by M. L. Smith
I went downstairs and checked that all the doors and windows were securely locked.
“Are you going to call the police, Jennifer?” Jasper asked me, handing me a welcome steaming mug of tea.
“No point. He is long gone. I will ring them in the morning.”
“You need to ring Dad and tell him. Whoever it was must have known that he wasn’t here.”
I noticed that my hands were still shaking.
“Are you sure you are okay?” he asked sweetly.
“I will be fine, thanks to you. Get back up to bed. You have college in the morning. I will sit down here.”
“I could stay with you downstairs. No funny business, I promise!”
“I will be okay. Gatsby will be with me. Go on or you will be tired out.”
He reluctantly left me after giving me another hug and kiss on the cheek. Fear and tiredness overwhelmed me but I was too wired and wound up to sleep. My mind churned over and over.
I was now 100% sure that the intruder was David Simms.
It was his eyes. I saw pure evil in them.
Just you wait, David Simms, you complete bastard.
I am coming for you.
Chapter Sixty One
After showering and preparing breakfast for the twins, I took them to college. I needed to see Ross this morning. I was on auto pilot and completely worn out by recent events. Deep dark circles were under my eyes and my complexion was pale.
“Come in, Black.”
“Sir, I need to tell you what happened last night at the house.”
“Go on.”
I relayed the events and tears started to cloud my vision. Ross kindly handed me a tissue as I dabbed my tired eyes.
“Right. Well, you have your gun now and I think you should have it on you at all times.”
“Yes, Sir, I agree.”
“Look, Black, do you want to pull out of this assignment? No one will think any less of you. You have done some sterling work.”
“No, Sir, that is not an option. I know now that it is David Simms. I have come too far to give up now.”
“Okay but please be careful and I want you to be in regular contact with me.”
I shook his hand and left the station like a zombie.
Zack had texted me to ask if I could pick him up.
He knew nothing of what had happened last night. I didn’t think it was fair with him going into an important meeting. Pulling up at the station to meet the 2pm train, I saw that I was early. I reclined the seat and closed my eyes.
“Jennifer, Jennifer,” someone said, knocking at the car window.
My eyes snapped open as panic engulfed me. I looked out of the window and saw Zack’s beautiful eyes staring at me. He had a concerned expression on his face. I quickly unlocked the door for him to get in.
“Did you have a late night, baby? Were you partying without me?”
I burst into tears as he pulled me into him. Huge loud sobs took over my body as I let all the tension and fear out.
“What’s the matter, Jennifer? Tell me.”
“Someone broke in last night and came into our bedroom. He touched me and he was going to attack me but Jasper came in and hit him with a cricket bat. He escaped out of the window,” I blurted out.
“What? Fucking hell! Is Jasper okay? Is Scarlett okay? Did you see who it was?”
“They are fine, Zack, and whoever it was wore a mask.”
I wasn’t going to tell him that I knew full well who it was.
“Have you been to the police? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”
“Yes, but I don’t expect them to find who it was. You were in a very important meeting. I’m so sorry,” I wailed.
“You and the twins are far more important than business. Come here, baby,” he soothed, kissing the top of my head.
His jaw clenched with anger at what had happened at the house. I could practically see the fury surging through him.
He drove the Audi home as I shut my eyes, giving in to sleep. I abruptly woke up when the car stopped outside the house.
“Jennifer, we are home.”
He came around my side of the car and opened the door helping me out. I managed a weak smile at him as he put an arm around me, pulling me closer to him.
“Go and have a lie down. I will pick up the twins.”
I trudged upstairs and shrugged out of my clothes, slipping into the cold bed.
Sleep thankfully came quickly.
Chapter Sixty Two
I woke up with a start to find I was alone in my bed. I touched Zack’s side and it was really cold.
Quickly putting on my dressing gown, I looked at the clock on the bedside cabinet.
Shit! It was 10am!
The last thing I remembered was getting into the bed at 3pm yesterday.
I bolted downstairs and Zack was sitting reading the paper with Gatsby sitting at his feet.
“Morning. There is tea in the pot.”
“Why didn’t you wake me? I should have taken the twins to college.”
“You were exhausted, Jennifer, so I took them. I need to spend more time with them. It’s not a problem.”
I took a seat and sipped my tea.
“I can’t believe how long I have slept, Zack.”
“You needed it, baby.”
I rubbed my hands over my face and tried to pull myself around.
“I am playing hooky today, JB.”
“I remember with fondness when you played hooky before!”
He started laughing.
“Oh yes, I will never forget that day,” he whispered.
He reached forward and took my hand kissing my fingers softly.
“I remember worrying that it would be a one off and you wouldn’t want me again. I was so scared.”
“What? That's crazy. How the hell could I not want you again?”
I clambered onto his lap as he stroked my hair lovingly. All my worries started to drift away.
“Well, if you sit there much longer I will have to take you over the kitchen table and Marcia is in the dining room so we best not!”
