Chapter Four
It was early hours of the morning when Ethan called around at the McQueen's in search for Jacqui and/or Rhys. He knocked the door loudly and Theresa-who was dressed only in her dressing gown-quickly ran to answer it.
"Ethan, what are you doing here, it's like-it's like not even 8am," she mumbled, shocked to see him standing there. She quickly brushed her hair with her hand to make sure it looked a little more presentable. Despite dating Will, she'd always had some sort of feelings for Ethan and he knew it.
"Is Jacqui in? I called round hers but there was no answer," he said professionally, for once not spending the opportunity trying to get Theresa on-side. Hearing the noise of his voice, a half asleep Myra soon wondered down the stairs to see what was going on.
"Oi, what the 'ell you doing 'ere? You're not welcome in this house you ent," she mouthed off at him.
"Auntie Myra, he's here to see Jacqui," Theresa said in her usual bubbly voice, sounding just a slight bit worried about her cousin.
"Oh yeah? What d'ya want with 'er?" Myra asked, naively.
"I need to take her down to the station for questioning," Ethan stated, a little surprised that they hadn't seen it coming. "I'm afraid she's one of our main suspects at this stage."
"You think MY daughter did THIS?" Myra asked, sounding even more shocked than when Rhys and Jacqui had been when they'd heard the accusation.
"Ethan, Jacqui wouldn't hurt a fly," Theresa butted in. Hearing her name being mentioned, Jacqui slumped her way down the stairs too, rubbing her eyes before suddenly catching a glimpse of Ethan standing in the doorway.
"Well that's what I thought about you," Ethan whispered harshly back to Theresa, referring to Calvin, the man she'd shot.
"Come on now, you saw how she was after Gilly raped 'er," Myra said, pointing towards Jacqui as she uselessly attempted to get her off the hook.
"Exactly," was all that Ethan said in reply before he turned to face Jacqui herself. "Find Rhys and meet me down at the station would you? The sooner we can get to the bottom of this, the better." Myra quickly shut the door as Ethan got ready to walk off. Jacqui pressed her hand against her head and closed her eyes tightly, tears quickly swelling up inside them. After taking a moment to stare at her daughter, she put her arms around her but Jacqui just stayed still as a rock as she was squeezed tightly.
"It'll be just fine love, you just tell them the truth and it'll all be ok….Now, who's for brecky?" Jacqui sighed loudly and wondered her way over to the sofa, lieing down on it without saying a word. Theresa stumbled over to her and tried to reassure her.
"Auntie Myra's right you know, they'll probably just want to ask you who you think did it."
"Yeah, well, y'ould know all about murder cases, wouldn't ya, T'resa?" Jacqui breathed out loudly in Theresa's direction, once again thinking of Calvin. Screwing her nose up, Theresa walked off back upstairs without saying another word.
Meanwhile, Rhys had just got back from meeting Suzanne and Josh at the airport. It would be a bit of a squash having them stay with him but there was no where else, besides he thought their support would be nice right now, especially now that Jacqui had disappeared off.
"Looks different in 'ere," Josh exhaled, looking around at his surroundings as they all walked into the flat. Hearing the phone beeping, Rhys quickly walked over to it whilst looking back to answer his brother.
"Yeah. Well it 'as been over a year now, ent it. Dad's bein' a total dick about d'rent still though. Oh mum, forget to ask, 'ow are the twins?" He'd finally learned to live with the fact that his mum had kids with Darren. Darren Osborne. His sister was married to him and his mother had kids with him. Shouldn't have even surprised him though, the Ashworth's had never been your average family.
"Yeah, they're doing fine. Got a friend of mine looking after them, thought they'd be a bit of a distraction if we brought them with us." Rhys smiled into his mum's direction before picking up the phone and listening to the message Jacqui had left for him.
"Ey Rhys, I dunnah where ya are yeah but we gotta go down and see the cops asap. Ethan came round earlier dint 'e 'n' woke us all up. Just gimme a call or somit as soon as ya get back." Rhys sighed and looked back towards his mum.
"I've gotta get down tha station ent I, bloody questionin' an' that. You guys gonna be alright 'ere whilst I dash off?"
"You'd think they'd at least give you a little compassion, wouldn't you? I mean you've just lost you best mate," Suzanne moaned, already unimpressed with the way the cops were dealing with this whole mess.
"Ex-best mate actually," Rhys corrected automatically. Josh sighed, throwing Rhys a harsh look. Josh had always looked up to Gilly, often more so than he did Rhys. They'd always been like brothers. Rhys looked back at his mum again. "Oh an' if Lynsey comes in whilst I'm gone, tell 'er who ya are, I ent had chance to let 'er know you're staying 'ere yet." Abruptly after finishing his sentence, Rhys dashed out the door, getting his phone out and quickly sending a text to Jacqui saying; 'on my way now,' whilst he rushed down to the police station.
