Back to You

by Cathy Cole

  1. The New Girl

  2. The Trouble With Love

  3. More Than a Love Song

  4. A Date With Fate

  5. Never a Perfect Moment

  6. Kiss at Midnight

  7. Back to You

  8. Summer of Secrets

  9. Playing the Game

  10. Flirting With Danger

  11. Lovers and Losers

  12. Winter Wonderland

  Heaps of thanks to Lucy Courtenay and Sara Grant

  Contents

  Cover

  Half Title Page

  The Heartside Bay Series

  Title Page

  Dedication

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  Back Ads

  Copyright

  ONE

  Eve stood beside the house, pressing her back flat against the wall, trying to still her breathing. No one could know she was there. Particularly the watchful journalist outside the gate.

  She had called the school half an hour ago. There was no way she could face anyone, not with this going on.

  “Eve and Chloe won’t be in this week,” she had told the school receptionist, trying to imitate her mother’s drawling way of speaking. “I’m sure you understand the pressure they are under.”

  “Of course, Mrs Somerstown. I’ll let their teachers know.”

  That part had been easy. If only the rest could be as simple.

  A shrill voice floated out of an open window above Eve’s head as she waited in the shadows of the house. Her mother had been on the phone for hours already, and it was only nine o’clock in the morning. She was saying the same thing over and over again, as if by repeating herself she could make the nightmare of the past two days go away.

  “You have to get him out of there, John! I hear there are rats… They can’t just arrest him on no grounds… But he’s innocent, it’s all been a terrible mistake, Henry would never defraud anyone… But this is your job, John, you are Henry’s lawyer, you must be able to do something…”

  He can’t get Daddy out, Eve thought. No one can help Daddy except for me.

  She had been watching the loitering journalist carefully, looking for a pattern in his behaviour. She’d worked out how to get past him without being seen. Now all she had to do was wait for the moment.

  Every now and again he would look down at his camera and adjust the lens. Then he would turn away from the house with his back to the wind for a couple of seconds, in order to light a cigarette. That was Eve’s chance. Those few seconds while he lit the cigarette.

  He was fiddling with his lens again now, his head down. Eve edged towards the gate with her back to the hedge that bordered the driveway. She moved as close to the road as she dared, then waited.

  She heard a cough, and the flare of a lighter. Saw the back of the journalist’s head as he turned to light his cigarette. Darting like quicksilver into the road, Eve ducked down behind a parked car. Her heart was hammering fit to burst as the journalist took a long pull on his cigarette and stared back at the house. She’d done it!

  She made her way quickly to the end of the road, keeping out of sight behind the parked cars. There was no time for celebration. Now she had made it past the first obstacle, the old questions started chasing around her head.

  Her father was accused of embezzling money and defrauding the people who had invested in his new shopping centre. Eve knew it was crazy. Her father wasn’t dishonest. He would never do something like that. But could you arrest someone without any evidence at all? Was it really a mistake?

  Daddy has always stood by you, she reminded herself, sickened by the feelings of doubt that she kept trying so hard to keep out of her head. You owe him the same loyalty.

  His arrest had to be the result of a misunderstanding. Either that, or Chief Murray had concocted the whole thing.

  He’s always had it in for my family, Eve thought bitterly, remembering how Heartside Bay’s Chief of Police had refused the Valentine’s gift she had tried to deliver from her father several months earlier. A little nugget of anger hardened in her heart at the thought of her ex-friend Lila Murray’s part in the whole thing. Her lies, her fake friendship. She’d sucked up to Eve so she could spy on her and her family, and report everything back to Daddy.

  Eve walked quickly, taking the back streets to the town centre. She wished she knew more about what was happening. She, her sister Chloe and her mother had been trapped in the house ever since her father’s arrest, and all she knew was what she’d heard on the news. Embezzlement. Fraud. Prison. Scary words, all of them. According to regular bulletins on the radio, police had already searched the offices of Somerstown Developments, the mayor’s office and her dad’s half-constructed shopping centre by the cliffs. Eve wondered hopelessly what they were looking for.

  The streets were festooned in the pink banners and ribbons that always seemed to come out of storage in June, when all the wedding chapels and churches, restaurants and cafés and hotels in the town were all full to bursting. It was prime wedding season, and love was big business in Heartside Bay. In her present state of mind, the decorations made Eve feel more lost and alone than ever.

  This was worse than when she had come out to her friends and family about being gay. Much worse. She’d always looked up to her father.

  You still do, she told herself a little forlornly.

  Henry Somerstown was mayor of Heartside Bay. He was a successful businessman who had brought employment to the town with the construction of his shopping centre. Now it seemed that everyone was out to get him.

  People were starting to whisper as Eve moved through the more crowded shopping streets of Heartside Bay. “Isn’t that Somerstown’s daughter?” she overheard someone say.

  Not Mr, or Mayor, Eve noted. Just Somerstown. Like Daddy’s just a common criminal.

  It seemed that the people of Heartside Bay had already judged her father, and found him guilty. Eve ducked her head and kept walking. Not far now.

