Jake’s POV
I sat in the back of the car with Kelly, feeling slightly turned on – it was pretty hot when Taylor took control – but I knew it was neither the time or the place and tried to force myself to think straight. No pun intended. My mind kept drifting back to Jenny and everything that had just happened though. I was more confused than I’d ever been in my life, including the time Taylor turned up at my house that one Friday evening, as expected, but had randomly and for no reason bought me a chocolate fish that morning after the dentist and gave it to me in my room. ‘I didn’t see you all day and I was thinking about you,’ he’d shrugged, and I realised I had feelings for him.
I mean, I’d been with Jen for two years. Two years. How long had she been cheating on me? Was it as long as I’d been wanting to break up with her for Taylor? Why did I feel so betrayed, when I had him now? Was he going to cheat on me too? Was he just using me too? What the hell had happened to Jenny to make her so fucked up? She was like a kid from a horror film, so calm and innocent in her own mind, but manipulative, malevolent, and self-serving in the real world.
Kelly nudged me. I was sitting by the window and to my initial annoyance she’d chosen to sit in the middle. ‘So I can see where we’re going,’ she’d argued when I tried to push her towards the other window as Taylor started the car and reversed out of the De Silva-Hancroft driveway.
‘You okay?’ she asked in a whisper, and my eyes flickered involuntarily towards Taylor to make sure he hadn’t heard.
I nodded, but Kelly gave me her sceptical look. Kel can read almost anyone pretty well – look how she’d distrusted Jenny from the very start – but she’s especially good at reading me, and even though it would be clear to a blind man that I was upset, I knew she instinctively knew all the reasons why. She slipped her hand around my waist and laid her head on my shoulder, giving me a squeeze. I suspected we’d be having a Serious Talk later.
‘Do I take a right or a left up here?’ Taylor asked glancing in the rear-view. He frowned when he say Kelly’s arm around me. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Yeah,’ I said, scrambling around for an excuse.
‘I’m a bit shaken up,’ Kelly said, taking her head off my shoulder. ‘That was really scary.’
‘Tell me about it,’ Taylor muttered, taking a left despite not having received an answer. ‘I thought I’d go flying through the wall when he hit me, he’s huge.’
‘I can’t believe you stabbed him with the leg of a chair,’ Kelly said, then giggled. Taylor grinned, then laughed, then so did I, and soon we were all crying tears of hilarity and the image of Taylor stabbing Peter Hancroft with a six inch nail on the head of a Sheraton chair leg. It was the comic relief we needed as the tension of the last horrific ninety minutes drained out of our systems.
We sobered up just as the sculpted top of the airport came into view over the horizon and suddenly we were pulling up at the drop-off area. Taylor pulled to a stop and we all jumped out of the car.
‘Okay Kel,’ I said as we ran towards the sliding glass doors. ‘You go find a security guard and tell them what’s going on. Taylor and I will try to find Hancroft and Jenny.’
‘Why do I have to find a security guard?’ she whined as we approached a large sign with labels and directions. ‘I’ve been waiting to punch Jenny the longest, and besides, neither of you would be allowed to.’ A bit shaken up, my ass.
‘Just do it,’ I growled, shoving her in the direction the sign said the security office was. I grabbed Taylor by the wrist and pulled him towards Departures.
‘So what’s the plan?’ he asked hopefully as we stopped in front of a digital screen with departure times and destinations.
Cork-Letterkenny – 18:45 – On Time
Taylor and I both instinctively looked at our watches; it was six pm.
‘Do you think they’ll have gone through departure security yet?’ I asked nervously.
‘Let’s check the check-in lounge first,’ Taylor suggested, tugging me forwards. ‘They were only twenty minutes ahead of us, Hancroft might still be in line to buy his ticket.’
‘Hey,’ I said as we dodged through the growing crowd approaching the departure gates, ‘say they knew we’d be after them and Jenny started speeding. They could be pulled over on the side of the road right now arguing with a traffic warden.’ We both grinned, hiding our nervousness and hoping security would believe Kelly’s story and get to Hancroft and Jenny before we did.
Taylor stopped short and pointed. ‘There they are,’ he hissed. Jenny and Hancroft were just stepping up to the counter to buy a ticket as another customer walked away putting hers in her handbag.
‘What now?’
‘I don’t know, you’re the one with the plans.’
‘I don’t have a plan!’
We looked at each other and started nervously walking towards the airline desk. There were irate grumbles and shouting as we bypassed the queue and walked straight up to attendant.
