Chapter 67: Cora - The Foster Child

Jacob points the gun at me now. ‘I bet that’s shocked you. I bet you didn’t know your boyfriend was a murderer, did you?’ he sneers.

I’m stunned at his revelation. And I don’t believe a word of it. ‘You’ve got to be mistaken,’ I tell him. ‘Elliot is a dentist. He’s a professional and a really nice guy. He wouldn’t hurt anyone.’

‘Yeah, now he is. But he hasn’t always been. He grew up in a children’s home, moved into a homeless squat when he left and mixed with a right crowd of tearaways. He was always getting into trouble.’

‘You’re lying!’

Jacob brings the gun nearer to my face. ‘Shut your mouth and listen. I know what I’m talking about. He and his mate badly injured my dad on Christmas Day twenty-five years ago when he was driving home from work. They used to pinch cars and go joyriding, were speeding along in a stolen car. They didn’t care that it was raining. That it was dark. All they cared about was going as fast as they could. My dad had no chance.’

I put my hand over my mouth to stifle a scream. ‘They crashed into your dad?’

‘Yeah. Crashed right into him then ran off. Left him for dead. His car went up in flames.’ A grim look comes over his face. ‘He didn’t die though. He survived. And spent twenty-five years living in agony. Thanks to them.’ He waves the gun at us.

He looks crazy enough to pull that trigger. I have to keep him talking while I think of a way to get us out of this hell. ‘That’s a long time ago. If it’s true why have you come for revenge now?’ I ask him.

He points the gun at me. ‘Because I didn’t know about it, I was a little kid. I saw my dad in pain all my life but all I knew was that he’d been in a bad road accident. Then when he died a few months ago I was sorting out his things and I came across the newspaper articles about the accident. He kept them all. Rocky, Elliot’s best mate, was eighteen and sent to prison for a variety of offences including stealing a car and dangerous driving. Elliot was seventeen so was sent to a juvenile offenders unit. I tracked down Rocky and dealt with him first. Rocky was planning to blackmail Elliot, he found out he was a dentist and thought he’d get some money out of him.’

I shiver. This man is twisted. Evil.

‘How did you track Elliot down?’ I ask, still playing for time.

‘I’m a journalist, I have my sources. I discovered that you’d shacked up with him, and that you had a daughter at Exeter uni, so decided to ask her out.’

‘So that’s why you made a beeline for me!’ Lori blurts out. She looks stricken.

The bastard, he used my daughter to get to Elliot. Violet puts her arm around Lori’s shoulders to support her.

‘Of course. You didn’t really think I’d be interested in someone like you, did you?’ he sneers. ‘When we came to stay for the weekend I knew he was definitely the one. So all I had to do was figure a way to get to him. Which is why I suggested we spend Christmas with him and your mum.’ He glares at her. ‘But you had to go and ruin that.’

‘You always planned to hurt Elliot on Christmas Day?’ Lori stammers.

‘Not hurt him. Kill him. My dad spent his life in pain because of him, and my mum struggled to cope. Me and my sisters spent more time in care than we did at home.’

‘You’re sick! You need locking up!’ Violet cries, her arm still around Lori.

I’m reeling from all this, I can’t believe that Elliot had such a sordid past and kept it from me. And that Jacob is the son of the man he and his friend crashed into. And he was being blackmailed, no wonder he’s looked so stressed just lately. It’s a lot to take in. ‘So everything was you? The plants being dug up, the screw in my tyre, the wreath being hacked, the message on the mirror – it was all you?’

He looks at me, puzzled. ‘I don’t mess around doing stuff like that. It must have been Rocky, I told you he was blackmailing Elliot. I sent a couple of cards, smashed up your Christmas cake and wrote that message on the mirror yeah. I wanted to warn that fucking creep what was coming to him. He didn’t deserve to celebrate Christmas after what he did to my dad.’

Smashed up the Christmas cake! Elliot said he’d dropped it. He knew that someone was in the house, that we were in danger, and didn’t tell me or call the police? I can’t believe he knew we were all in danger and did nothing. ‘So it was you who threw the rock through the kitchen window? But why, if you already had Elliot?’

He sneers. ‘To frighten you lot and keep you out of the kitchen so I could sneak back in and get my ring, don’t want to leave incriminating evidence behind. But you came in here anyway. Which was pretty stupid of you all. I expected you to run out the front door.’

God, he had it all planned. ‘How did you get in?’ I ask. ‘There was no sign of a break-in.’

He smirks smugly. ‘Through the side door into the garage. It’s easy enough to pick that lock.’ He flicks his gaze from one to the other of us. ‘Now you know everything. Which means, unfortunately, that I can’t allow you to live.’