Trying Not To Love You

Part Fifty Two

Chapter Fifty Two

A/N Anything to avoid wrapping Christmas gifts. Here's another chapter for you eager beavers!  Enjoy!

Derek drove silently to the large house, he wasn’t the most talkative at the best of times, but today he was even more evasive, it did little to settle Martha and the further they travelled the more apprehensive she became. Since she’d left town years earlier Michael had not made any demands on her, but he had paid her a monthly amount to help her keep Ethan safe. Now this request to visit him was anything but gentle and rather out of character. That didn’t bode well.

At the house Derek stopped the car and rushed around to open her door, then he led her into the house. She found Michael in the lounge, pacing.

                “Martha!” He stopped as he saw her in the doorway, “thank you so much for coming.”

She shrugged, studying him intently, “it sounded urgent.”

His eyes widened, “it is. I’ve been investigating...the police are useless, that’s for sure.”

Immediately Martha became defensive, the police? Investigating? He could only be talking about Scott’s death, and she wasn’t willing to be dragged into it. It was nothing to do with her, and she was angry that he thought she wanted to know about it, he knew how she felt, and she wasn’t about to pretend she cared about him.

Shaking her head she stepped back from him, “I don’t want to be part of this Michael, you have to know that.”

He laughed, “I’m just trying to find out why my son was assassinated in a forest miles from anywhere. A place he should never have been. Won’t you help me?”

Martha felt awkward, “I barely spoke to Scott in five years because he ruined my life Michael, it was only luck that he didn’t kill me! I don’t see how I can help, even if I felt differently.”

He walked towards her with smile, “oh you’d be surprised. You see whilst Gripper is a bit of an idiot, he said a few things that made me suspicious.”

Again she shrugged, “I don’t see how I can help you, I’m really sorry.” This was all getting a bit surreal.

                “On the night he disappeared, he was on a ‘job’, with someone he’d met a few weeks earlier.” He handed her a photo and when she looked at it, Martha started to feel sick. It was Sonny’s friend Johnny, his old cellmate from prison. Why was he with Scott? Why hadn’t Sonny mentioned it? Did he know? Maybe this was a friend who was double crossing everyone? There were endless possibilities, and it was then that she ransacked her brain to think of when he’d been at the house, and Michael kept talking.

“I mean this man arrives in town from nowhere, and the first time he’s involved with Scott he goes missing...then turns up dead.” He was in front of her now, “do you think that’s a coincidence?” He could see her hesitation and added, “you’re a parent, can’t you at least think about this? For me?”

Martha floundered slightly, she wasn’t liking the direction he was pushing her. Was he hinting at Sonny? Her mind was racing, whilst at the same time trying to keep her face devoid of expression. Wanting to give nothing away.

                “Like I say, this is nothing to do with me Michael, I really wish I could help, and I am really sorry that you’ve lost Scott, but as you know, there was no love lost between me and him. Quite the opposite.”

Michael nodded knowingly, then leaned forward, “do you know this man?”

Martha was forced to look back at the picture and began to wonder what this all meant, “I’m not sure, can’t say I do.”