Bad Blood

29.

It took a few days, but I think Dan finally came round to the idea that there would be no baby. He'd been oddly quiet and a little off, but eventually he returned to his normal cheeky self. But for me it had kicked off a chain of events that I couldn't stop. It had been a massive wake up call. I should not have reacted the way I had done. But I did. And I needed to address my worries before I could continue our relationship. It was then that I missed my Gran more than ever. I needed her so badly. I couldn't talk to Olivia because she had her own drama. And I had no one else but Dan. And I couldn't exactly ask him if he'd killed someone.

He would normally be thousands of miles away, but he was home for a while. I would've been over the moon at having him all to myself if it wasn't for the niggling doubt in my mind. I needed to find out what had happened to Martin and I couldn't do that with him around. I felt on edge the entire time. I needed to know and I needed to know soon. Though I worked from home now, it didn't feel right to look for answers while he was around. What if he walked in and saw what I was doing?

I had never been more grateful of him receiving a phonecall one morning, requesting that he go into the record company's office and then they'd be taking a quick trip up to Manchester to record some songs for a few days. It was just the time I needed.

'Sorry I can't spend Halloween with you.' He'd said sadly as he left. We had planned a big fancy dress house party. We'd been looking forward to it for weeks and had to let everyone know it was off.

'Thats alright cos I was gonna catch up with some housework and stuff, so you'd only be in my way.' I kissed him goodbye. I had done my hardest to act normal. Like before the pregnancy scare.

I waited a painful, long hour, just incase he came home, before I loaded up the laptop and with much trepidation, I typed in the name of my attacker into the search engine. It took a few moments of scrolling and clicking various links before I found what I was looking for. An online newspaper article came up.

'Martin McBride, age twenty eight, was found beaten to death behind a shopping centre. Though evidence was collected from the scene, including a weapon thought to have been used in the attack, as yet no one has been arrested in connection with his death.' The date read some six months ago. That was just after Dan and I became friends again. There was a picture of him which made me shiver. I seriously doubted Dan would have the ability to beat someone to death. Out of further curiosity I typed in the names of Martins jeering friends.

'Twenty seven year old James Jones body was today discovered in woodland close to his home. No further investigation is at this stage believed to be taking place. Officers have commented that a suicide note was found on the body.' Next to the article was a picture of the woods by the park. The same woods me and Dan had grown up in and where Martin had ruined my life. It seemed fitting that he kill himself there. An odd coincidence that it was the week after Martins death. So that was weird. Two of them were dead. One last search led me to find a third article.

'The funeral of twenty seven year old Peter Shepard was held yesterday in the local church. Pete, as he was known to his friends, was killed in a hit and run in broad daylight last weekend. Police are still trying to trace the driver of a black car in connection with the incident.' That was the week following week. Pretty bad way to go, but seemingly an accident.

How was it that out of the five of us involved that night, three were dead? It seemed odd. So, James had killed himself, Pete died in a car accident and Martin had been murdered. There was no way they could've been linked. Surely? It didn't mean anything that it had all happened in the space of a few weeks. Martin had been beaten to death, probably by a fellow thug or in some sort of gang war. I wasn't surprised if he'd been involved in dodgy things. Pete had simply been run over by accident. And maybe James had killed himself after years of guilt building up inside him.

But my mind began to race. And something inside me knew there was more than just a strong coincidence here. What if someone had killed Martin and that same person ran over Pete and then made James death look like a suicide? I think I knew straight away who the killer might've been. And I was fairly sure that person was my boyfriend.

I burst into tears. What the hell was I going to do? Dan was a murderer. And not only had he killed Martin, but he'd killed James and Pete too. What if he found out I knew and killed me too? My mind was racing with horrible scenarios. How was I supposed to carry on knowing what I knew?

My phone started ringing, making me jump. His name and face flashed up on my screen. How could that sweet face hide such evil? I should talk to him. But I couldn't. I needed more time to think. I didn't know what to do. I should go to the police. But could I turn in my boyfriend?

I sent him a text.

'Super busy. Ring you later'

'No kisses? Lol x'

'Xxx'

I hated myself but I needed to remain like nothing was wrong. I couldn't arouse his suspicion. I paced the house. Up and down. I couldn't sit still. I knew what I needed to do. Run. I put on my trainers, pulled on my hoody and I ran from the house, music blaring in my ears. I would just run until the answer came to me.

I was going to tell the police. They would arrest him and I would be safe. But what if he was innocent and it was purely coincidence? That would destroy us. He would never trust me again. But how could I trust him? What if all of this was his plan? He'd done a brilliant job in pulling me back in. Just like he'd done when we were fifteen and convinced me he loved me, the lured me into the woods to be attacked?

The heavens had opened and I could feel a storm coming. I couldn't help but note how the grey sky and potential thunder perfectly reflected my mood. Running didn't help. No magic answer came to me. I could've run for hours and nothing would've helped. When I arrived home I felt equally scared and confused. At least I'd have a few days to think without him around.

I sat on the sofa in my cosy slippers, wine in hand, watching X Factor. I just needed to focus on something else, even if that meant rubbish telly. The wind had picked up and the trees outside my house were rapping on the windows. Every single creak and groan of the old building was making me jump. I already felt on edge without the stupid noises.

A knock at the door made me scream. Who the hell was out in this weather? I wrapped my dressing gown tight around me and opened the door a tiny bit.

'TRICK OR TREAT!?' I was greeted with four tiny little zombie children, Halloween pails lifted up in preparation for sweets. With all the drama of the day, I had forgotten it was Halloween. I ran into the kitchen and pulled out a packet of biscuits. They would have to do.

I returned to my sofa, poured more wine and continued trying to watch the singing contest. I was somewhere between disbelief and utter loss. There was no right or wrong answer to any of this, but whatever I did, things were going to end badly. I pushed my palms into my eyes and groaned. Maybe all of this was just a nightmare. I'd wake up any minute and this would all have been in my head.

By nine o clock I'd had enough and decided to try get some sleep. I was just getting into bed when suddenly the house was plunged into darkness and I screamed in shock. I knew it was just a power cut. It happened last time we'd had a bad storm. I needed to go check the fuse box and flip it back on. It was a simple task. But why was I so terrified? What was I scared of? Dan was miles away.

And then I heard footsteps downstairs.