The Truth: sequel to I Will Find You

by Catherine Lambert

  “Try not to keep thinking about it,” Lydia suggested gently

  “When can I see Heidi?” she ignored her sister’s remark.

  “Whenever you want to.”

  Marney nodded her head.

  “I found Heidi’s favourite teddy in the caravan he took me to,” she sat up and pulled away from Lydia as she spoke.

  “What?” Lydia asked in an alarmed tone.

  “It was tucked under the mattress; he must have taken it that day when I thought someone was in the house. You didn’t believe me sis,” she was understandably angry, but Lydia didn’t retaliate.

  “It was him, that freak who’s been following me round,” Marney admitted.

  “What are you saying Marney; you’re not making any sense,” Lydia questioned her.

  “You know who I mean; he was at the park and he came into the cafe,” Marney was becoming agitated.

  “Do you mean Ewan Phillips?” Lydia grimaced at the thought of the obnoxious individual.

  “You know his name?” Marney was astounded and leapt to her feet.

  “I assumed you knew it; and I thought you liked him,” she replied weakly.

  Marney opened her mouth to speak but turned away as her mobile phone rang out. Without looking at the screen she answered.

  “Who is this?” she asked guardedly.

  “Just listen to me without interrupting,” a man’s voice ordered.

  Marney’s heart began to thud erratically and beads of perspiration pricked her brow as she recognised the caller’s voice.

  “If you tell the police my name I’ll take your little girl away and you’ll never see her again. I know where she is I’m looking up at the house now. Do you understand me Marney?”

  Marney’s mouth was dry as she tried to speak.

  “Do you understand?” he repeated menacingly.

  “Yes,” she eventually managed to whimper her response.

  The call ended abruptly, and Marney sank down on the sofa and held her head in her hands.

  “Marney what’s wrong,” Lydia knelt beside her and touched her hand.

  Marney remained silent as her body shook through fear and heart-breaking sobs.

  After a few minutes, she glanced up, her face ashen and tear-stained.

  “That was him on the phone,” she continued to cry.

  “You can’t be serious Marney,” Lydia sat on the sofa and put a comforting hand on her sister’s shoulder.

  “He’s says he’ll take Heidi away if I talk to the police,” she wiped a tissue across her eyes and sniffled.

  “He’ll never do that; you have to tell the police.”

  “Did you hear what I just said? He knows where she is,” Marney pulled away from her sister and began to pace nervously around the room.

  “We have to go and get her now,” Marney grabbed her bag and glared at Lydia.

  “Just calm down and think about what he said,” Lydia attempted to reason with her.

  “What’s wrong with you, this is my baby we’re talking about. You of all people should know how what I’m going through.”

  “He can’t just walk into mum and dad’s house and take her away.”

  “You don’t know what he’s like; he’s cruel and unpredictable. He’s capable of anything,” Marney took her mobile phone from her bag.

  “Who are you calling?” Lydia asked.

  “Dad, I’ll tell him to bring Heidi here,” she held the phone to her ear.

  Before the conversation ended, the front door bell rang out. Leaving Marney deep in conversation and emotion angst, Lydia walked into the hall and opened the front door. Jake stood on the step with an anxious expression on his face.

  “Hello Lydia, it’s good to see you,” he smiled weakly.

  “Jake, I’m sorry I forgot you were coming. The police phoned me, Marney’s here, but she’s very shocked and traumatised.”

  “God, what’s happened?”

  “Come in Jake, I can see Mary Dawson peering at us through her blinds,” she closed the door behind him as he stepped into the small hallway. He looked troubled and slightly older with dark circles around his eyes, but he was still handsome, and she experienced a twinge of sympathy for him.

  In a whispered voice, she explained what had happened to her sister.

  “She’s obviously very emotional, so be careful what you say to her,” she warned as Marney appeared in the doorway.

  “Jake, what are you doing here?” she asked.

