by Emma Tallon
It had been quick thinking on Sarah’s part, to set the scene the way she had. It had left the other man wary and cast the light of suspicion away from herself. All Freddie had needed to do was add on a bit of pressure and scare the man into submission. He hadn’t enjoyed implying that Mac’s family were in danger. No matter what the situation was, Freddie would never touch his wife or child. That was a line he’d never cross. But fear was a great motivator and if Freddie could get away with keeping order through fear rather than violence, he would always choose to do so.
Mac would lie awake at night now, terrified that the Tylers were going to come and hurt his family. It was a terrible thing to leave him thinking, but it would definitely ensure that the Sammy issue was dropped. And that, as far as Freddie was concerned, was all that really mattered.
Fifty-Eight
Freddie pulled up to his mother’s house and cut the engine, sitting in silence for a few moments before he opened the door. He didn’t really want to go inside. He wanted to avoid his mother for a while, just until he had begun to come to terms with everything he had learned. But he knew that this would cause Mollie pain and worry, and that was something he couldn’t do.
A large part of him was still angry with her for lying to him all these years and for being so stupid to have fallen for a scumbag like Jim in the first place. But the more reasonable side of his brain reminded him that he wouldn’t be here if she hadn’t and that she had just done the best she could with a bad situation. She had also been the best mum anyone could have possibly been, ever since he could remember. Even when Richard had died and she’d been left all alone with four children, she hadn’t crumbled, she’d stood up despite her pain and had fought every day to give them everything she could.
There had been days when the money Mollie had made from the cleaning jobs and the ironing she took in just hadn’t been enough to stretch to everything they’d needed, but still this never deterred her. No matter what, there was always food on the table, even if it was just bread and dripping with a fried egg. Their clothes were always clean and darned, even if they weren’t always new. The rent man always got his due, even if that meant they went to bed with extra layers on so that they didn’t have to turn on the heating. Looking back, Freddie couldn’t imagine how hard it must have been for his mother back then, with such a large burden on her shoulders. But not once had she complained or let her children see her tears.
He forced himself out of the car and up the path. The front door was unlocked and he let himself in, walking through to the back of the house where he knew he’d find Paul, Ethan and his mother in the kitchen.
Mollie was sniffing, barely managing to keep back the sobs that were trying to make their way out into the open. She was busying herself with the washing up, totally ignoring the top-of-the-range dishwasher Freddie had had fitted for her a few years before. She always did the washing up by hand when she was upset, it was a sign the brothers knew well.
Freddie glanced at Paul questioningly. He gave Freddie a sad look in response. ‘I just broke the news about Sammy,’ he said, his gruff voice sounding awkward in the quiet room.
Mollie turned around and looked at Freddie warily. He had listened to everything she’d told him the other day, had sat in silence as she’d poured her heart out and voiced the secrets she’d held so close for so long. She had watched his face twist in pain as she crushed the deepest connection he had to the man he’d called dad. Afterwards he had sat still and silent for so long she hadn’t known what to do. She’d babbled, begging his forgiveness, but he had cut her off and quietly told her that she wasn’t to worry any more. He was going to sort it all out. Then he’d left.
Paul had told her that everything was alright, but she knew deep down that it wasn’t. It couldn’t be. She hadn’t been able to sleep from worry. But he was here now and that was the main thing. If he was meeting Paul at the family home like normal, that was a good thing, surely? She just wished it was under less terrible circumstances.
‘I’m so sorry, Freddie,’ she said tentatively. ‘About Sammy, I mean.’ She didn’t want him to think she was still harping on about the other thing, when he so clearly didn’t want to discuss it.
Freddie looked down at his mother and saw the lines of worry around her eyes and the grey streaks in her hair as if for the first time. Her life had been hard for the most part and as she aged it had begun to show. The truth about his parentage might have been hard to swallow, but he knew in that moment that he would forgive Mollie that. He would forgive her anything. She had earned that right. He laid a hand on her shoulder gently. ‘We all are, Mum,’ he replied.
