There’s enough evidence to paint her as the abusive mother, and an aggressive person. There is one social services report in which the inspector noted that Jane had a black eye. Perhaps self-defence against domestic abuse? Who is really going to believe that two teenagers killed a man? The more I think about it, the more I realise that she has nothing. It seems too simple though. Jane seems to have thought of everything so far, surely she must have thought of this.
The next morning, I leave Lilly in bed whilst I make a few calls. I can almost hear the clock ticking, and feel the figurative axe hanging over our heads. I need to make this go away. I’m not sure how much more Lilly can take. My eyes hurt from lack of sleep and I have a monster headache. I’m on my third cup of coffee by the time Lilly makes an appearance.
“Hey, sugar.” I smile at her. She approaches my desk, and I push my chair back. She drops onto my lap, wearing only one of my t-shirts and a pair of boxers.
“Hey.” She smiles and presses her lips to mine. “Why are you up so early on a Sunday?” She grumbles.
“I’m doing constructive stuff.” I tell her.
She frowns. “Sleeping is constructive stuff.” The morning light streams through the tall windows of the house, catching her hair and illuminating it in a halo of fire. The dark circles have disappeared from under her eyes, and she’s finally managed to put on some of the weight she lost when we were apart. She’s back to being the bomb shell I first fell for.
“Did you sleep okay?” I ask. “No nightmares?” I expected her to be bad last night, given all the revelations. Whenever her past has arisen, it usually seems to trigger them.
She shakes her head. “Nope.”
“Huh.” Is all I say. She picks up my cup of coffee and takes a sip. “Mmm, best coffee ever.” I think she’s a little bit in love with my coffee machine.
“Careful, I’ll start to think you’re only with me for my coffee.” I smirk. She smiles, but it fades quickly. “What is it, sugar?”
She sighs. “I just, I need you to know that I appreciate what you tried to do.” Her eyes hold mine. I nod. “And, I also want you to know that even though we’re being blackmailed, I feel weirdly free.” Her lips quirk up. “I mean, I’ve spent so long running, and I finally feel like I can just stop. Whichever way this goes, it feels kind of good to stop.”
“You are not going to prison, Lilly.” I grate.
She tilts her head. “Maybe, maybe not, but you know everything there is to know about me now, and there’s a certain freedom in that.”
“You sure?” I smirk. “You don’t have some secret love child I should know about?”
She rolls her eyes. “That my love, is your department.” She smiles.
“Oh, ouch.”
She snorts. “Don’t pretend it isn’t true.” She raises an eyebrow, daring me to deny it, before thankfully changing the subject. “So, was this whole thing the reason for your absence this last week?”
I frown. “Absence?”
“You’ve been so distant, I was sure you were having some sordid affair with a woman in Monaco.” She huffs.
I laugh. “A sordid affair. Damn woman, I can hardly keep up with you. My cock feels abused this morning.”
“I think you’ll find that was your own doing. You shouldn’t be so rough with it.” She smirks.
I grab the back of her neck and pull her closer, catching her bottom lip between my teeth. “You love it rough though.” I whisper against her lips.
She pulls back slowly. “I need coffee, before said cock gets another seeing to.” She grins wickedly and slides off my lap.
I’ve had Miles on Jane’s case for two days. It’s not going as quickly as I would like. Miles has offered to bring in a couple of guys he thinks are trustworthy, but I just cannot risk it. I trust Miles implicitly, and I know he will protect Lilly as if he would protect me. Plus, he would never say it, but secretly he loves being my go to guy for this. We pretty much have everything we need, except one concrete piece of evidence to pin her with. She doesn’t have a concrete piece of evidence either, but if we’re going to beat her, then we need to go one better.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot though. Jane didn’t see Lilly and Harry kill Shaun, and the police obviously haven’t found a body, or they would have turned up here. Name change or not, they would be able to track them down. So that means that she can’t possibly have anything concrete, and that she is piecing together facts. If she does in fact have this video, then that would be enough to make her think they killed him. I have an idea, it’s a risky idea, but an idea nonetheless. I’m not going to threaten Jane with framing her. I’m going to go one better.