“I will go and get ready and take Gatsby out.”
“I am coming with you. I don’t want you to be alone at the moment with some fucking mad man on the loose.”
We enjoyed a pleasant day together. After our walk, we took the quad bikes out and had races on them then we watched a romantic comedy curled up together. It was so normal and comfortable.
“When we pick the kids up, we should go out for a pizza,” Zack suggested.
“That sounds great.”
My stomach growled its appreciation of the idea.
We picked them up from college and headed to Chez Mario’s in the village centre.
Jasper looked much happier and he was talking about a girl at college that had bought him lunch.
I guess his heartbreak was only temporary.
To other people we probably looked like a normal family unit.
Only I was an interloper.
Chapter Sixty Three
We all went to bed early and I quickly fell into a deep sleep. I was awoken by Zack thrashing around in the bed.
“No, no! Jasper, no! David!” he screamed.
I tried to scramble out of the way of his flailing body but I was just not quick enough. He struck out and hit me hard across the face. I fell to the floor, grasping my sore cheek. Blood filled my mouth and I gagged at the metallic taste. Tears sprang into my tired eyes.
“Zack, please wake up!” I screamed as loudly I could.
His bright blue eyes flickered open as he sat bolt upright in bed.
“What happened? Did I hit you?” he gulped, staring at me.
“Yes, really hard,” I whispered.
I could feel blood trickling down my chin.
“God, I am so sorry,” he blurted out as he tried to hold me.
I shrank away from him. I needed to be by myself.
“I am going to my bed. I will see you in
the morning,” I told him as I stumbled out of the room.
“No, please stay with me, baby.”
He looked terrified.
“Go back to sleep and I will see you in the morning.”
He stared at me like a little boy woken by a nightmare of monsters and dragons. Zack was fighting his own demons in his sleep.
Sighing, I shut the door quietly and headed to my own room. I cleaned myself up and lay awake in the cold empty bed for quite some time going over everything that had happened.
Was Zack guilty about something?
I felt like he was holding something back from me but I didn’t know what.
Eventually I must have dropped off and when I woke up he was next to me in the bed cuddling into my back. I knew that we had to discuss what had happened last night. I sat up in bed waiting for him to wake. My head rested on the headboard as I watched him sleeping.
Zack looked so much younger than his years. His face bore hardly any lines and his complexion was flawless. Everything about his face was breath-taking. In sleep, he looked even younger and vulnerable. So fragile, even though physically he was anything but. Emotionally was a different thing entirely.
I just wanted to protect him but I didn’t know what from. I stroked his lovely hair gently and leant over and kissed the top of his head. He started to stir and his eyes slowly opened. Staring into them, I saw worry and unease.
“Are you okay?” he whispered, looking at my swollen mouth.
“I’m fine, Zack. I have survived worse.”
“Were you watching me sleeping?”
“Yes, I was. You looked so beautiful and peaceful.”
He didn’t reply to me. He just stared at me with a haunted look in his eyes.
“Zack, I really need to talk to you about your nightmares.”
“Right, I know,” he replied shakily.
“You need to go and speak to someone about them, a therapist or something. I was really frightened last night and you hurt me.”
“I know I did. I am so sorry, baby,” he told me, stroking my bruised mouth gently.
“You would never hurt me intentionally. I trust you completely, Zack.”
“I will talk to someone. I promise.”
“Good. Are you going into the office today?”
“Yes. I need to catch up on some stuff.”
Things would be okay.
I needed to deal with David Simms first though.
After a shower, I headed down to prepare breakfast and Zack shouted me into the lounge.
“Jennifer, I want to show you something.”
“What is it?”
“Close your eyes,” he instructed, taking my hand.
He led me into the lounge and then stopped.
“Open your eyes.”
I slowly opened them and stared straight at a painting that was positioned above the fireplace.
The painting depicted me from the back. I was naked. My hair fell gently over one shoulder and the curve of my breast could just be seen. I was looking back and you could see straight away that it was me. The woods were in the distance and in the painting it was night-time.
It was absolutely breath-taking. My eyes filled up with tears as I turned to look at Zack.
“It is beautiful, Zack. I don’t know what to say.”
“I’m glad you like it. I took some sneaky photographs of you to give to the artist. Faith put me in touch with her.”
“Yes, you can tell that a woman has painted it. It has a delicate touch to it. I love it!”
He stepped closer to me as I stared up at the painting, taking in more of the details.
“It is not as beautiful as the real thing but when you are not around, I can gaze at this. I will probably get a hard on though!” he laughed.
“You bad man, Zachary Cole!” I giggled, swatting his arm.
“Feeling better?”
“Much. I am going to meet my friend Rosie tonight, if you don’t mind. She has been going through some bad stuff recently,” I told him, not daring to look him in the eyes.
“So have you!”
“Cool painting, Dad. It’s quite horny though! Nice side boob, Jennifer!” Jasper informed us as he walked into the lounge.
