The Cellar

The Cellar (23)

Chapter 23

Clover’s POV

I arrived at Lily’s old house early on Saturday morning. I really didn’t want to do this but Lewis was getting suspicious and I needed to show that I had nothing to hide. There were a lot of people gathered outside already.

I stood at the back of the crowd and just looked at the house that she used to live in. It was okay, nothing special, my house was bigger and I knew she was better off with me. I would never let her go walking alone at night; I would protect her from the evil out there.

“Colin, thanks for coming.” My head snapped up to see Lewis standing in front of me.

“No problem. I’m going to get started.” I said, turning around to get away from him. I’d agreed to help search for Lily but I didn’t want to be around him, he was too suspicious of everyone and everything.

“Great, your groups ready,” He said quickly.

I frowned as my heart dropped a little, I thought I’d be on my own and could just slip away and spend the day with the girls. “Group?”

“Yeah the volunteers work in small groups, you’re with Dan and Rick,” he said, reading their names from a piece of paper. “And me.” Him? I’m going to be with him all day? I started panicking for a second before I composed myself, I can’t let him get to me. I smiled and nodded. He keeps getting in the f*cking way!

We made our way to a field, miles away from my house where Lily was safe and started searching. I noticed Lewis kept looking at me so I kept my head down pretending to search; I moved bushes and branches out of the way and turned over loose moss and grass, making sure I looked like I was doing the job thoroughly.

Lewis finally came over to me after a while. The hate I felt for him was growing, he needed to stay away and let Lily live her life happily and safely with me and the girls. “So the police still have nothing solid on Smith,” he said, trying to be casual. You’ve got to try harder than that to get me to slip up!

 I smiled, “I’m sure they will if it’s him.” I was praying they found something that was good enough to charge him. I didn’t want them to come back to me but honestly I’ve thought it all through and the police are so stupid I doubt they’d suspect me even if they have to let David go as a suspect. I’ve made sure they have nothing on me, I was proud of that.

Lewis walked off ahead of me, his fists clenched. Was he going to drop this? If not I’d have to do something about him. I wasn’t sure how though. How could I do it without anyone suspecting me? I sighed in frustration, feeling the anger building. I forced myself to stop thinking about him and how he’s trying to ruin my family and concentrated on searching convincingly.

We all continued searching for hours, only stopping to eat and drink occasionally. Lewis didn’t stop at all though. He must really believe he loves her. Maybe he does have feeling for her but they’re not real, he can’t really care about her if he let get go out on her own. I will not feel bad for rescuing her and protecting her, she is better off with me.

Just after nine at night we got back to Lily’s old house, I was more than pissed off; I’ve wasted a whole day that I could have spent with the girls. Lewis thanked us for helping and I walked off straight away, quickly getting into my car. I drove home still feeling a little stressed, I needed to go see the girls and relax.

As soon as I got home I went straight to their room. Rose and Poppy were sitting on the sofa; I wasn’t sure where Lily was. They jumped up and smiled at me. “Hello flowers,” I said cheerfully, relaxing slightly as I saw them. “I’m sorry I missed dinner.”