‘You can’t sell this man a ticket,’ I said, my voice more confident than I felt.
The man behind the counter looked up from his computer screen, and Jenny and Hancroft turned around to face us, their expressions shocked.
‘Excuse me,’ the attendant said. ‘If you want to buy a ticket you have to go to the back of the queue-’
‘Are you even listening to me?’ I asked angrily. ‘I don’t want a ticket, I want you to not give one to this guy.’
The attendant stood up. ‘I’m going to have to ask you to take your place at the back of the queue, or the customer service desk is over there if you want to lodge a complaint,’ he said.
I walked up to the desk beside Jenny, who was still staring at me with shock on her face, and banged my fist on the counter. ‘Listen to me,’ I said, my voice rising. ‘This guy is trying to fly to Donegal to kill his wife. You have got to refuse to sell him a ticket, do you understand me?’ I was shouting now.
The attendant didn’t say anything, just picked up a phone on his desk and dialled a single digit, then said, ‘Security.’
Courage bubbled up in me from some unknown resource and I reached across the desk and put my finger on the button to hang up. Now the attendant looked slightly shocked as well.
‘What did you do that for?’ Taylor hissed. ‘We want security!’
‘Not to arrest us!’ I hissed back.
‘You bastarding little fairies had better fuck off,’ Hancroft threatened, taking a step towards us.
‘Sir,’ the attendant barked, finally trying to get some control on the situation. ‘Please step back sir-’
But it was too late, and for the third time that day Peter Hancroft aimed a blow in my direction, sending me skidding backwards across the linoleum floor on my back, where I landed doubled up in pain, gasping for breath.
Pain hazed my vision and my eyes were watering, but I dragged myself to my feet, still winded, when I saw Hancroft turning on Taylor. Jenny was sitting on the desk now, swinging her feet, seemingly enjoying the show. This only angered me further, and when Hancroft saw me staggering back towards him, he turned away from Taylor and back to me.
‘So you want more,’ he grunted, moving his hulking form towards me. The attendant looked shocked and there were people screaming in the queue, which wasn’t so much a queue now as an audience. I knew people behind me waiting for other services were pointing and whispering. The attendant picked up the phone and dialled for security again. Hancroft raised his fist and I knew he was going to aim for my head this time, when suddenly he stopped, a new emotion replacing anger on his face. He whipped around, all 6’7”, 280lbs of him quivering, and I saw Taylor had jumped onto his back and was now clinging onto his neck. I took the opportunity of Hancroft’s confusion to lunge at him, aiming a blow at his gut with my fist. The aftermath was something similar to when Mr Smithers punched Homer Simpson; my hand didn’t get stuck in Hancroft’s beer belly exactly, but it sunk in a good amount.
He doubled over in pain and Taylor slid down from his back and darted backwards a few feet. Hancroft straightened up again after one terrifying moment, and directed his sparking anger at me. He lunged forward and I toppled backwards; his huge weight landed on my lower half and he began punching me. Blow after blow landed around my face and chest, and I brought my arms up to protect my head.
‘Jake!’ I heard someone screaming and recognised my sister’s voice even as pain washed over me and numbed my senses.
Suddenly the punching stopped and I opened my eyes to see four men in dark blue security uniforms had wrenched Hancroft off of me and were trying to subdue him even as he struggled against them.
Taylor and Kelly rushed towards me and Taylor lifted my head into his lap while Kelly grabbed both my hands.
‘Is he dead?’ she whispered, and I could feel her tears on my hands as she lifted them to her face. ‘He’s dead isn’t he?’
‘Um,’ Taylor said, who was looking right down at me into my clearly blinking eyes. ‘No. Are you okay?’
‘I’m fine,’ I said hoarsely, struggling to get up. ‘He didn’t manage to hit my head.’ Taylor helped me up into a sitting position, and Kelly threw herself at me. I patted her on the back. ‘It’s okay. Shut up now,’ I said soothingly, drawing a laugh. Kelly sat back, wiping her eyes, and Taylor wrapped his arms around me from behind, as he was helping me to stay upright. He buried his face in my neck.
‘While the whole hero thing is a turn on, that definitely wasn’t,’ he murmured, and I shivered despite myself. ‘Don’t ever do it again.’
I leaned my head so it was resting on his. ‘I won’t if you won’t.’
‘Deal.’
‘You three,’ a different voice interrupted us before he could answer. We looked up and saw another man in a security uniform looming over us. ‘Let’s go. Get up, come on.’
We got to our feet, me with some difficulty, and were escorted along with Jenny and Hancroft through the crowd.
