Chapter Text
Paddy found Aaron, taking his frustrations off on a car, a sign that things were getting to him.
“Aaron, take it easy.” Paddy went to instinctively put his arm on his shoulder, before pulling back at the last minute.
“Paddy, leave me alone.” Aaron walked off so he was out of Paddy’s reach.
“So you’re not inviting for a cuppa then.” He tried to lighten the mood.
“You know where the kettle is.”
“Well, if I make us one, will you come and sit down for ten minutes and then I’ll let you get back to beating the hell out of that car.”
It took another five minutes of convincing before Aaron relented into agreeing. Paddy placed the cups down on the table in the sparsely filled living room of Wiley’s farmhouse.
“Your mum’s worried about you. She asked me to come and check up on you.”
“She doesn’t need to, I’m fine.”
“She misses you, you know.”
“I find that hard to believe when she barely visits.”
“She wants to visit more but every time she comes, you argue with each other.”
“Whose fault is that?”
“I just thought with the news this morning, you might’ve wanted to talk?”
Aaron was puzzled. “What news? My wifi’s playing up so I haven’t been online for a few days.”
“They’ve found a body at the glamping site.”
Aaron went white. “What, how?” He could barely speak.
Paddy was stuttering nervously. “They said the police believe it’s been there quite a few years and they put up photos of some of the clothing found. Victoria’s freaked. Turns out, they match some of Alex’s clothes. Looks like you were right all along.”
“I’ve been telling you all for the past two years but no-one listened.” His anger poured out. “I get blamed for that murderer killing himself. It takes a year before mum can even look at me, never mind, speak to me.”
Paddy looked at him. “She feels guilty, Aaron. But to be fair to your mum, you never told us how you knew. What were we supposed to think?”
“Maybe you should’ve just believed me when I told you what Cameron was capable of and what he’d done. But no… everyone believed his lies. The fact he killed himself should have told you that he had something to hide. Two people would still be alive now if you’d all listened. Molly doesn’t have a mother and mum went to prison because of Cameron.” Aaron ranted.
“Aaron, we’ve been over this. Gennie died in the crash, Cameron tried to save her. Your mum killed Carl because he attacked her.”
Aaron closed up. “Look Paddy, I’ve got loads of stuff to be getting on with. Tell mum I’m fine.”
“Why don’t you come and tell her yourself?”
“I meant it when I said, I’m not going back to the village. It’s too noisy for me.”
“Are the headaches not getting any better? Have you asked Dr Lawson about them?”
“I don’t want to bother him. He’s a busy man.”
“Yes, but he’d want to know. He’s been involved in your case for almost four years, why wouldn’t he be interested?”
“Paddy, they’re just headaches. Everyone gets them. A few painkillers and I’m fine.” He lied, knowing nothing touched them.
“Ok, I’ll go but remember I’m always here for you. I’ll pop up in a few days.”
Aaron watched Paddy leave, feeling confused. He always thought he would be pleased when he was proved right, but it felt empty, much like his life.
He turned back to the car with the hammer, trying to blank out his life and what it had turned into since the crash.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of car engine and then the aggressive barking of dogs. He was curious as Duke and Riley didn’t normally bark if it was someone they knew.
He walked around the corner to find a blond man climbing out of a rather nice, expensive Audi R8. The man walked up to the gate nervously taking in the two dogs that were baring their teeth at him.
“Off.” Aaron order with authority. The dog stopped barking immediately and headed off to the other side of the barn, out of sight.
“I love a warm welcome.” The blond man commented in a smarmy, sarcastic manner.
“They’re just protecting my property, which by the way, you’re trespassing on.” He fired back, not liking this man already.
“This is your property then?”
“Yeah it is. What’s it to you?”
“Well, I don’t think it is your property. It’s mine…actually.”
“I don’t think so mate. If you’ll just leave.” Aaron’s patience was wearing very thin.
“I’ve just bought Home Farm, so I think that makes Wiley’s Farm mine.”
