Page 103 of Worse Than Murder

I nod. ‘What happened with Travis? You didn’t wave him off after a family meal, did you?’

‘No. We lied to you. I’m sorry about that. After me and Lynne had decided what to do for the sake of Alison, I went round to see Travis. I told him I knew all about him and Jack, his past, and what they’d been up to. He said I had no proof. He was right. How I kept my hands from him, I’ve no idea. I wanted to… I wanted to smash his face in. I told him he was no longer welcome at the paddocks, or the house and I didn’t want to see him again.’

‘And he just left?’

‘I might have been a bit more forceful. I threatened him. He had this grin on his face. He knew there was nothing I could do. I needed him to know that, if he stayed around here, I’d destroy him.’

‘What happened?’

‘I stood over him while he packed a bag. I drove him out of the village. We drove down the A591. I looked over at him and I decided I didn’t want him in my car anymore. We’d driven far enough. I pulled over and told him to get out.’

‘Where was this?’

‘I don’t know. It was the middle of the night, and to be honest with you, I didn’t give a fuck. I turned around and went back home.’

‘Did he say where he was heading?’

‘No. We didn’t speak at all once we were in the car.’

‘Did you…’

‘Look, Matilda, I’m sorry, but I really don’t care where Travis is or what happened to him. He came into our lives. My father gave him a job and a roof over his head, and he took advantage of that. He saw a happy, loving family, and he decided to destroy it for his own sick pleasure. My brother might have had…’ Iain swallows hard. He’s clearly struggling with who his brother really was, even after all this time. ‘He might have had proclivities towards young children, but he never acted on it before Travis came along. He never showed… he changed once Travis arrived. Maybe Travis saw something in Jack and took advantage of it. He was an evil man and I’m glad he’s missing. I just hope he suffered a long, violent and painful death. Now, if you don’t have anything else to ask me, I’ve got horses that need mucking out.’

I don’t move. I’m not finished.

‘The sightings of Jack over the years. Did you think they might be real, that he might still be alive?’

‘I don’t know. I hope they’re not. If I do ever see him again, I’ll tear him apart with my bare hands.’

I look down at his huge, calloused hands and see they’re balled up into fists, his knuckles white.

‘The problem I have is with Jack’s disappearance. At the time, he was struggling with all kinds of emotions. He’d killed his daughters. He was struggling with his sexual orientation towards young children, and he was about to be exposed. A man in that position would usually kill his last surviving child, and his wife, as well as himself, in order to protect them from the truth. Yet, he didn’t do that. He walked away and made it look like he drowned. That takes planning and organisation. Someone in that state of mind doesn’t have those skills.’

‘I really wouldn’t like to get into Jack’s head on that last day. Despite all the horror he created and how much I physically hate him, he’s still my brother. I can’t begin to image how much he was suffering.’

‘But if he cared about Alison as much as he claimed, why leave her in the back of the car on her own, in the middle of a storm, when who knows what could have happened to her? She could have died.’

‘But she didn’t.’

‘Jack didn’t know that.’

‘Jack was obviously not in his right mind. He might not have even realised Alison was in the car with him. Maybe his mind told him to end it, and he listened. Look, the twins have been found. Lynne can finally lay them to rest. Surely, we can draw a line under this now. It’s bad enough it’s being brought back to light, but do we need to go over everything?’

‘To get to the truth, yes.’

‘We have the truth. Just because it’s not on the front pages and everyone isn’t talking about it, doesn’t mean we don’t know. Me and Lynne know what happened. That’s the main thing.’

‘Alison doesn’t.’

‘Alison doesn’t need to know.’

‘I think she does.’

‘That’s none of your business,’ he says, sternly.

‘No. But it is Alison’s.’

‘If you tell her, you’ll kill her. She won’t be able to cope with it.’