  “It’s not important; how are you?” he asked sympathetically.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” she turned away and walked off towards the kitchen. Jake followed Lydia into the lounge.

  “Do you two want a drink?” Marney called from across the room.

  “I’ll have a coffee,” Lydia replied.

  “I’m not making coffee,” she appeared in the lounge with a bottle of wine and three glasses.

  “That’s not going to help you sis,” Lydia sighed.

  “You didn’t think that when Jake asked you for a divorce,” she replied frostily.

  Lydia was stunned into silence, but aware of Jake’s sympathetic gaze.

  “I’ll have a drink with you Marney,” Jake spoke up. “Just a small one,” he added.

  “Me too,” Lydia mumbled.

  Sitting awkwardly on the sofa, Lydia was aware of Jakes thigh brushing hers, but she made no attempt to move away. Marney opened the wine and poured a small drink for Lydia and Jake, and then filled her glass to the top. After draining half the glass in one mouthful, she turned to Jake.

  “So, Jake, what are you doing here; has Maria kicked you out already?” she smirked.

  “Not quite,” he replied candidly.

  “Are you serious?” Lydia asked experiencing an unexpected pang of hope.

  “We’re just going through a bad patch; Olivia, our daughter, doesn’t sleep very well. Maria’s struggling to cope and she’s not feeling well,” he revealed.

  “It’ll pass,” Marney assured him, but his expression was one of deep concern as if there was something else on his mind.

  “Maria’s gone to stay with her mother for a few weeks,” he admitted.

  “Doesn’t she live abroad?” Lydia asked.

  “Malta,” he replied bluntly.

  “She is coming back, isn’t she?” Lydia continued to probe him for information.

  “I don’t know, that’s part of the reason we argued so much. She wants us to live in Malta permanently, so she can be close to her mother.” he shrugged his shoulders and took a sip of wine.

  “I’m really sorry to hear that,” Lydia placed a hand over his, a gesture Jake didn’t resist.

  “I don’t know what went wrong. We began to bicker; not full-blown arguments she just seemed to find fault with everything I did; and she was very unreasonable. I won’t go in detail, but when she announced her forthcoming visit to her parents she made it clear that I wasn’t welcome. She phoned last night to let me know she’d arrived safely,” he took another sip of wine and stood up.

  “Do you mind if I use the bathroom Lydia?” he asked.

  “Of course not.”

  As soon as he was out of the room Marney spoke.

  “He wants to get back together with you,” she smirked.

  “Don’t even joke about it; he just wants someone to talk to; that’s all,” Lydia warned. Although there was some truth in her sister’s words, Lydia was not going to admit it, but Jake’s presence had taken Marney’s attention away from her harrowing experience, albeit temporarily.

  “You just wait and see,” she wagged her finger in the air.

  Jake returned to the room and re-took his seat next to Lydia.

  “Have you eaten?” Lydia asked.

  “Not since breakfast,” he admitted.

  “I’ll make us some pasta and tuna; you need something to eat Marney,” it was an order, not a request.

  While Lydia was out of the room, Jake took the opportunity to question Marney.


  “I’m really sorry for what you’ve been through; what are you going to do?” he asked sympathetically

  “I’m going ahead with a prosecution; he’s not getting away with what he did to me. I won’t let him ruin my life,” she replied confidently.

  “I think that’s the alcohol talking; you’ll probably feel differently in the morning,” he warned.

  “Don’t patronise me Jake; you don’t know what I’ve been through,” she leaned over and re-filled her glass never taking her eyes from his disapproving glare.

  At this point, Lydia returned to the room with a huge bowl of pasta and tuna and placed it on the coffee table.

  “I’ll just get the plates and salad,” she headed back to the kitchen.

  “Right, help yourselves,” she urged on her return.

  “I’m not hungry,” Marney sulked and poured another drink.

  Thinking before she spoke, Lydia turned to her sister.

  “Just try a mouthful.”

  Like a chastised child, Marney obeyed.