“So you’re the infamous Robert Sugden, living in the big house now.” Aaron had heard from Paddy that Robert had moved back with his new posh family, not that he was particularly interested.
“You really know how to push your luck then.” The blond man was clearly annoyed. “Anyway, you’ve not really helped yourself. I was going to give you 4 weeks’ notice about ending your rental agreement but now I think 2 weeks would be better.”
“I’ve signed and paid for the next six months. You can’t just evict me.”
“Oh, I think you’ll find I can. My solicitor says I can. The agreement you had with Mr Macey is now null and void, so you’ve got two weeks to move out.”
“Here’s the eviction notice.” He handed over the piece of paper for Aaron to take, which he did. He then held it up before tearing it up and throwing it back in man’s direction.
The other man puffed angrily. “You’ll regret that. I’ll be back tomorrow with a new one.” He then walked off, luckily just in time, otherwise he could have seen Aaron breaking down in a fully-fledged panic attack.
Robert climbed in his car, furious at Aaron’s attitude. He wouldn’t get away with it.
He drove into town to see Val at the B&B. She grabbed them a cuppa and they sat outside chatting.
“I need this kept between us.” He reminded her.
“You know me, pet. Discretion is my middle name. So do I not get any of the details?” She asked curiously.
“No it’s just a blip, nothing that can’t be sorted. I just thought some space would make her see sense.”
“Are you sure that’ll happen?”
“Yeah I’ll be back living there for the foreseeable future once Chrissie’s calmed down.”
“I bet Lawrence is pleased, he really doesn’t like you, does he?”
“That’s an understatement.”
“You do know it’s going to get round this village in no time, don’t you? And it won’t be coming from me.”
Val watched as a Subaru pulled up outside David’s shop.
“I wonder what he wants here.” She looked over.
Robert looked over. “Who is it?”
“Aaron Livesy or I think it might be Dingle now.”
He suddenly sat up and took an interest. “Why wouldn’t he be here?” He dug for information, hoping it might help get Wiley’s Farm back.
“I can count on my hand the number of times he’s been in the village since Cameron died.”
“Cameron?”
“Yeah Cameron Murray! Chas and Debbie’s boyfriend… long story. He was a bit of a player but he seemed nice enough. Anyway, Aaron accused him of murdering Alex. Vic’s ex-boyfriend funnily enough. No-one believed him, of course. He’s never been the same since the accident. They just thought it was his brain injury.”
“What accident?”
“Let me finish this story first, then I’ll get to that. Anyway, Cameron managed to brush off the claims but then Aaron accused him of killing Gennie and Carl King a year later. But of course, it was rubbish. Gennie died in a tragic car crash and Chas killed Carl in self-defence. The accusations proved too much and he killed himself back in 2013.”
“God, that’s awful. So what was this accident?” He didn’t know why he was asking.
“Back in 2010, Aaron was driving along a country road with his boyfriend Jackson. They had some kind of row, Jackson lost control and the car crashed and ended up on a railway line. Aaron saw a train coming, managed to jump free but couldn’t rescue his boyfriend. Jackson died instantly and Aaron ended up in a coma for over a year.”
“How can so much happen in one village?” He asked himself.
“So he lives at Wiley’s farm now. Rumour has it, he’s wracked with guilt over Jackson and Cameron. He’s very reclusive, only Paddy visits him. His mum has tried to fix their relationship but she cannot get over Cameron’s death and keeps blaming him for it. It’s a real mess.”
“You do know that the body at the glamping site belongs to someone called Alex Moss, don’t you?” Robert asked. “The police haven’t released the name yet, but I overheard them talking to Lawrence about it.”
Val was shocked at the news. “So Aaron was right all along. I wonder if he had something to do with it.”
“But then why would he bring it up, he would get implicated.” Robert pondered.
“How else would he know? Maybe he has a crystal ball.” She joked.
All of a sudden, their conversation was interrupted by the sight of Aaron storming out of the shop, horror etched all over his face. He got in his car, before screeching off at breakneck speed.