go and I won't breathe a word of it."
Brett laughs, throwing his keys up and down in the air.
"Actually, I'm here to let both of you go."
This was unexpected.
"Huh? I don't… I don't understand."
The laughter from Brett increases in volume.
"I had no intention of killing you or your friends Drew, I just wanted to scare you a bit. I am sorry you had to be involved in this Samantha, but I had to find some way of getting him to stop spreading these lies about me killing his family, so I dragged you into it. I thought Louise was too obvious a choice. Like I said, I'm sorry. You are free to go"
Brett moves away from the door. There had to be a catch. He wasn't going to let them go just like that surely?
He helps Samantha towards the door, keeping an eye on Brett in case he tried any sudden moves.
"So, we can go? Just like that? No consequences?"
"Like I said little Bro, you are free to go. I will see you out."
His suspicions were rising by the minute but he had no idea how to act about this. Maybe he just had to take Brett at his word?
"We will see ourselves out."
"Oh no, I insist, let me walk you out. It's the least I can do after all I have put you through tonight."
He gives a once over to Samantha to make sure she’s OK, she seemed as freaked out as he did. The three of them walked down the vast driveway of the property. As soon as they reached the end, Brett turned and left them without another word.
"Oh my god Curls. He let us go. I didn't see that one coming."
He takes his phone out of his pocket.
"No, neither did I. I know you need to get that bump checked out but I just need to phone Louise and make sure she’s OK."
He helps her to a bush at the end of the driveway and dials Louises number.
The three times he tries, it rings out.
"She has her phone on her, she was holding it as I locked her in her room. Why isn't she answering?"
He was talking to himself more than Samantha. Just as he is about to call again, they hear a car door slam in the distance. He pulls Samantha into the bush so they are concealed and squints at the car.
His worst nightmare was happening right before his eyes. Samantha was right, this had all been a plan to get to Louise.
All ideas of hiding abandoned him as he leapt from the bush and ran as fast as he could to the house. Brett was dragging Louise to the house. She looked terrified.
"Get your murdering hands off her"
He would never forget the look of panic on Louises face as she realised what was happening.
"Drew. Run. Get out of here. Please, just run."
She screams the words. She’s frantic, desperate for me to turn back and leave her.
They were the last words he heard before the gunshot rang out.
Chapter Nineteen – Coopers Story.
The last two years had been a battle. Every day, I dedicated my life to making sure Brett would get convicted for killing our Mom and sister. He was going to rot for what he did, I would make sure of it.
I always felt responsible for what had happened. Our Dad had left us when Drew, Libby and I were young, I was the eldest of the three of us, and felt it was my job to keep things together.
My Mom was distraught when Dad left, and she took to the bottle, hard. I tried to look after Drew and Libby as much as I could , but they didn't want to know. When I tried to keep them on the straight and narrow, they would just yell that I had no right to order them around. I was their brother, not their parent.
I suppose I let them get away with a lot. I had always wanted a little brother, Drew was as cool as I thought a brother ever could be. And Libby, even though a little sister hadn't been in MY plans, she was a dream. When things got messed up and Drew and Libs attitude started changing, I did feel it was my fault.
When our Dad annou
nced he was marrying again, my Mom completely broke down. There were some days she didn't even get out of bed, I had to get Drew and Libs to school, make them dinner, get them bathed, make sure their homework was done. I didn’t complain, I was the oldest and had to make a good impression on the younger two.
I tried to be reasonable about the new marriage, after all, he may have been a coward and walked out on us all, but he was still my Dad and we were all well off financially because of him.
I took Drew and Libs to meet the new 'stepmom' who was actually very nice. As nice as a 'stepmom' could be anyway. The problem only started when a grumpy looking teenage boy stepped into the room giving the three of us daggers.
His name was Brett and he was to be our 'stepbrother'. His Mom kept encouraging him to talk to us, make friends with us, but he wasn't having any of it. There was a six year age gap between me and Drew. Brett was in the middle of us. A couple of years younger than me, a couple of years older than Drew.
