Clopwyck River - revised version

Chapter Thirty-one

Dan wheels round on his heels, and I blink up, the sight of Leo standing in the doorway the most welcome and un-wished for thing I've seen in my whole life. A mask has flashed back up over Dan's face, his dark eyes replaced by those kind ones I saw when I first met him.
"Leo. How long have you been standing there, son?"
​"Since around about the time you buried a dead body."
​"Son, I..."
​Leo holds up a hand, fury flashing in his eyes. "Don't call me that. Don't you ever call me that." He shakes his head, and walks into the room like he's in a funeral procession. "I don't even know.... How could you? How could you do that to Ben? How could you do that to Mum?"
​Dan glances at Leo's hand, clocking the mobile phone that's illuminated in his palm. "It was your Mother's time, Leo. I prayed for her recovery but the Lord had chosen her to join him in glory."
​"No! No, that's not what happened! God had nothing to do with her death, it was you! You and your pillow!" Leo jabs his finger at his dad, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "You're a murderer."
​"No, no, I was just doing what was asked of me."
​Leo and I both look at Dan, our eyes wide in disbelief.
"You're crazy," Leo whispers.
​He lifts his phone and taps his fingers over the screen.
"Leo, what are you doing?" Leo ignores Dan, and puts the phone to his ear. "Leo, don't do anything stupid."
​Leo fixes his eyes on Dan and speaks calmly into his phone. "Police, please."
​"No!" Dan strides towards Leo, grabbing at his phone with both hands. Leo ducks out of Dan's reach, still managing to keep the phone to his ear as he struggles against him. Dan grips both of his hands around Leo's wrist, trying to prise the phone away from him. "Don't you do this to me!"
​Leo pulls back just as Dan gets his hand around the phone, then he pulls back his other hand, swinging it round and connecting with the side of Dan's head. Dan stumbles backwards onto his desk, scattering paperwork and books all over the floor. He looks up at Leo, shaking his head as he dabs his fingers to the side of his head, checking for blood.
​"How dare you. How dare you hit your own father?"
​Leo steadies himself, ready for a fight. "That's a joke, right? After what you did to us? To your own family?"
​"You hang that phone up, Leo, I mean it."
​Leo doesn't move a muscle, instead he glances at me, the fear in both of our eyes merging together in the centre of the room.
​"I said, hang up that phone, Leo!"
​Leo lifts the phone to his ear again, and Dan lurches at him, squeezing his hands around Leo's neck as he throws Leo backwards. Leo's eyes widen in panic as Dan's weight drives him against the fireplace, his back hitting the mantel at an awkward angle. Dan grabs him by the shoulders, pulling him forward and slamming him back again. Leo's stunned face drains of colour as his Dad keeps slamming him into the mantel over and over.
​"Drop that phone, Leo! I said, DROP IT!"
​I look around the room in panic, and grab the nearest thing to hand; a bible. I run at Dan, and Leo blinks at me just as I swing the book with both hands at the back of Dan's head. Dan glances back at me and shifts his head, the book skimming his ear. He lets go of Leo and grabs a handful of my hair, yanking me back and forth like a rag doll, then throws me back against the bookshelves. I slump to the ground and look up, making eye contact with Leo.
​"Demi...." Leo whispers as he reaches a hand towards me, then hits out at his Dad limply, trying to push him away.
​"I'm your father, Leo! You're making me do this! Everything I've done is to protect this family!"
​Dan shoves Leo back with such force that Leo's feet leave the ground for a moment, and he smashes the back of his head onto the mirror that hangs above the fireplace. The glass crashes in deadly shards around Leo's limp head, falling down in jagged flashes of light, joining Leo's phone as it clatters to the ground.
​I stare at the phone on the floor, then watch Dan put his hand around Leo's face, trying to lift Leo's head as it lolls around on his neck.
​"Leo? Leo? Son?"
​I pull myself up and stumble to the door, silently thanking my legs for deciding to co-operate with me. Dan turns towards me just as I reach the doorway. He lets go of Leo, treading over him as he slumps to the ground, and lurches at me, grabbing my waist and pulling me back into the room.
​"No!" I struggle against him, kicking my legs out and twisting my body but he has me tight in his twisted embrace. "Let me go!"
​"Stupid girl." He presses his lips against my hair, breathing into my ear. "You didn't think I would tell you all of that to just let you go, did you?"
​"Please!"
​"Begging? That's interesting." He spins me around, wrapping his arms around me, pulling me so close that I can feel his hot breath on my face. He smooths my hair from my face, and I twist away from him as he tucks my hair behind my ears. "What to do with this final piece of our big dirty secret? I've been thinking that this day might come, but now I've got you here, in my arms, you look so much like your mother. I'm not sure I want to deal with you just yet."
​Just as I allow myself to look directly into his eyes, fooling him, if not myself, that I'm not scared of him, his head jerks and his eyeballs roll backwards exposing the whites of his blood shot eyes. His grasp on me goes limp, and he slithers down against me. I jump backwards, as he drops on his knees, then falls face first to the floor.
​"Gross."
​Ciara is standing right behind him, the framed photo of Leo's Mum in her shaking hands, a bloody crack splintered across the glass. She drops it to the ground, and the sound of the glass makes me jump, and I burst into tears.
​"That? That makes you cry?"
​I try to answer but I don't know where my voice has gone, instead I put my head in my hands and sob, tears and sweat and snot mingling together in my palms. I take a deep breath and look back at Ciara.
​"Thank you. I....I...is he still....?"
​"He's breathing, which is much more than he deserves. Are you okay? I've called the police." She waves her phone at me. "And I recorded everything that sick bastard just said."
​I wipe my eyes but I might as well be trying to stop Niagara Falls. "I'm okay. What about Leo?"
​"I told them to bring an ambulance as well. Demi, you're shaking like a leaf; you're okay now." She drops her head, getting me to look at her face rather than at the floor. "Come here." She puts hers arms around me and pulls me into her, rubbing my back gently. "I don't normally do hugs, but I think I can make an exception."
​My shoulders start to shudder again and I let myself go in her arms, sobbing into her shoulders as the sound of distant sirens floats through the windows.
"I really appreciate that."​