Me trying to create a sense of mystery and failing...I hope you enjoy anyway. I'm starting to get back in the swing of things. Thank you for your patience and thank you for the reviews x
As the weeks went on the more solid their plan became. Leanne and Nick would have Emma for the weekends leaving Carla to spend some time with Hayley and Peter and on the subject of Peter, he was far from impressed with the setup. His hatred for Nick was skyrocketing and more punches were definitely thrown more so that Gail had the nerve to fight for custody causing Nick and Carla's annoyance to escalate further, therefore, causing friction between the Barlow's and Platt's and Nick and his mum. Peter was far from happy so Carla and Leanne actually formed a truce to keep the two men away from each other knowing it most likely always ended in an argument or a fight of some sort.
Carla had the important conversation with Aidan and Kate about Johnny. They decided that they didn't want him in Underworld and that went down not so well as Johnny was determined to make it up to all three of his children.
Emma was now a couple of months old and her development was going somewhat ok although Carla thought that something wasn't quite right. It was a Friday and Carla was working at Underworld whilst Nick and Leanne had Emma after Carla dropped her off yesterday evening. She was interrupted by a knock on her office door, greeted by Leanne.
"I thought…?" Carla trails off as Leanne takes Emma out of her pram bouncing her up and down tearfully "I don't mean to pry but is everything ok, Leanne?"
"Nick didn't come home last night," Leanne says as Carla raises an eyebrow taking Emma from her to give her a break
"Slow down," Carla says guiding her over to the spare chair "Tell me what happened"
"I don't know he just didn't come home last night, so I thought you should have Emma"
"Have you called him?" Carla asks as Leanne scoffs
"I'm not completely stupid Carla, he hasn't answered his phone, goes straight to voicemail" Leanne groans as Carla nods slowly
"Well if Gail turns this on me I will not be happy" Carla mutters as Emma begins to stir "Thanks for dropping her by, I guess I best get off"
"I'll let you know if there's any news," Leanne says as she swiftly makes her way out of the factory leaving Carla to take Emma home...
Carla took Emma home and was greeted by Peter who was looking after Hayley, she plonked herself down on the rocking chair and fed her daughter knowing she was probably hungry. Peter noticed Carla seemed a bit dazed and confused about things, they were interrupted by a knock on the door causing Peter to place Hayley in her playpen and answer the door, greeted by two police officers.
"Mrs Barlow"
"Oh…hello?" Carla looks up from where she was feeding her daughter, a shiver running down her back at the odd stares the officer was giving her making her feel slightly on-edge.
"A body was found in Victoria Court, Victoria Street, Weatherfield. We believe that the victim is Nick Tilsley, we understand that he has some relations with you all"
"He does, yes," Peter says running a hand through Carla's hair "Are you ok?" he whispers to Carla who just sniffles wiping her eyes before nodding
"We understand this may be difficult for you both but we need to start building up a case by asking people who were in close relationships with the victim"
"Can my husband stay?" Carla questions as the officer shakes his head "Just take Hayley upstairs Peter"
"We'll need to speak to you as well Mr Barlow" the officer states as he nods taking Hayley upstairs leaving Carla to speak to Carla "We just want to ask a few basic questions to start off our enquiries"
"Ok" Carla smiles slightly rocking Emma in her arms
"What was your relationship like between you and Nick?" the officer's questions as Carla smiles slightly wishing she had Peter's support
"Um, well, he's the father of my daughter Emma" Carla nods down to Emma "I didn't really have anything to do with him until recently…I didn't know I was pregnant with Emma and there was always a chance that he could be her father so we did a DNA test and he was her father"
"How did that make you feel?"
"Upset I guess…she wasn't my husband's so it's been a bit of a challenge but recently we've been doing well"
"Right" the officer pauses "So what you're saying is that you were romantically involved?"
"In the past, yes" Carla nods in agreement narrowing her eyes suspiciously "I don't mean to be nosey or whatever but I really don't see why you need to speak to us"
"As we said, we are just gathering details of the most important people who were in relation to the victim, may I continue?"
"Yeah, whatever…" Carla mutters holding Emma against her chest as she shuffles around trying to get comfortable Carla thinking she was sensing her nerves
"We understand this may be awkward for you, Mrs Barlow, we only have a few more questions"
"Ok" Carla sighs agitatedly as Emma stretches her arms up to Carla's face causing her to kiss her hand
"What were your past relationships like with the victim?"