  The food was eaten in relative silence until the door bell sounded.

  Marney leapt to her feet and dashed into the hall.

  The sight of her father holding her daughter in his arms reduced her to tears. Squeezing her a little too tightly, Heidi squirmed as her mother smothered her with kisses. Rose and Gordon followed their youngest daughter to the lounge where an emotional reunion followed.

  While her parents probed Marney for details of her ordeal, ten miles away Ewan Phillips was in the throes of a psychotic episode fuelled by intense rage and deep feelings of betrayal. He was profoundly disappointed with Marney’s attitude and treatment of him. Planning his retribution, he sat in the same caravan where he had held Marney captive, and repeatedly stabbed the hard-wooden surface of a table with a hunting knife.

  EWAN PHILLIPS

  Born in 1979 to a single mother, Ewan Phillips was eventually abandoned and placed with temporary foster parents at the age of five. Although they persevered with their difficult charge, his foster parents finally admitted defeat and he was taken into care where he remained until the age of sixteen. His release came in the form of an escape during a visit to a local library and museum; both establishments offering little or no interest to his already criminal and troubled mind. It was during the visit to the museum that an incident occurred which he would remember for years to come; and it would have dire consequences. Whilst admiring the only exhibition that held his attention for a few minutes- a selection of taxidermy animals- a young teenage girl dressed in a school uniform stood next to him.

  “Would you like to go to the cinema with me?” he asked.

  “I wouldn’t like to go anywhere with you; you stink,” she turned away and re-joined a group of girls who looked in his direction and laughed.

  Angry and humiliated, Ewan Phillips followed the group of giggling schoolgirls from a discrete distance, and when the opportunity arose, he began to throw small pebbles at the young girl who had humiliated him. He continued to attack her until he succeeded in hitting her head and face and drawing blood. When she began to cry out in pain he dropped the pebbles from his hand and walked slowly away; but he would never forget the humiliating experience, or the face of the girl who delivered it.

  Now living on the streets, he began to associate with petty criminals and indulge in minor burglaries. At the age of seventeen, he joined a group of fellow home-less people and lived in the basement of an old Victorian detached house which was scheduled for demolition. It was around this time that he first got into trouble with the police. During a burglary on a small supermarket; a routine patrol car spotted a light shining inside the store. Unable to escape, Phillips was trapped and arrested. Fortunately, he was released with a caution, but his fingerprints and details were known to the police. After this lucky escape, he managed to evade capture again until he was eighteen years old. This time however he was sentenced to six months in prison for another burglary on a filling station. He served the full sentence and was released back into society where he managed to find work in a warehouse. The manager was aware of his background and found him to be a hard-working young man. It was at the warehouse that he met his first steady girl-friend; a seventeen-year-old girl named Josie Smith. Although he was sexually experienced, his prior encounters were all one-night stands generally fuelled by excess alcohol. Josie was the first girl he had genuinely felt affection for and they would meet at night for a drink or a visit to the cinema. Josie was a shy inexperienced girl, and Phillips was the first man she slept with. Their relationship ended violently after just six months when Phillips caught Josie kissing another man. He flew into a violent rage and broke the young man’s nose. Later that night, he called on Josie knowing she was alone and raped her. He used violence to restrain her and she suffered a black eye and various bodily bruises. Too scared and embarrassed to report the assault to the police, she informed her parents she had opened a cupboard and caught the side of her face on the edge of the door. Shortly after this incident, she left her job at the warehouse. Phillips made no more attempts to contact her, but his experience with Josie tainted his opinion of women. Josie Smith could not possibly have known how her actions were to shape the life of a young man who had been exhibiting symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder from the age of five. The first indication of the disorder was discovered during a routine psychological assessment by a prison doctor, who reported his findings to the Warden and advised a referral to a psychologist. Phillips was duly interviewed by the Warden who deduced he was perfectly normal, albeit arrogant and difficult like most young men in his care. The Warden would later regret his rash dismissal of the doctor’s advice when he repeated his offence on another innocent woman with fatal consequences.