His blue eyes glittered as he studied it.
“It’s very tasteful art, I will have you know, son!” Zack laughed, playfully punching Jasper’s bicep.
“Jesus, Dad, you don’t know your own strength,” he grumbled, rubbing his arm.
I smiled. “Jasper, thanks for being the man of the house when your Dad wasn’t here.”
“You are welcome, Jennifer. I am glad the bastard didn’t hurt you.”
“No, he didn’t, thanks to you. You are really tough, Jasper. Just like your Dad.”
Jasper’s chest puffed up with pride that I had compared him to his Dad.
Enough was enough.
Tonight this assignment ended.
Chapter Sixty Four
I loaded my gun and made sure my recording device was empty and ready for use.
After dinner, I went up to my room to collect my bag containing my gun. My heart was pounding and my stomach turned over and over.
Strictly speaking I knew that I was being completely reckless going after David Simms on my own but I could always call for backup if it was required.
“Are you okay, Jennifer? You seem a bit tense,” Zack asked, surveying my face as I stood in the hallway.
“I’m fine, just tired after everything,” I told him, kissing him.
“Are you sure you should go out tonight?”
“I won’t be long. I need to.”
“Okay, see you later and have fun, baby.”
I accelerated out of the driveway, spraying gravel up.
I was certainly going to miss this car.
Stop being so negative!
Inputting his address into the satellite navigation, I saw that he lived ten miles away in a nice suburb.
David Simms was thirty two, single, loaded, fluent in six languages but he was still a dick.
Well, this was it!
I pulled up to the kerb on the other side of the road, a few houses down from him and parked the Audi.
Quietly crossing the road, I crept up the driveway. David had a black Lexus parked there. There was an unlocked gate at the side of the house. His house looked stunning.
The lounge was to the rear of the large property and his curtains were open in the darkness. David was sitting in front of a laptop. I craned my neck from my hiding place to see what he was looking at. It came as no surprise to find that he was looking at porn and that he was also masturbating.
What a creep, but it was the perfect time to take him by surprise.
I crept along to the kitchen door and bingo, it was unlocked. I pushed down the handle as quietly as possible and entered the house. My gun was in my hand at my side and adrenaline surged through my veins.
The kitchen door led into the lounge that had an archway into the dining room. David was seated on a leather sofa with the laptop to the side of him. I watched him playing with himself with his trousers around his ankles. He looked so pathetic. His eyes were closed and I seized my opportunity. I turned on the recording device and quietly entered the room.
“You love playing with yourself, don’t you, David?”
I had stashed the gun in my waistband. I prayed that I wouldn’t need it.
“What the fuck do you want?” he shouted, covering himself up.
“Don’t bother, I have seen it all before and believe me I have seen a lot better than you! I thought you and I could have a talk, David. Pull up your pants and put your revolting little dick away.”
He stood up and pulled his trousers up quickly buttoning them up.
He exhaled noisily.
“I want to know exactly why you have been following me, breaking into Zack’s house and assaulting me. I don’t even want to think about what you did to me the other day, you fucking sicko!”
&n
bsp; “I don’t know what you mean, you crazy bitch!”
“Look, I know it’s you. Stop lying to me, David.”
He looked at me with his bloodshot brown eyes. A shiver went down my spine.
“Okay. What do you want to know?”
“I want to know why you shot Billy and if you killed Phoebe.”
“Who are you, the fucking police?”
“I am actually, DC Jennifer Black, Ashford Constabulary,” I smugly told him, showing him my badge.
“Jesus, I was only joking! Does Zack know that you are the fuzz?”
“No, he doesn’t. I am undercover.”
“You should ask him what he knows about his wife, not me.”
“What do you mean?” I swallowed noisily.
It felt like the walls of the room were quickly closing in on me. My heartbeat quickened pounding loudly in my chest.
“Ok, I admit that I killed Billy, I really didn’t mean to. I liked the old man but he found out the truth and I couldn’t have that, Jennifer.”
“What about Phoebe? Were you the man seen in the woods arguing with her that day?”
“Yes, I was.”
He smiled at me. His teeth were bared in a grimace.
“How did you kill her?” I calmly asked him.
“I followed her into the woods where I fired my gun twice. This frightened her horse and it reared up. She fell off and hurt herself quite badly. Phoebe asked me to help her but I refused.”
“Then what did you do, David?”
“While she was lying on the ground, I considered having sex with her but she really revolted me. I shot her twice at point blank range in the head. Then I found a quiet spot to bury her. She is quite far down in the ground.”
“Can you show the police the spot that you buried her?”
“Yes, I know the exact spot. I will show you.”
Relief seemed to wash over him at unburdening what actually happened that fateful day.
“Why did you keep trying to hurt me, David? You could have killed me several times!”
“Zack mentioned that you were poking around trying to figure out about Billy so I thought I better try and get rid of you too. Unfortunately you seem to have more lives than a cat!”