‘Put those three in there,’ a female security guard with obvious seniority said to the others, ‘and put the other three in A5. We’ll interview them separately in B1.’
A security guard opened a door with A3 printed on the outside and directed us in. There was a table in the centre with four chairs around it. I was disappointed; there was no window cleverly disguised a mirror on one wall, and the lights overhead were fluorescent and bright, leaving no need for an interrogation lamp on the table.
Then again, maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing, as we were obviously about to be interrogated.
‘What happened?’ Kelly asked as soon as the security guard had left.
‘What happened with you?’ I countered. ‘Did they believe you?’
‘Not at first,’ she admitted. ‘They thought it was some kind of sick joke. But after a while that woman said for two guards to come with me, and just as were leaving some guy called and she sent four others with us.’
Taylor’s POV
The door opened again as Kelly finished her explanation, and the first security who had shown us in stood there. ‘I need to take your names and contact information,’ he said, closing the door behind him. ‘Are any of you under eighteen?’ We all stayed silent. ‘I’ll need to see ID.’
I sighed and raised my hand. I still had the ID Stacey had given me but it had a different name on it and trying to pretend I was someone else would have led to way too many complications.
‘I’m seventeen,’ I admitted.
‘I’ll have to call your parents then.’
‘Are we in trouble?’ Kelly asked, frowning. ‘We didn’t do anything wrong.’
‘You’re not in trouble yet,’ the guy said, motioning for us to sit down at the table. ‘But we need to investigate if your story checks out. You’re more than welcome to call a lawyer, but it’s unnecessary at this point. Your names please?’
We gave him our names and I reluctantly told him my parents’ work numbers.
‘Have you called the police?’ Kelly demanded as he stood up. ‘That guy was planning to kill his wife. Conspiracy to commit murder or whatever.’
‘The police are on their way,’ he said, ‘but only because it’s procedure in cases like this. Kelly Chaplain, I need you to come with me.’
‘Where are you taking her?’ Jake asked protectively.
‘Just down the hall to be interviewed.’
Kelly stood up and followed him out of the room, still arguing with him about the police issue. The door closed and locked behind them.
‘At least we’re not tied up this time,’ Jake said, thinking, like me, about the last time we’d been left alone in a locked room. ‘Means I can do this,’ he said, pulling me up out of my seat and wrapping his arms around me tightly. I hugged him back, and we stood like that for a while.
‘Reckon there are any cameras in here?’ he muttered eventually.
I pulled back and hit him on the arm. ‘Now is so not the time!’ I exclaimed, glaring.
Jake smirked. ‘I wasn’t thinking about it like that. But you clearly were.’
I blushed.
‘Anyway, there has to be since there aren’t any security guards in the rooms. We could be destroying evidence or whatever.’ He paused. ‘Or having sex.’ He smirked again and sat up on the table, and I blushed harder.
‘Shut up,’ I muttered, turning away, but he pulled me back to sit beside him, laughing.
‘You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed.’
‘I’m glad someone enjoys it,’ I muttered darkly.
‘I think it’s safe to say that Jenny and I are officially over,’ he said suddenly.
‘You must be very broken up about it,’ I joked, nudging him.
‘No, I mean... I’ve broken up with my girlfriend.’
‘In a manner of speaking,’ I replied, confused. He was putting a weird emphasis on his words that I didn’t understand. Was I supposed to be Taylor The Boy He Liked here or Taylor The Best Friend? ‘Are you okay?’ I chanced warily.
Jake sighed. ‘Yeah, fine.’ He slipped off the table. I guessed I must have chosen the wrong persona, but before I could say anything else the door opened again and Kelly walked back in. The security guard nodded at Jake, who walked out after him without another word.
‘What did they say to you?’ I asked Kelly, shaking off Jake’s frosty exit as nerves and concentrating on the situation.
‘They just asked me a load of stupid questions about my relationship with Jenny and so on. It was really embarrassing. Then they got me to tell them what happened at her house again even though I told them like forty times when I first got to the security office.’
‘Were the Gardaí there?’ I asked.
‘Yeah. Walked in halfway though. I guess an incident at an airport is pretty serious, especially when a county in the north is involved.’
I laughed. ‘You know Donegal isn’t actually in Northern Ireland?’
Kelly scowled. ‘You know what I mean.’
‘Are you okay?’ I asked as she sat up on the table beside me in Jake’s abandoned position.
‘Yeah... I mean, I will be.’ She paused. ‘Do you think your mom will be here soon?’ she asked, and I knew she wasn’t okay.