Rhys arrived at the station to find Jacqui already sat there, alone, waiting to be questioned.
"Eya, sorry, was meetin' mum and Josh at the airport." Jacqui nodded without speaking. They sat there in the waiting room, in silence, just exchanging a glace with one another now and then. Jacqui sat there fiddling with her earrings. Nervous would be an understatement to explain how she looked and that was something you didn't often see in Jacqui. Rhys, on the other hand just slouched down in his chair like a school kid in detention.
"Rhys Ashworth?" The detective called. She was the same one Jacqui had come in contact with previously when her sister, Mercedes had gone missing. It was easy to say Jacqui had spent a fair amount of time in this building during her time in Hollyoaks and it seemed it was only about to increase. Rhys raised a hand and got up, following her into the interview room. As he walked into the room, he sighed loudly noticing Ethan sat in one of the chairs. Were these two their only staff or something?
"So Mr Ashworth. Could you tell us what your relationship with Mr Gilbert Roach was?" The female detective asked, jumping straight into it. Rhys had to restrain himself from laughing sarcastically; he'd always used to laugh when people called him by his full name.
"Dint really 'ave a 'relationship' with 'im."
"Really? Because I've heard the two of you were best friends," the female detective questioned.
"Well if ya know that, then why'd ya ask me?" Rhys replied, already beginning to get aggravated. They should've known all of this after the whole trial business, they probably just wanted him to re-phrase it all out loud, but right now that was the last thing he wanted to do.
"Please try and remain calm and answer the questions," the detective said, solemnly.
"Gilly and I used to be best mates, yeah-"
"Until Jacqui accused him of rape. Am I right?"
"Yes!" Rhys breathed out, unwillingly. "Why are ya askin' me this stuff? I told ya the last time we were in court over 'im." The detectives ignored his sentence and professionally continued with the questioning.
"And how did it make you feel when he returned back here last month?"
"Angry, of course. But he raped my wife, We were fine, we were getting' on with our lives and that, an' then suddenly…he's back. Of course I was angry, what tha hell d'ya expect, ay? For me to be jumpin' for joy?"
"Let's just cut to the chase shall we? Where were you 8pm, Sunday night?" Ethan butted in, sighing half way through his sentence.
"I was at home weren't I," Rhys simply stated.
"What, all night?"
"You're makin' me sound like a right borin' git now. Yes, all night."
"And can anyone back this up?" Ethan asked with a yawn, sounding as if he was bored to death of his job.
"Lynsey." He tried to keep his sentences short and snappy. He didn't want to say anymore than he needed to if he could help it, not that he really had anything to hide.
"Lynsey Nolan?" The other detective asked.
"Yeah, that's right. But, I hear ya have a habit of not believing her, is that right?" Rhys answered back, already fed up of their questions. The two detectives shared a glance at each other before looking back at Rhys.
"In that case, we'll need to get Lynsey in to confirm this. And what about Jacqui, was she home with you?"
"No," he replied reluctantly, looking downwards to avoid eye-contact with them. He had to be honest, but didn't want to put his foot in it and get his wife into any trouble. "Well, some of the night."
"And what about the rest of the night? Did she tell you where she was?"
"I dunnah. With 'er sister or somit," Rhys spat out, believing Jacqui had been telling him the truth when she'd told him that.
"Ok, thankyou. I think that will be all…for now, although we will need you to make a statement."
"For now? You can't seriously tell me ya think I killed me best mate?" Rhys cried, beginning to get overwhelmed by the pressure they'd been putting him under.
"You said you were no longer friends with the victim," the female detective said, in a slightly confused voice. Ethan gestured for them to finish the interview, knowing it was obvious Rhys couldn't take anymore of this.
"Alright then, you're free to go Mr Ashworth."
Rhys walked rapidly out of the room, heading in the direction of the waiting room. When he got there he found his mum stood there, with Jacqui still in her original position looking as if she hadn't even moved an inch. He walked straight up to Suzanne, an upset look on his face, he was glad to see her but there was no need for her to've followed him down there. She immediately hugged him tightly but it wasn't long until Rhys pushed her off of him. He turned around, wiping his face and looked at Jacqui.
"I'll wait 'ere for ya, Jaq," Rhys told her as she got out of her seat after having her name called.
"Nah, don't be silly babe, I'll be fine, you go," Jacqui replied, forcing a smile onto her face so that Rhys would believe she was alright.
"Wel' come back home after then, yeah?" Jacqui nodded in response as she herself prepared to be questioned.
Notes: Sorry I haven't updated for a while! Also, the bad spelling's on purpose, to get their accents across-incase you wondered, haha.
I'm not going to write about Jacqui getting questioned because it'll get a little repetitive...but it will be mentioned in the next chapter.