That first meeting with him will always stick in my mind. When his Mom and our Dad left the room he looked at Drew and he said…
"I'm going to kill you one day."
I knew it wasn't normal behaviour, but me being the older, wiser one decided to cut him some slack. I mean, his life was being changed by the marriage as well as ours, so he was obviously having issues adjusting to it all. I remember telling him off. I told him if I caught him saying anything like that again, then I would be informing the parents.
Drew took an instant dislike to Brett after that, it was no wonder really. You couldn't blame the kid.
Anyway, the years passed, Dad remarried Bretts Mom and things were going along as normal, as normal as they could for our brood. Drew and Brett kept up the intense dislike for each other. Every time I was around them, I had to break up some fight or squabble. Our Mom was still useless, doing everything in her power to avoid being a parent. I decided to get Mom and Brett together for a talk. Dad was away on a business trip, and I had dreams of my own, I wanted to be an actor. I wanted to move out of the house after a talent scout had been in touch and wanted me to shoot commercials among other things. They told me it could lead to a huge break in television, and that I could be a star. But I couldn't go until Mom started being a parent again and until I knew everything would be OK if I left.
So yes, if you wanted to be really mean, if you wanted to break my heart even more than it already was… you could say that the fire that killed Mom and Libs was my fault.
I was the one who forced Brett to go over to Moms house so they could talk, so they could start building bridges. I thought I was doing Mom a favour, I thought that if she saw Brett , she would realise she wasn't the only one who had been hurt by all this. We had all been hurt, but she was the only one incapable of moving on.
I wasn't to know that Brett would set fire to the house, killing my sister. I also didn't know that he would go into the hospital a few days later and kill my Mom. I knew it was him, of course I knew. It's another thing I will forever feel guilty about, Drew came to me, his eyes full of fear, telling me that Brett had shown him videos of him dousing our house in petrol and setting it alight. Then video of him pulling Mom's breathing tubes out, he was frantic telling me over and over again that Brett had killed them. I felt guilty because I did what everyone else did. I shrugged it off, I told Drew that he was suffering post traumatic stress. I told him to let it go.
It was a cruel thing for me to do, but I had his own interests at heart. I could already see that nobody would believe it or even look into the matter, so I thought if I told him to drop it then people would lay off him a bit. They were one step away from carting him to a mental health hospital and I couldn't have that on my conscience as well.
But I never had any doubt that Drew was telling the truth about Brett. I had my suspicions before he had even told me about the videos, My Mom would never have put Libby or herself in danger, no matter how pathetic she had become in the last few years. And I also knew because, after growing up with Drew, you can spot every time your little brother was telling a lie.
"Cooper, Libby just kicked the football through the window, please don't tell Mom."
That was an easy lie to spot as Libby had never played with a football in her life.
"I didn't drink anything at the house party Cooper, honestly."
Also easy due to the fact he looked hungover and had been chucking up all morning.
But it wasn't just the obvious lies, I always knew if he was telling the truth because of his eyes. I had to admit it, I was jealous of Drews eyes. His eyes told a story. You could see everything in them. Whenever he lied, his eyes would look even bigger than normal if that were possible. And when he was telling the truth, you saw nothing but honesty in them.
So when he told me about the videos, I could see the horror of what he had witnessed in his eyes. He was scared, but he wouldn't let on. You can't fake that kind of terror and I knew without a doubt that Brett had killed Libs and Mom. And he would pay.
Six months after the funerals, I left home on the pretence of doing a bunch of TV work. It wasn't entirely a lie… I had done a few commercials here and there and regularly sent money back to Drew even though I knew he was well off financially due to Dad. Leaving him, my scared teenage brother, completely by himself tore me up. Our Mom and sister had been killed, and now he thought I was floating off to be some big shot actor. But that wasn't the case. I vowed that I would spend every spare hour getting a case against Brett so he would go down for what he did.
