Chapter Two

Rhys' mouth dropped and he suddenly fell silent as Jack's words began to sink in. Shock washed over him as Jack walked back to his wife, giving Rhys space to process what had happened. He looked back in Cheryl's direction. She was now sat at the bottom of the steps with one of the other officers whom was making sure she was alright. He didn't know what to do, what to think. Part of him wanted to walk over and just give Cheryl a hug; part of him needed that too. That same part of him felt devastated, he'd known Gilly practically his whole life, they'd been through so much together. Yet the other side of him felt that little bit relieved, maybe even a little happy. He deserved it. Or did he? His thoughts began to mix up in his head. He took a deep breath, before beginning to turn around to go and find Jacqui, not knowing what she had and hadn't heard before she'd disappeared off.

"Mr Ashworth," Ethan, the detective-and well-known face around the village-said solemnly straight after arriving at the scene. "We're going to need to speak to you and Jacqui down at the station."

"You think we did this?" He asked in disbelief, not seeing that coming.

"Well we are led to believe that you had motive more than most, so-"

Rhys shook his head, his eyes filling up with fluid.

"Not now! I can't do this now!" he stated breathlessly, hitting his hands on the sides of his legs, full of frustration and anger. He quickly walked away before any of them could say anymore.

He rushed back to the flat, unable to gather his thoughts. It wasn't long until he reached home, finding Jacqui sat at the table looking deep in thought. Upon hearing him walk in, she glanced worriedly over to him as he came in the door. Rhys said nothing. He just slumped himself down on the sofa with a loud sigh. He stared in the opposite direction of Jacqui, closing his eyes for several seconds, blinking away any of the tears that remained in his eyes. He didn't know how to tell her, he didn't know the right words to use.

"W-w-what's happened?" Jacqui stuttered whilst getting up and walking her way over to join him on the couch. She stared at him, examining every expression his face made. He looked like he'd seen a ghost, his face had gone pale, his expressions made it look empty, Jacqui hadn't seen him like this before even during some of their worst moments. "Has he raped someone, has he done it again? Is that what it is? I'm gonna flamin' kill 'im," she spat out. She thought about it for several seconds. Rhys wouldn't be acting like this if that's all that had happened. Rhys was always useless at keeping things to himself, he'd always show his feelings, he wouldn't ever hide them, unlike herself. That's why it worried Jacqui so much when he said nothing. "Rhys, tell me what's wrong will ya?" she nagged, hitting his shoulder delicately with the palm of her hand.

"He's dead," Rhys spat out before turning to face his wife. "Gilly's been found dead, like actually dead. Murdered or somit." Jacqui's face quickly became emotionless as Rhys vaguely explained to her what had happened.

"No, no, he can't be…Are you sure, Rhys?" she asked, needing to hear it again. Rhys couldn't say it again though; he just nodded his head before taking a deep breath.

"They want to question us," he told Jacqui, blankly.

"Us? What? They think we did this? Oh yeah, the guy rapes me so what, so they think I'm gonna-I'm gonna go and kill him, do they?" Jacqui replied, raising her voice in horror, almost sounding as if she was taking it out on Rhys, that was what she always did, but often without realising it.

"I don't know what the think, Jacqui,' Rhys shouted, frustratedly, jumping up off his seat. Everything felt surreal. He brushed his hands over his head, waving his arms around with anger. "I don't how I'm meant to feel about all of this. I guess, I don't know, at least this is all over now, yeah?" His words were quick and unsure. He didn't have a clue.

"All over? No Rhys, we're probably going to have to go through court all over again. This ordeal won't even be far from over, how can you-how can you even think that?" she screamed back at him in a stern voice whilst moving her arms around frantically. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes. Rhys contemplated running out to get some fresh air for a while, he couldn't take Jacqui arguing with him right now but he knew that wouldn't be the best of ideas. Instead he re-positioned himself back on the sofa, leaving space between himself and Jacqui. She still looked emotionless, she spoke as if she should've been crying, but she wasn't, she was just sat there with no expression on her face, staring downwards.

"Even when he's dead, he's still causing grief and not of the usual kind," Rhys sighed, beginning to calm down a little.

"Is Cheryl alright?" Jacqui asked, a little suddenly, a hint of concern in her voice.

"No. Well, it's not like I stopped to ask or nothin', not as if we're speakin', is it."

"But he was her boyfriend." She paused, just briefly and shook her head. After biting her lip, she continued. "I think you should go and check on her Rhys." She said the words half to get Rhys out of the house knowing she needed space right now to process all of this herself.

"Yeah….and we warned her about getting mixed up with him didn't we," Rhys replied in disagreement. He got up again, kissing Jacqui gently on the head. "I'm gonna call mum, she needs to be told," he continued as he walked out into the kitchen. Jacqui could hear him in the background making the call to Spain. From his tone of voice, she could tell he wasn't as overly-joyed about Gilly dying as he was acting. It was probably fair enough that he was upset, but she couldn't sit there and watch, it was just bringing back so many memories and she had to get away. Checking Rhys wasn't watching, she grabbed Terry and quickly slipped out of the door before Rhys could notice

It wasn't long until he'd finished the conversation with his mum. He ended the call and turned around as he began to speak.

"Right, Josh and mum are coming back as soon as-." By the end of his sentence he'd realised Jacqui was no longer there. "Shit," he murmured to himself, bashing his hand against his head, not wasting another second before he grabbed his coat and headed out to look for her. After what they'd previously been though, when Jacqui left without saying anything, he began to worry uncontrollably about where she was.

He ran down the street, heading for the McQueen's house in search for his wife. He looked upwards at Cheryl's place as he passed. The outside lights allowed him to notice her stood in the door of her the house with the only remaining officer; he presumed he was asking her questions or something. He stared up at her and they immediately gained eye contact with one another. Unable to gain the will to speak to her, he shook his head, put his hands in his pockets and began to walk off.