She reached up and grasped his hand tightly as relief washed over her. Feeling his hand on her shoulder, so gentle yet firm, felt like a life raft being thrown out to her. She had been drifting away from the safety and security that Freddie brought to the family into the darkness of her own past, and he was pulling her back in. The tears began to swell in her eyes and she looked down, not wanting to let them fall in front of him.
‘Sammy was a part of this family. He meant a lot to all of us.’ Freddie looked round and locked gazes with Ethan, who sat at the kitchen table looking miserable. In hazel-green eyes that mirrored his father’s, Freddie saw the hurt and the pain that the young boy felt at losing yet another important person from his life. ‘I’m so sorry, mate,’ Freddie said. ‘I know you were close.’
‘Why would someone want to kill Uncle Sammy?’ Ethan asked, his voice quivering. His gaze moved between Freddie and Paul as he searched for answers. ‘He was nice to everyone. One – one time…’ He sniffed and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand as he struggled to speak calmly. ‘One time we went to dinner and there was a man outside who lived on the street and when we left it started raining and Uncle Sammy went to the shop and bought him an umbrella so he didn’t have to get wet. ’Cause he’s just nice. Wh-why would anyone want to kill him?’ Ethan’s voice rose an octave and he squeezed his eyes shut as the pain of losing his ‘uncle’ overwhelmed him.
Freddie moved across the room and quickly gathered his son up in his arms, holding him tight as he began to truly sob. He put his face to the top of Ethan’s soft head and closed his eyes. The boy had seen and been through so much in his short life that he had developed a mature wisdom that was seldom seen in men twice his age. Sometimes he forgot that he was still just a child underneath it all. And right now that child had lost one of the only people who had been a constant in his life over the last few years. It had been Sammy who had been there to take him to football and for dinner and to talk to him about guy stuff whilst Freddie had been in prison. It had been Sammy who’d helped him adapt to his new life after his mum had sold him down the river. And now Ethan would have to say goodbye yet again to someone he loved. It wasn’t fair and in that moment the hatred Freddie already felt for Sammy’s killer burned hotter than the fires of hell.
‘I can’t answer that, son. Because I don’t know either,’ he murmured, rocking Ethan gently back and forth as he held him. ‘But what I can tell you, is that when I find out who did it, we’ll make sure they pay.’ He raised his eyes to Paul’s and they exchanged a hard look.
‘We certainly will,’ Paul agreed.
Glancing back at Mollie, Freddie saw her look away as if worried to lock gazes with him. His mouth formed a grim line. He didn’t want to talk about what had been said but it lay between them like a heavy weight. He needed to clear the air and let her know where he stood if they were going to be able to properly move past this.
‘Paul, do me a favour, go ahead with Ethan to football, will you? I’ll meet you there in a few,’ he said.
‘Sure. Come on, mate, let’s go.’
Still sniffling but trying to put a brave face on, Ethan followed his uncle out, saying a brief goodbye to his grandmother on the way.
As the front door shut and the two of them were left alone, there was an awkward silence. Freddie rubbed his hand over his face, not sure where
to start. Mollie twisted the tea towel in her hands, the anxiety she felt building to a crescendo.
‘Listen,’ Freddie said, backing away from Mollie and sitting on one of the chairs around the kitchen table. ‘I can’t pretend finding all that out was easy. I can’t imagine it would have been easy finding that out at any point. So I get why you didn’t want to tell me.’
‘Richard was still your dad, Freddie,’ Mollie said quietly, her bottom lip wobbling. ‘He was your real dad.’
‘I know.’ Freddie nodded. ‘It stings, knowing his blood doesn’t run through my veins,’ he admitted. ‘But he will always be the man who taught me the most important life lessons. He’ll always be the man who made me into the person I am today. And that’s enough. That’s what’s important.’
There was a short silence as mother and son stared at each other across the room. Mollie sniffed and wiped the tear that was threatening to fall from her eye. ‘What now?’ she asked. ‘Can you forgive me?’ The question turned to barely more than a whisper as she dreaded his answer.