It was hard at first, I didn't know where to start. After a few months, I had the brain wave of hiring a private detective to track Brett and also keep an eye on Drew. I wanted to make sure he was OK, but I wasn't happy whenever I received a report back saying he was sleeping around and treating girls like shit. He wasn't the little brother I left, he had turned into someone else.
But in the case of Mom and Libs…I was having more luck as the months and even years went on. Just recently I convinced the cops to open the investigation, without my Dad knowing.
The last few weeks I heard reports about a girl Drew was seeing, a Miss Louise Hart. I already liked the sound of her, I could tell just from black and white printed emails I that Drew liked her. This girl had already changed his ways and I was grateful to her for that. I read that he hadn't slept with anyone since the night they met which was huge. He had really put it around the last year or so. Maybe grief had caught up with him, maybe it was something else, but I knew this wasn’t the brother I grew up with. I knew he was better than that. Louise seemed to be giving him a new outlook.
The report also said that he had been walking her to and from our Dads club every night, she had a cleaning job. I couldn't wait to meet the girl who was putting my brother back together but I was biding my time. I was waiting for Brett to slip up.
And slip up he did. I had an urgent call from the private detective. Brett had decided to visit Mom and Libbys graves. This was definitely an unusual event; in the years they had been dead he hadn't visited once. The detective managed to drop a recording device with a camera next to the gravestone, submerged in the weeds. And sitting there, in front of the two people he killed, he confessed everything. Not in a weepy, ashamed way. But in a cold, simple kind of truth way. I listened with chills as I heard him telling the gravestones that he was glad he killed them, and that Drew would be joining them next. Then I listened as he said as soon as he found me, I would be joining them.
In a way, I had to laugh. He was a murderer who was stupid enough to go to an open space and admit his crimes. I mean, he had no idea I was tracking him obviously, but anyone could have been there.
It was the mistake I had been waiting for. Instead of calling the cops, I booked the next flight back home. I wanted Drew and I to do this together. I wanted justice not only for Libby and Mom, but also for Drew. I wanted people to realise he had been telling the truth.
When I landed, I went straight to Drews house. His day at co
llege would have been over by now and I wanted to fill him in. I had heard before I flew out that Drew had broke up with Louise, so it was another reason why I thought he would be home. I hadn't got all the details of the split, but from what I could gather, it was something to do with Brett. No doubt he had found out just how deep Drews feelings for Louise were and he had tried to screw it up.
I knocked on the door when I arrived at Drews house to be polite. No answer. Luckily I had a set of keys to the house, because if I hadn't have moved away, this house would have been mine.
I walked in, dumping my bags and the folder that had all the evidence against Brett within it. I couldn't wait to share this with my little brother, to see his face as he realised he wouldn't have to live in fear of him anymore. Brett was going down.
I sat there for thirty minutes wondering where Drew could be. I figured I may as well try the club. Dad would be there, or if not maybe even Louise. I know they had broken up yesterday but she might be able to give me an idea of where he was.
As I walked in to the seedy club that had made my Dad rich, I shook my head in despair. It was tackier every time I saw it and quite frankly, I was ashamed that this was the way my Dad earned his cash.
John Evans, the father that walked out on us and refused to believe his own flesh and blood over a step-son he barely knew stood behind the bar, looking down at some paperwork as I walked up .
I stood there for a moment, waiting for him to acknowledge me. When he finally did, the shock on his face was clear to see.
"Cooper, what are you doing back here?"
"Hi Daddy dearest, great to see you too."
He shifts on his feet uncomfortably.
"Acting work still going well is it? Or has it dried up? Is that why you are here? Do you need some money or something?"
I shake my head. I no longer felt sad about how a Father could be so distant, just angry.
"I wouldn’t take your money even if you put a gun to my head. I’m looking for Drew."
Take A Bite Of My Heart Tonight Page 18