"Um…well…we didn't really get along in the past, he used to be a business partner and that went pretty sour quickly then we entered a vile custody battle between him and his partner, Leanne-"
"Leanne Battersby?"
"Yes, and her ex-husband, Peter…my husband" Carla explains as the officers share an awkward look between each other "I know what you must think…"
"Please inform us?"
"That I'm a right slag for stealing her husband, she's probably spouted all sorts of nonsense"
"Mrs Barlow, we must stress that we are here to take an account of the relationships the victim had, is it ok if we speak to your husband?"
"Of course, I'll send him down," Carla says leaving the room and closing her eyes inhaling a deep breath before traipsing upstairs with Emma to send Peter down to speak to the officers which he accepts in somewhat annoyance,
"Mr Barlow" the officer smiles as Peter sits on the rocking chair "We want to ask you some questions about Nick Tilsley and your relationship to him"
"Right" Peter nods
"How would you describe your relationship between you and the victim?"
"Fiery," Peter says as the officer gestures for him to continue "We have a lot of history" he replies vaguely not wanting to really reveal all the punch ups as it made him look bad
"Such as?"
"Well I'm a recovering alcoholic and he tried to put me back on the sauce, he screwed my wife Leanne, and he helped her fight for custody of my son, Simon"
"So you don't have a positive relationship then?"
"No," Peter says bluntly "Let me guess you're trying to pin this on me?"
"What are we trying to pin on you Mr Barlow?" the officer questions as Peter groans in response rubbing his forehead in exasperation
"Nick Tilsley's murder…ring any bells?" Peter questions as the officer's smirk between each other, Peter scoffing at their response
"Who said he was murdered?" the officer replies smartly causing Peter to narrow his eyes in suspicion
"Well it's obvious isn't it?"
"Is it, Mr Barlow?"
"Well you wouldn't be hounding me and my wife if he wasn't murdered, would you?" Peter replies as the officers smile closing their notebooks.
"We'll see ourselves out Mr Barlow" the officers nod leaving them to it, causing Peter to inwardly panic about the aggressive answers he gave; he needed to speak to Carla
"Have they gone?" Carla questions as Peter nods slowly sliding into bed with her, Hayley sleeping in between them both "She's out like a light"
"Hmm, she has been playing all day," Peter says running his fingers through Hayley's soft brown hair "What did you say to them?"
"Well the truth, I just told them about my relationship with Nick, they started questioning me wondering if I was romantically involved with him…what about you?"
"They were interrogating my relationship with him as well, I was honest too, went through the past and about how he tried to put me on the booze to his affair with Leanne and the goading he did during Simon's custody battle"
"At least you were honest, they're probably just building character references, no doubt we'll have to go in for formal interviews"
"Don't you have mediation with Gail though?"
"Ugh don't even go there, she's going to fight for this more than ever now her precious Nicky's dead. I can't let her take Emma from me, Peter…I can't"
"I know you can't-"
"I need you to promise something for me?" Carla asks as Peter nods "I need you to promise that if you're struggling whatever it is that happens down the line, that you'll speak to me-"
"Carla-"
"No, Peter. I mean it. I need you to speak to me because the last thing I need is one of us going off the rails right now"
"Ok, fine" Peter nods "Let's just try not to worry about that now, just focus on our family. Give yourself time to grieve Carla"
"I don't need to grieve" Carla mutters as Peter sighs knowing she was putting on a front for his benefit so she didn't hurt him"I don't"
"Carla, you obviously had some sort of feelings towards Nick," Peter says gently cupping her cheek, her eyes downcast to Emma who was sleeping peacefully on her chest "Let those feelings out, baby"
"I'm sorry" Carla whispers as the tears trail down her face slowly "I'm so sorry"
"What do you have to be sorry for, eh?" Peter whispers kissing her gently on the lips "You don't need to apologise for the way you feel"
"I do, this isn't fair on you, to console me over your arch-enemy's death"
"Baby, we're a team" Peter whispers as Carla sighs nodding in agreement, it was true, they were a team
"I know"
"Come on, why don't we sit and watch a film, we can just relax and take things as they come, face things head-on?" Peter offers as he sees Carla's eyes visibly light up at the support of her husband
"Sounds perfect"