Freddie cast his gaze to the floor, rubbing his forehead tiredly. ‘There’s nothing to forgive,’ he said eventually. ‘You’re my mum. You’re a good mum. You always have been.’ He smiled sadly. ‘You’re also only human. And that’s a curse that leads us all to have to make difficult choices sometimes.’ He looked up at her. ‘I need a bit of time to process things. But I love you very much. That never has and never will change.’
The tears in Mollie’s eyes spilled over and she wished more than anything that she could run forward and envelop her eldest son in a huge protective hug, but she knew Freddie was not ready for that right now. He needed space and then when he was done, he’d be back and everything would be OK again. So instead, she nodded and wiped away the tears with a watery smile. ‘I love you too,’ she said. ‘So much more than you’ll ever know.’
‘I know, Mum.’ Freddie stood up and straightened his jacket. ‘Listen, Jim managed to get away from us before we could solve the matter properly.’ He didn’t elaborate and he knew Mollie wouldn’t ask. The darker side of his job was something they didn’t talk about, for his mother’s peace of mind. ‘But I promise you…’ Determination darkened in his eyes. ‘We will catch up with him. And when we do, you won’t have to worry about him bothering you ever again.’
Fifty-Nine
Sarah knocked on the door and pushed it open, walking into the bright, clinical room. She wrinkled her nose slightly at the smell, but said nothing. Careful not to drop either of the two coffees in her hand she walked across the room to where Melrose was busy looking down into a microscope.
‘You know you’re not supposed to be in here without an express invite,’ he said without looking up.
‘I figured you’d fill out the paperwork later,’ she replied, putting one of the coffees down in front of him. ‘Double shot, soya, decaf, caramel latte. Just how you like it.’
Sarah was used to difficult people in her line of work. She herself was a difficult person, a trait she was both well aware and proud of. But in all her years of working with difficult people she had never met anyone quite as awkward as Melrose. He seemed to enjoy making people squirm at a level she wasn’t sure could be classed as normal, when the mood took him. So, abandoning her usual bull-in-a-china shop approach, she handled him with care whenever she needed something.
Melrose glanced at the coffee with interest, then at her with slightly less interest. ‘What are you here for?’
‘I take it you got my message about the DNA sample for the John Doe at the building site?’ she asked.
Melrose smirked. ‘You mean Aleksei Ivanov?’ He laughed as her face froze. ‘Oh, don’t worry. I ran him through off the record. I’ve kept the files clear like you asked me to do until we spoke. What’s happening?’
Sarah glanced over her shoulder, checking the room was still clear of anyone but them. ‘I need you to run an unidentified sample through for his file. No one can know it’s him. There is nothing else at the site that can identify him, so ID would then be dropped.’
Melrose frowned. ‘Why don’t you want him ID’d?’ he asked.
‘This is for the Tylers,’ she said with a meaningful look.
‘Ah.’ Melrose paused and moved his attention back to the microscope. ‘I see.’
Sarah waited for him to say something more but he didn’t, seemingly engrossed with whatever he was looking at. ‘So you’ll do that?’ she prompted.
‘Well, if I don’t, I imagine I’ll be given a talking-to about earning my keep, seeing as I take regular payments from the Tylers to be on call for situations such as this. So I don’t really have much choice,’ he said in a casual tone.
Sarah exhaled and relaxed the muscles she just realised she’d been tensing for the last few days. ‘Great.’ She nodded. ‘I’ll leave that with you then. Thanks, Melrose.’
‘No worries. Thanks for the coffee. Nothing I like more than the sweet taste of caramel with my dead bodies in the mornings.’ He picked up the paper cup and took a deep appreciative swig.
Sarah raised her eyebrows and walked out of the room without response. He really was an oddball, Melrose. As she left the building and stepped into the sunshine she shrugged the thin suit jacket off and folded it over her arm. It was a hot day, far too hot to be working, but as usual she was on a double shift. Once she’d finished her official investigations, she still had her unofficial ones to get stuck into. Her livelihood – and potentially her freedom, these days – depended on it.