‘Yes,’ I said, pulling her into a hug. My parents work at the other side of the city and it was now about seven pm, still rush hour, but it had been over half an hour since they’d been called and knowing my parents it wouldn’t take them much longer than that.
Ten minutes later the door opened and sure enough both my parents spilled into the room frantically.
‘Taylor!’ My mom rushed over and dragged me into a hug; I was getting all hugged out. ‘What’s going on? The security guard said something about Peter Hancroft?’
‘Taylor Hannon?’ the security guard at the door cleared his throat and Jake walked back into the room. ‘If you and your parents would come with me...’
‘Hey Mom,’ I said. ‘Stay here, yeah?’ She looked like she was about to argue but I jerked my head surreptitiously at a shaking Kelly and my mom closed her mouth.
‘Come on Dad,’ I muttered, walking out of the room. I tried to catch Jake’s eye as I left but he was staring fixedly at the wall.
Dad put his arm around me and we walked down the hall and into a room marked B1. There were two Gardaí and three airport security personnel sitting at one side of the table, and two empty chairs were on the other. The security guard who’d brought us here stood with his hands behind his back in front of the door, as if my dad and I were flight risks.
‘How do you know Peter Hancroft?’ one of the Gardaí, whose nametag read McCarthy, asked me.
‘Do we need to contact our lawyer?’ my dad demanded, and I was surprised to learn that we had one.
‘You’re free to,’ McCarthy’s partner, Adamson, answered, repeating what the security guard had said to us earlier. ‘But your son isn’t in trouble, as of yet.’
‘How do you know Peter Hancroft?’ McCarthy asked again, when it was clear my dad wasn’t going to be contacting anyone.
‘His daughter is going out with – um, used to, I guess, go out with my best friend.’ Boyfriend? Guy I like? Guy who sucked me off not four hours ago?
‘And his daughter is Jenifer De Silva?’
I flinched. ‘Step daughter,’ I elaborated quickly.
‘And how did you come to be at Mr Hancroft’s residence this afternoon?’
I launched into the story of the party, Jen’s call from her “mother”, the next few days, the plane ticket money, and the search for the passport.
‘You’re aware that breaking and entering is against the law.’
I’ve watched enough American crime shows to know I could get out of that one. ‘We had permission from Jenny,’ I said. ‘So technically we weren’t.’
McCarthy and Adamson kept poker faces but I knew they thought I was being a brat.
‘And what happened when Mr Hancroft got home?’
I continued my story of how we’d hidden under the bed, tried to escape through the window, and were knocked about by Hancroft.
‘You stabbed him in the shoulder,’ Adamson interrupted.
‘Well yeah... But it was self-defence. Jake and I are pretty battered if you want to check.’
McCarthy said, ‘Continue,’ without reacting, and I finished the story about being tied up, Kelly’s double-jointedness, and racing here to try and stop them getting on a plane and killing Mrs De Silva-Hancroft.
All through this story my dad remained oddly calm and I was glad Kelly was distracting my mother because I knew she’d have thrown a fit at every new detail.
Soon, the two Gardaí turned off the tape recorder and the security guard at the door led us back to A3.
Eventually we were allowed to leave, but only after a medical examination and waiting for Hancroft and Jenny to be interviewed. McCarthy and Adamson met us in the security office on the way out.
‘Your stories match,’ Adamson told the three of us. ‘And evidence at Mr Hancroft’s house along with your injuries corroborate your stories.’
‘So what happens now?’ Kelly demanded.
‘Mr Hancroft is denying all charges, but Jenifer De Silva’s story matches yours. There’ll be an investigation, and probably a trial.’
‘Will we have to testify?’
‘It depends. The Gardaí will be in contact throughout the investigation.’
‘Hurray,’ Kelly muttered, and we were finally allowed to leave the airport.
Jake’s POV
‘Do you need a lift home?’ Taylor’s mom asked Kelly and I as we walked through the sliding glass doors after the interview ordeal. I was still avoiding Taylor’s gaze.
‘No thanks, Mrs Hannon,’ Kelly said, hugging her. ‘We have the car. Thanks for, you know, everything.’
‘No problem dear. Come on Taylor,’ her tone changed to one of concern. ‘Let’s get you home.’
I could feel Taylor trying to get my attention, but I just put my arm around Kelly and walked towards the car.
‘What’s going on with you?’ she whispered.
‘Nothing,’ I muttered, but the look she gave me told me I’d been right when I’d assumed earlier that we’d be having a Serious Talk once we got home.