Chapter 29: Elliot - The Foster Child

Christmas Day 2001. That date is imprinted in my mind. The date of the hit and run. The date my life changed forever.

The text is from a withheld number but it has to be from Rocky. How did he get my number and what the hell is he playing at? He knows where I live, where I work, and now my phone number. Once again I wonder if Violet is helping him. All that stuff with the plants, and the orchid, those aren’t things Rocky would do, he’s the sort that comes in with all fists blazing. Violet might be doing it to unsettle us though, make us feel uneasy, wear us down so that I’ll pay Rocky’s blackmail demand when he makes it.

I realise that Cora is watching me with concern. ‘What is it, Elliot? What does it mean?’

I swallow. I’ve got to come up with something convincing. I can’t tell her what I did, or about Rocky. I curse myself for reacting badly to the text, it was such a shock that Rocky has my number.

‘It’s a spam thing from my insurance company. Would you believe that’s how long I’ve been with them?’ I smile brightly. ‘Marketing eh? Now let’s tuck into this before it goes cold.’

She still looks a little unsure, but I sit down by her and chat away as if nothing is bothering me and she relaxes.

We’re on our second glass of mulled wine when her friend Molly phones. I’m glad of the distraction, I want to go into my study and do a bit of searching on Rocky, see if I can find any contact details for him. It has to be him who sent me that message. I wonder if he’s done a bit of research on me too and discovered I’m a dentist.

I give myself a mental shake. Stop surmising and get digging.

‘I’ll leave you to talk, I’ve got a bit of paperwork to do,’ I say, picking up my wine and going up to the study.

I boot up my computer and type in Roland Carter – Rocky’s real name. A whole page of names comes up, a composer, an artist. I add Manchester, UK to narrow down the search but am still greeted with another list of names. I scroll down and onto the next page. Then I pause as the headlines of the hit and run come up. Roland Carter and Elliot Brookes.

My heart stops beating for a moment.

I click on the details and frown as I read the article, it’s detailing everything about the hit and run, our names, ages, sentences. The lot. I hadn’t realised that this was so readily available. Anyone could look this up. Cora, someone in the village. My secret past is there for everyone to click on and see.

Which means that it could be anyone sending me those cards. And now I’m pretty sure that whoever it is intends to blackmail me.

Then I remember the coin. Only me and Rocky had those coins so it has to be him.

My body is stiff with tension. I sit back and rub the back of my neck to try and ease it. Although the memory of what we did never left me, that man being dragged out of the car just before it went up in flames is imprinted on my soul, I’d managed to put it to the back of my mind. We were fortunate and the man wasn’t killed, we both did our time and went our separate ways. I haven’t seen Rocky since he was sent down and have no idea what he’s up to now. I turned my back on that part of my life and made a new one. It was all in the past, so I thought, but now it’s coming back to bite me.

I’ve dragged myself out of all that, built a new life for myself. I was so young when it all happened, but if Cora finds out will she understand? I don’t want to lose her. I can’t risk anything happening to her though and who knows what Rocky has planned. She could be in danger. I’ve got to put a stop to him.

I drum my fingers on the desk, trying to think what to do. I’ve no idea how Rocky has tracked me down. I’m not on social media so he couldn’t have traced me that way. Our dental practice is though! Perhaps he saw me there. I go on to our page, there’s a photo of both me and Katrina, and a short bio but neither of us has put our address or private details online. I do a search on Rocky to see if he is on Facebook, trying his full name, then Rocky. Nothing else comes up. Maybe like me he’s decided to come off social media too.

Could he have tracked me down to the dental surgery, then followed me home?

I think back to any new clients we’ve had just lately and wonder if I would recognise Rocky after all this time. I’m sure I would, he might have changed but there’s that scar on his cheek and his missing finger.

I turn off the computer and sink my head into my hands. The only reason he could be doing this now is to blackmail me. So I’m guessing his next card might be asking for money. If that’s the case, I shouldn’t give in to it, I should report him but I don’t want to have to call the police in and let Cora and everyone else know about my dark past, that will ruin our relationship and the business too.

Unless I do something to stop him, everything I’ve worked hard for all these years will come crashing down. And Cora might be in danger too. Twenty-five years might have passed but the Rocky I knew was ruthless and would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.

Well, I’ll soon find out now I’ve got the doorbell camera. If it is Rocky he’ll discover that I might be a dentist now but I’m still Lee from the children’s home inside. I’m not going to be threatened by him. And if he does anything to harm or threaten Cora he’ll wish that he was dead.