  The police station stood opposite the main entrance to the Grand Hotel, which backed on to Marine Parade and the great white sweep of the beach. Eve hesitated, looking up at the doors. This was insane. They would never let her inside.

  There was a sudden flurry of activity on the steps. Lila’s father came outside with three other officers, deep in conversation, with sheaves of official-looking documents in their arms. Eve ducked behind one of the Grand Hotel’s pillars, hardly daring to believe her luck. If Chief Murray was out, maybe there was a chance of sneaking in to see her dad.

  The moment the coast was clear, Eve walked into the police station.

  “Hello,” she said, holding the desk sergeant’s eye. “I’m here to see my father, Henry Somerstown.”

  The desk sergeant looked down at the papers on his desk. “According to my paperwork he’s not having visitors today. Sorry, but you’ll have to leave.”

  Eve stayed where she was. “There must be a mistake,” she said as firmly as she could. “I was specifically told I could see him today at ten o’clock.”

  “I’m sorry, miss, but—”

  Eve laid her palm over the desk sergeant’s hand, summoning t
ears to her eyes. It was a useful talent.

  “Please,” she said. Her eyes were welling up nicely, spilling down her cheeks now. “I won’t be long.” The desk sergeant was starting to look sympathetic. Eve turned the screw a little tighter. “No one needs to know I’ve been here. He’s my father. I … I miss him.”

  The desk sergeant sighed. “You’ll have to be searched first, miss. Regulations.”

  A few minutes later, Eve was escorted past the desk and down a long, bleach-smelling corridor to a row of heavy steel doors with small barred windows. She swallowed. Was her father really in one of these horrible little cells?

  “One minute,” repeated the sergeant. “In you go.”

  A grey-faced man looked up as Eve stepped tentatively inside. For a moment, she wondered if she had the wrong cell. She barely recognized her usually smiling, well-dressed father.

  The cell door shut behind her with a terrible boom. Eve had never felt so terrified in her life.

  TWO

  “Evie? Her dad got to his feet and came towards her with his arms outstretched. He looked haggard and unshaven, his usually immaculate suit crumpled and creased. He put his arms round her and hugged her tightly against him, stroking her hair and showering kisses on her face. The kisses were scratchy.

  I shouldn’t have come, Eve thought, trying not to recoil from his unwashed smell. It’s awful seeing Daddy like this. She instantly felt guilty for thinking that way.

  “Daddy, it’s OK,” she said, forcing herself to return his hug. “I’m here now.”

  “Is John getting me out? My lawyer? Eve, I have to get out of this place…”

  The desperation in his face almost broke Eve’s heart. But she had to be strong.

  “Not yet,” she said as soothingly as she could, “but soon, Daddy. Soon, I promise.”

  “How did you get in here?” he asked, releasing her and sinking down on the long, hard bench under the barred window. “They told me no visitors.”

  “I’m not your daughter for nothing,” Eve said. She felt a little flush of pride. “I tricked them into letting me see you.”

  “You’ve always been a clever girl, Eve,” said her father, trying to smile.

  Eve sat beside him on the bench. “This is all a mistake, isn’t it Daddy?” she said, a little anxiously. “You wouldn’t steal other people’s money would you?”

  “Of course I wouldn’t, baby girl,” he said, taking her hand and squeezing it. “There are some really bad people out there who are trying to frame me, bring me down and ruin me. We won’t let that happen, will we?”

  Eve shook her head. She felt better, hearing her father talking in this way. Of course he wasn’t guilty of all the things they had been saying.

  “They have it all wrong,” he went on earnestly. “And I’ll be out of here before you know it, clearing my name. But Eve, I need your help.”

  “Of course, Daddy,” said Eve at once, love welling up in her heart. “Tell me what to do and I’ll do it. I hate seeing you in here. You should be at home with me and Mummy and Chloe.”

  “And I will be again, very soon. Now listen carefully. You’re the only one I can trust.”

  Eve nodded. “Tell me,” she said, concentrating.

  She saw him dart a glance at the little window in the cell door, which was closed. He shuffled a little closer to her on the bench and put his mouth to her ear.

  “I need you to find my laptop. It’s in a safe in a secret compartment in my study at home. I need you to find it and destroy it. Can you do that for me?”

  Whatever her father had wanted her to do, Eve hadn’t expected this. “Destroy it?” she said in confusion. “Why?”

  He was feeling around inside his suit, as if reaching for his phone in the inside pocket. Eve heard a little ripping sound and saw something glinting in his hand.

  “Take this,” he said, pressing a little silver key into her palm and folding her fingers around it. “They didn’t find it when they searched me and put me in here because it was stitched into the lining of my jacket. It’s the only way out of here, Evie. It’s the key to the safe.”

  Eve could feel herself wavering. If her father was innocent, why did he want her to destroy a laptop? How did you destroy a laptop anyway?

  Don’t ask questions. Daddy wouldn’t ask you to do this if it wasn’t important.

  She closed her fingers around the key. “Where’s the safe?” she heard herself asking.

