still can’t believe it, can’t accept she’s really gone.’
‘What did they tell you, Jess?’ Drake asked, feeling the time was right to seek answers to some of the questions that had haunted him for the past several hours. ‘What happened to her?’
The young woman sighed. ‘Not much. They told me the body had been found on some industrial site, lying in a pit of some kind. But...’ She swallowed hard and closed her eyes. He could see her lip quivering, could almost feel the strain she was under, trying to keep her composure.
Rounding the table, Drake laid a hand on her shoulder. ‘What is it?’
When she looked up at him and he saw the pain in her vivid green eyes, he could already sense what was coming. The circumstances of her death already pointed to one inescapable conclusion.
‘They told me she’d been murdered,’ his sister managed to say, before breaking down in sobs.
Everything changed in that instant. Drake sat down beside Jessica, sinking into the chair like a fighter dropping to the canvas after taking a haymaker punch, the world swimming and fading into darkness around him.
Murdered.
Not a death by accident or illness. Not the commonplace tragedy that families all over the world experienced every day; the kind that could be rationalized and understood and eventually accepted. Nothing like that.
Someone had killed his mother.
‘Murdered,’ he repeated, as if trying to grasp the word. ‘How? Why?’
Jessica sniffed, wiping her nose. ‘I...I don’t know,’ she said at last. ‘They wouldn’t tell me anything else. And when I tried phoning them, they keep saying they’re not able to comment on it.’
‘Christ, I’m so sorry, Jess,’ Drake said, taking her hand. It felt cold in his, as if all the life had been drained out of her. The death of a family member was a tragedy, but a murder was something else altogether. ‘I had no idea.’
It didn’t take long for the darkness to recede from his mind, for the world to come back into focus as the disparate thoughts and emotions whirling through his head coalesced into a single, stark, utterly clear objective – to find the person who had killed her, and to make them pay for it.
*
Feeling the need to escape the house for a while, Jessica led him outside on a walk through the surrounding fields and narrow country lanes. And for a time they spoke little more of the killing, content merely to trade little pieces of news about their lives, to reconnect with each other after nearly a year spent apart.
Drake was content to let her do most of the talking, his thoughts lingering on other more pressing matters, but he knew this little slice of normality helped her and that was enough. In truth, it felt good to be out in the sun, walking through the peaceful countryside and talking about nothing at all.
But it couldn’t last forever. He was eager to broach a subject that had weighed heavily on him since she’d first delivered the terrible news, though he’d held off during their walk, unsure how to bring it up.
‘You’re wondering how I knew about her,’ Jessica said as the house loomed into view once more, perhaps guessing his train of thought. ‘When she’d disappeared from our lives.’
The answer was as obvious as it was difficult to accept. ‘She contacted you.’
His sister nodded slowly.
‘How long?’
‘Two years.’
Drake’s heart sank. Two years she’d been part of Jessica’s life. Two years during which his sister had reconnected with her, forged a new relationship, mended bridges. Two years she hadn’t seen fit to share with him.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
He saw a blush creep into her face. ‘She...asked me not to.
Told
me, actually.’
And that, Drake thought, pretty much summed it up. ‘Did she ever say why?’
She sighed. ‘It’s complicated. As far as excuses go, I know it doesn’t get much worse than that, but Mum was...’ She trailed off, as if unable to find the words she needed.
‘What did they tell you, Jess?’ Drake asked, feeling the time was right to seek answers to some of the questions that had haunted him for the past several hours. ‘What happened to her?’
The young woman sighed. ‘Not much. They told me the body had been found on some industrial site, lying in a pit of some kind. But...’ She swallowed hard and closed her eyes. He could see her lip quivering, could almost feel the strain she was under, trying to keep her composure.
Rounding the table, Drake laid a hand on her shoulder. ‘What is it?’
When she looked up at him and he saw the pain in her vivid green eyes, he could already sense what was coming. The circumstances of her death already pointed to one inescapable conclusion.
‘They told me she’d been murdered,’ his sister managed to say, before breaking down in sobs.
Everything changed in that instant. Drake sat down beside Jessica, sinking into the chair like a fighter dropping to the canvas after taking a haymaker punch, the world swimming and fading into darkness around him.
Murdered.
Not a death by accident or illness. Not the commonplace tragedy that families all over the world experienced every day; the kind that could be rationalized and understood and eventually accepted. Nothing like that.
Someone had killed his mother.
‘Murdered,’ he repeated, as if trying to grasp the word. ‘How? Why?’
Jessica sniffed, wiping her nose. ‘I...I don’t know,’ she said at last. ‘They wouldn’t tell me anything else. And when I tried phoning them, they keep saying they’re not able to comment on it.’
‘Christ, I’m so sorry, Jess,’ Drake said, taking her hand. It felt cold in his, as if all the life had been drained out of her. The death of a family member was a tragedy, but a murder was something else altogether. ‘I had no idea.’
It didn’t take long for the darkness to recede from his mind, for the world to come back into focus as the disparate thoughts and emotions whirling through his head coalesced into a single, stark, utterly clear objective – to find the person who had killed her, and to make them pay for it.
*
Feeling the need to escape the house for a while, Jessica led him outside on a walk through the surrounding fields and narrow country lanes. And for a time they spoke little more of the killing, content merely to trade little pieces of news about their lives, to reconnect with each other after nearly a year spent apart.
Drake was content to let her do most of the talking, his thoughts lingering on other more pressing matters, but he knew this little slice of normality helped her and that was enough. In truth, it felt good to be out in the sun, walking through the peaceful countryside and talking about nothing at all.
But it couldn’t last forever. He was eager to broach a subject that had weighed heavily on him since she’d first delivered the terrible news, though he’d held off during their walk, unsure how to bring it up.
‘You’re wondering how I knew about her,’ Jessica said as the house loomed into view once more, perhaps guessing his train of thought. ‘When she’d disappeared from our lives.’
The answer was as obvious as it was difficult to accept. ‘She contacted you.’
His sister nodded slowly.
‘How long?’
‘Two years.’
Drake’s heart sank. Two years she’d been part of Jessica’s life. Two years during which his sister had reconnected with her, forged a new relationship, mended bridges. Two years she hadn’t seen fit to share with him.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
He saw a blush creep into her face. ‘She...asked me not to.
Told
me, actually.’
And that, Drake thought, pretty much summed it up. ‘Did she ever say why?’
She sighed. ‘It’s complicated. As far as excuses go, I know it doesn’t get much worse than that, but Mum was...’ She trailed off, as if unable to find the words she needed.
Similar Books