  CHAPTER TEN

  An hour after they arrived, Rose and Gordon Stephens said their goodbyes and left the house. Neither questioned Jake’s presence in the house nor spoke to him, except for a mumbled goodbye. Their aloof attitude towards him had not gone unnoticed and as soon as the door closed behind them, Jake spoke out.

  “Your parents weren’t pleased to see me,” he smirked which irritated Lydia.

  “What did you expect Jake?” she turned to face him.

  “I don’t really know,” he replied vaguely. Changing the subject, he asked Lydia a question she was hoping he wouldn’t ask.

  “How’s the cafe doing?”

  “Well, if you really want to know; it’s doing badly. I’m thinking of selling it,” Lydia couldn’t see the sense in lying.

  “Oh, that’s a shame; but I’m surprised you could even think about selling,” he was genuinely shocked.

  “The bank has frozen my account until I can pay the overdraft off, and the only way I can do that is to sell up,”

  “How much do you need?” he asked bluntly.

  Without thinking, Lydia blurted it out.

  “Ten thousand.”

  “I didn’t realise it was that much,” Marney sat up and glared at her sister.

  “It doesn’t matter how much it is Marney if we don’t have it.”

  “I might be able to help you out,” Jake announced with a smile.

  “I can’t let you do that,” Lydia argued.

  “And I can’t stand by and watch you lose what you worked so hard for. I know how much the cafe means to you Lydia.”

  “It would only be a loan Jake; I’ll pay you back as soon as I can,” Lydia realised it would be foolish to turn down his offer.

  “If you let me have your bank details I can transfer the money in tomorrow morning, but I’ll need the exact figure.”

  “Thank you Jake, I won’t forget this,” Lydia smiled.

  “Does this mean I’ve still got a job?” For the first time that afternoon, Marney smiled.

  “Of course, and you’re still the number one cleaner,” Lydia returned the smile.

  “Let’s have a drink to celebrate,” Marney left the room, and returned with a bottle of white
wine and neither Lydia or Jake refused.

  As Lydia chatted quietly to Jake, Marney cradled Heidi on her knee until she fell asleep.

  “I’m going to put Heidi in her cot, I won’t be long,” she left the room and Jake took the opportunity to question Lydia.

  “Is Marney alright?” he whispered

  “I don’t know Jake; she’s usually very open about her life, but she hasn’t said much about the assault; I don’t want to push her too far. I know she’s putting on a brave face and pretending it has happened,” Lydia looked troubled.

  “She’s told me she intends to prosecute this thug,” Jake revealed.

  “She didn’t tell you about the phone call then?” she glanced sideways at him.

  “No, what do you mean?”

  “He’s threatened to harm Heidi if she tells the police his name,” Lydia said as Marney appeared in the doorway.

  “I’m not going to be black-mailed by that bastard,” Marney spoke through gritted teeth.

  “And I didn’t know his name until Lydia told me,” she added indignantly.

  “Do you know him Lydia?” Jake was concerned.

  “No, not at all; he’s been following Marney and he came into the cafe; I just asked him his name in passing,” she explained.

  “I’m still going to tell the police his name, and if he comes anywhere near my daughter, I’ll rip his heart out,” Marney snatched the wine bottle from the coffee table and re-filled her glass.

  Lydia and Jake thought better of replying to her remark and sat in silence contemplating her words.

  After a few moments of silence Lydia spoke out.

  “I think you’re making a big mistake sis,” she spoke quietly.

  “You don’t know what he did to me Lydia,” she stared vacantly at the wall re-living the horrendous assault in her mind.

  “You’ll never be able to forget if you go to court. It could be months before the police trace him and you’ll have to live every day in limbo.” Lydia pointed out.

  “Men like him can’t be free to attack someone else; what if he does it to a little girl?” Marney raised her voice.