  “Oh darling, thank you,” he said, pulling her towards him again for a hug. “Thank you, thank you. I knew I could trust you. Now, the safe isn’t easy to find, but—”

  “What do you mean, his daughter’s in there with him?”

  Eve froze at the sound of Chief Murray’s voice. People were shouting outside the cell door, feet clattering on the cold tiled floor, doors were slamming. A key was turning in the cell door.

  Without thinking, Eve shoved the little silver key inside her sock and stood up as the cell door banged open. Chief Murray stood in the door, glaring.

  “What is she doing in here?”

  “A little respect in your voice for my daughter wouldn’t go amiss,” said Mr Somerstown icily.

  Chief Murray ignored this. “She’s not supposed to be in here. Guard!”

  A police officer hurried into the cell and took Eve’s arm.

  “Get off me,” said Eve at once, her fighting instincts flaring to the surface. “Don’t touch me. Daddy … Daddy!”

  “Evie!” her father called after her as Eve was dragged unceremoniously out of the cell and down the corridor towards the reception area. “Everything’s going to be fine, darling! I promise! Every—”

  His voice was abruptly cut off by the boom of the cell door and the grinding sound of the key in the lock.

  I will not cry. I will not cry. “Let go of me!” Eve screamed, squirming like a wildcat in the police officer’s grip. “LET GO!”

  Chief Murray opened the door of his office. “Bring her in here, DC Williams,” he said to the police officer. “Please, have a seat Miss Somerstown. Don’t think of running away. You would get no further than reception.”

  Eve wrenched her arm away from her police escort and glared daggers at Heartside Bay’s Chief of Police. “Your reception didn’t exactly stop me before,” she said.

  Chief Murray took off his hat and laid it on his desk. He sat down, indicating the chair opposite. “I need to have a word with the desk sergeant about that,” he said grimly. “Now sit down. I won’t ask again.”

  Eve sat, furious and scared. She hated how his face reminded her of Lila: dark hair, blue eyes.

  “Eve,” said Chief Murray, “what are you doing here?”

  “I’d prefer it if you called me Miss Somerstown,” Eve said in her most glacial voice.

  The Chief of Police inclined his head. “If that’s what you prefer. Miss Somerstown. Why are you here?”

  “To visit my father of course! You’ve arrested an innocent man and I’m not going to let you get away with it.”

  Chief Murray’s eyes darkened. “I advise you most strongly to stay out of matters you don’t understand.”

  “Oh, but I do understand. I understand everything. My father’s a good man, and you’ve locked him in a cell that’s not fit for a dog,” said Eve passionately. “He’s been framed and I can prove it!”

  The Chief of Police’s eyes flared with interest. “Prove it how?”

  Eve realized she’d said too much. She leaned back in her chair again, trying to still her madly beating heart. The key dug into her ankle, between her sock and her boot. “He’s innocent,” she repeated. “The evidence is out there, Chief Murray, and I’m going to find it.”

  The Chief of Police regarded her for a moment. “Did your father say anything to you in the cell just now?” he asked abruptly. “What did he tell you?” />
  Eve pressed her lips tightly together.

  “Please stay out of this, Eve,” said Chief Murray, more gently this time.

  “Miss Somerstown,” Eve bit back. “My father has always stood by me, Chief Murray. I intend to do the same for him.”

  Chief Murray stood up with a sigh. “Goodbye Miss Somerstown,” he said. “DC Williams will escort you home.”

  Eve stalked back to reception with DC Williams hovering like a blue-clad ghost beside her. As she moved towards the exit, she overheard a voice behind her.

  “Chief Murray, sir? I have the paperwork on Somerstown. Fraud by false representation.”

  “Thank you, DI Innes. Carry on.”

  Eve’s hands trembled as she pushed open the doors that led back outside. Sunshine bathed the street, gilding the pillared façade of the Grand Hotel opposite. She made her way down the police station steps with her head held as high as a queen, ignoring the looks people were casting her way.

  She wouldn’t give anyone in this town the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

  THREE

  Eve sat silently in the back of the police car. DC Williams had tried to make conversation for the first five minutes of the journey, but had swiftly given up, concentrating on the road instead.

  The whole way home, she had wrestled with her father’s peculiar request: that she find and destroy his laptop. They had been interrupted before he could tell her where the safe was. How was she supposed to find it? And what was on this laptop anyway? She quietly pulled the key from her sock and held it tightly, its outline imprinting on her hand. It had started hurting her ankle.

  You don’t destroy evidence that could clear your name, Eve thought uneasily.

  By doing as her father had asked, she could get into serious trouble. Her father wouldn’t want to get her into trouble, and yet he had asked her to destroy it. It was clearly important or he wouldn’t have asked her to do it. The more she thought about it, the more confused she became.

  Arriving home escorted in this way was embarrassing, but at least the siren wasn’t wailing. The only upside was the loitering journalist’s expression as the car swung past him and into the driveway. Eve waved sweetly, enjoying the dumbfounded look on his face.