J & P Book 3 - Please Don't Leave Me

Chapter 5

Patrick was unusually quiet as they drove home from the police station. Jenny cuddled up to him in the back of Deny's car, feeling drained and tired, after the press conference, which had been both emotional and terrifying.

"You're not okay, are you?" she whispered to him.

"Shh, we'll talk when we get home," Patrick said. He looked close to tears.

Jenny had never seen Patrick cry before. The nearest she'd ever seen him to crying was on the morning she'd ended their relationship, almost six years ago. That day, she had done an awful thing to him, betraying him in the cruellest way, her actions resulting in Andrew's existence. Today, she had done nothing. Life had betrayed them both, just as cruelly, ironicially due to Andrew's disappearance. They needed to be strong for each other.

Deny's wife Yolana was sitting in the front passenger seat, her face frozen and fixed ahead. Jenny suspected she didn't know what to say. They had grown closer in recent years, but they were never going to be close friends again like they were when they were at school.

It didn't help that Yolana was well aware of the way that Deny had felt for Jenny, before they had each got married. There was no way in the world that Jenny could ever reciprocate those feelings, and she had the feeling that Deny now felt a more appropriate brotherly love for her. He got on so well with Patrick, which was a good sign. Patrick, however, was blissfully unaware of the issue. Jenny had never seen the point in telling him, and unlike Paul had, he didn't seem to have ever worked it out for himself.

"Thank you for this guys, we really appreciate it," Jenny said.

"It's fine," Deny said, quietly.

"You'll all have to get back to work tomorrow," she added. "This could go on for a while."

"Surely you won't?" Yolana commented.

"No," Patrick snapped in Jenny's direction. "We will not be going back to work. We will be looking for our son."

Jenny looked across at him. "I never said we would be, I was just saying the rest of the family.."

Patrick didn't look back at her. He had a furious expression on his face.

Eventually they pulled up outside Jenny and Patrick's house. Patrick got out of the car and stormed into the house without saying his goodbyes to Yolana and Deny.

As Jenny followed him, Deny got out of the car. "What's happened?"

"He's had a tough day," Jenny explained. "They grilled him this morning. He's one of the prime suspects. Especially as.." She stopped, suddenly remembering that Patrick being Andrew's stepfather was not a fact known by the rest of the family. "You know, these things are usually close to home. I still think it's got something to do with Joe."

"Perris... I should have finished him off when I had the chance, that day he turned up at the hospital," Deny raged. "All that stuff that happened the following Christmas, and this.. None of it would have happened."

"Deny, you can't think like that," Jenny said, hugging him. "You did what you could. Thank you."

She looked up at him, and was concerned to see a look of adoration on his face. She stepped back quickly.

"I best get in to Patrick. Thanks Deny."

She waved to a watching Yolana and headed inside, in pursuit of Patrick. He was standing in the kitchen, a lost expression on his face. She switched the kitchen light on and drew the blind.

"Cry if you need to," she said, going to him.

Patrick looked angrily back at her. "I feel like it, Jenny. Why did you have to say when Andrew's birthday was? He's going to know now."