Her next stop was only around the corner, so she decided to leave the car and walk the short distance instead. Her court shoes clipped out a sharp rhythm on the pavement as she walked and she fluffed her short dark hair back.
The ugly one-storey building that the forensic team were housed in came into view and she picked up the pace. Reaching the door, she pushed the buzzer and waited to be let in. There was a short click and she pressed forward into the building, waving briefly to the familiar security guard in the office as she passed.
Mac was at his station, sitting on his stool and staring worriedly into space. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn’t notice her until she waved a hand in front of his face.
‘Hello? Earth to Mac?’ she said with a slight laugh. ‘Are you with us?’
‘Oh, Sarah!’ he exclaimed. Relief flooded through his face and he glanced around the room before lowering his voice. ‘I’ve been trying to call you. I need to talk to you.’
‘Yes, I saw your calls but I was in a meeting round the corner. I need to talk to you too,’ she said seriously. ‘Is there somewhere more private?’ The room was a hive of activity.
‘Yes, let’s go to the break room. That’s probably best.’ He led the way down a long corridor towards a small room at the end. Sarah followed him in and waited until he had shut the door.
‘Listen,’ she said, sounding as urgent as she could. ‘I’ve got a meeting set up with Ben in an hour. If you’re free to come with me, we can take this all to him then. I’ve got—’
‘No, stop.’ Mac cut her off and put his hands up in protest. ‘Listen…’ He licked his lips and shifted to one side. ‘I got it wrong. I mixed the samples up.’
‘What?’ Sarah asked with a deep frown.
‘I mean, I made a mistake.’
‘But you never make mistakes,’ Sarah pressed, making sure to put on a good act.
‘Well, I did.’ He wiped his forehead, sweat beginning to form. He wasn’t used to lying like this, the stress was getting to him. ‘I used the wrong soil sample. I ran the right soil samples and they contained the correct amount of blood for what I would expect to see at the site.’
‘You’re certain?’ She made sure to sound like she was not entirely convinced.
‘I’m positive,’ Mac confirmed with a nod. ‘I double-checked everything. I was too quick off the mark to bring it to you. I should have checked it again first. Sorry, I’m not sure how this happened, but it won’t happen
again.’
Sarah tilted her head to one side as if she was mulling over the information. ‘OK,’ she said eventually. ‘I guess I was wrong about the whole thing then. Huh. I was sure there was something off about it…’
‘Nope. Well, other than the fact a guy’s been murdered, of course,’ Mac replied.
‘OK. I’ll cancel Ben then, don’t worry about it. And your little slip-up can stay between the two of us.’ She smiled and opened the door, stepping back out into the hallway and heading for the exit. ‘No harm, no foul.’
‘Thanks, Sarah,’ Mac said with a small smile of relief. He didn’t like having to lie the way he just had, but the safety of his family meant more to him than anything else in the world. Even the law.
‘No problem. Keep me updated, yeah? There must be something.’
But there wouldn’t be something, she thought with a smile, as she left the building and headed into the office to start her official working day. Because Freddie had made sure that Mac was so scared that the Sammy case would be over and pushed to the side in no time. There would be nothing found that linked the body to Freddie’s office where he actually was murdered, and then maybe they could all stop holding their breaths and start living their lives once more.
As she reached her car, Sarah’s smile melted away. Now that these issues had been dealt with, there was one more thing she needed to do. She needed to see if her suspicions about the owner of the gold bracelet were right. Because if they were, everything around Freddie was about to blow up, big time.
Sixty
Josephine draped the royal blue feather boa over her shoulders and flicked one end back around with a flourish, before turning slowly in the mirror to check that it was sitting just where she wanted it. Really it was too hot for such adornments, but it matched perfectly with the long floaty dress she wore and she had never been one to let something as trivial as the weather get in the way of a good outfit.
