It was a while before it dawned on her that the smashing had stopped. As this realisation, the last thudding of her heartbeat resided from her ears, allowing her to hear everything properly for the first time. She looked to see Gordon crouching in from of the children, and heard his soft murmurs to them. The sound washed over her, and she allowed her taught body to be soothed and relaxed by it.

She breathed deeply, still crouched on the floor, and gently reached down to touch the congealing blood on her side, the nightdress beginning to stick to it in a red, bloody mess. Her fingertips then travelled up to her face, where nearly the whole of one side was covered in the same red liquid, now drying and darkening, accompanied by an angry bruise.

Her hands moved again, this time to massage her forehead as a vice clasped onto it. She moved her fingers methodically, as if to coax the pain away. It wasn't long before the vice loosened to a gentler pressure.

She withdrew her hand, and raised her head to see Gordon looking at her, his brow creased with concern. He raised his eyebrows in question, and she nodded, smiling briefly in response, no words needed to break the silence. He kissed each of the children on the head; his display of fatherly affection showing her just how much he loved those children. He moved to crouch in front of her, and lay his hand on hers. His fingers curled around her smaller ones, the steady warmth transferring to her chilled extremities. His other hand came up to brush her hair from her face, then glided over her injured cheek, his gaze rested there, seemingly debating what would be the best aid. He then turned his attention to her side. His hand lowered, and she grimaced in anticipation, and sure enough, when he started to pull the once soft material out of the way, pain stabbed at her, and she jerked away in reflex. "Okay." He murmured soothingly as he once again reached towards her. "Just keep still." He once again began to peel away the satin where it was glued with blood to her wound, the torn ends penetrating inside of it. Pain swept through her again, and she clawed onto his shoulder, willing him to stop. He continued and she whimpered, gripping still harder onto him, her nails digging deep, surly hurting him, even through his coat. "Okay," he murmured once again, and took his hand away, the fingertips now stained with her blood. "This'll take longer than I thought. We'll see to it after the police have been."

And sure enough, as if they heard, there was a sharp rapping on the door, and a male voice filtered through, "It's the police."


Gordon rose and opened the door. The light from the hallway spread out into the front garden, and illuminated two policemen, one whom both Jill and Gordon knew to be PC Phil Bellamy, and the other, a young, skinny man, with an innocent somewhat naïve looking face, a face of one who hadn't seen any of the horrors of the world. They entered and then PC Bellamy introduced his colleague as PC Geoff Younger.

The later of the two gazed around until his eyes fell on Jill's blood caked cheek, where he remained transfixed. Jill, somewhat self-consciously raised her hand to cover her cheek. This though, revealed her wounded side to the policeman and so his gaze dropped, his face became tinged with a shade of green.

Jill felt Gordon place his coat around her shoulders and caught her eye. He flicked his eyes towards PC Younger and then back to her and winked. She smiled gratefully at him then turned her attention back to PC Bellamy. "So I need to see all the damage done and then take statements from all of you."

"Even the children?" Jill asked, slightly worried, it wasn't something she wished the children to be embroiled in, considering the cause of it.

"'Fraid so." he nodded, somewhat gravely. He then turned his attention to Katie and Tom and crouched down in front of them so he was at their level. "Your Dad and Jill are going to show me around the house, and then you two will need to tell me everything that happened, okay. Don't worry Geoff here will stay with you. He might even be persuaded to play Monopoly." He straightened up, winking at them as he did so. The start of a smile began to creep onto the tired faces of the children. "Right, Doctor Ormerod, Doctor Weatherill, if you'd like to show me the damage."

They nodded and Jill slipped her shoes on that were by the door, to protect her feet from the glass. They entered the living room first. Jill and Gordon both stood to one side as PC Bellamy made his way around the room, pausing every now and then to make notes in his pocket book. He paid particular attention to the brick before continuing to examine the room. Once he was finished, he turned to them, and gestured to the blood covered light switch. "Where did the blood come from?"

She told him how she cut her foot while he listened, sympathy in his eyes.

"Ahh, so that explains the blood stains on the carpets then." He replied before making further notes.

While he was doing this, Jill turned to Gordon. "Sorry about your carpets." She whispered, before glancing down at the many dark patches.

He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed her gently. "I don't care about the carpets Jill, I'm just glad you three are alright."

Once he'd finished his notes, he was led around the rest of the house. The last room to visit was the guest bedroom. They came out and stood in the hallway. They could clearly hear the children's giggles and occasionally Geoff's voice as he entertained them.

"It's weird how the only rooms that haven't been damaged are the children's." Jill said in hushed tones, mindful that if they could hear the children, the children could probably hear them."

PC Bellamy nodded in agreement, then spoke, his eyes moving between Jill and Gordon's. His voice was serious. "As I see it, we've got two possibilities; one, that it's a coincidence that those were the only two rooms left, or two, that someone knows this house and perhaps with a little conscience, left their rooms alone."

"But that'll mean it's our friends, my family, or Caroline's family!" Gordon exclaimed loudly. Jill placed a gently hand on his arm, trying to get him to calm down.

"As I say Dr Ormerod, it could just be a coincidence, but we can't rule out the other possibility." PC Bellamy paused, his eyes fixed on Gordon whose face was creased with worry. "Now Dr Ormerod, is there anyone you know of that would want to harm you, your family, or even Dr Weatherill if they knew she was here tonight."

Gordon ran a hand over his face, suddenly looking very weary. His eyes had lost their characteristic twinkle and no hint of a smile was present on his face. His shoulders were slumped and his posture looked defeated. "No, I don't know. I mean, what would they have against us?" His voice held a somewhat pleading note to it, as if asking for someone to agree with him, tell him everything was okay, wipe the whole night away so it never happened.

PC Bellamy closed his eyes briefly, obviously not liking being the harbinger of bad news. "Dr Weatherill, can you think of anyone?"

She shook her head and dropped her eyes to the floor, certain they'd give her away. Even faced with a policeman, someone who had the power to make her nightmare stop, she still couldn't divulge her secret. She couldn't take the chance.

"Okay. I'll get my sergeant to come up here tomorrow. Until then, I suggest you all try and get some sleep. PC Younger and I will stay in case whoever did this decides to return."

"Thank you constable." Gordon said and shook his hand. Jill murmured her thanks also.

"We'll do everything we can to catch the culprit, and make sure you're all safe. I'll go speak to PC Younger now." He smiled reassuringly at them, then descending the stairs, leaving them alone."

"I don't understand Jill!" Gordon said, turning towards her. "What have any of us done to deserve this? The children…" He tailed off as his voice caught.

She moved towards him and laid an arm across his back. "You don't deserve this Gordon, none of you do." She rested her head against his cheek. They stayed like that for a few minutes, neither speaking. To Jill, in those few minutes, it seemed as if everything else faded away, leaving just the two of them, joined together in the ordeal, together, yet apart, and what was between them, separating them from being one, was Jill's secret. Her guilt was pushing her away from him, bit by bit, until one day, she feared she they would be totally separate. Yet even with this invisible threat, she couldn't tell him, couldn't tell anyone about the letters. The reason was because she simply loved him too much for him to get hurt, and if the price to pay for her love was to be separate from him, then so be it. It was a much smaller price than the warnings in those letters.

Gordon eventually pulled away from her. "Come on let's get your injuries sorted." They descended the stairs hand in hand, for that moment at least, they were connected.