Sam nodded. ‘His name’s Jasper and he’s a cocker spaniel. He’s still got a lot to learn but he already knows a few commands,’ he said proudly. ‘Sit, Jasper.’
The dog ignored Sam’s command. Twice.
‘Sit, Jasper,’ Jasmine said in a deep voice.
The dog’s deep brown eyes connected with the sparkling blue of the little girl’s and his back legs began to bend as he tried his best to follow her command. His excitement was all-consuming, however, and with his tail wagging ferociously, his bottom remained an inch from the ground until Sam pushed it down gently with the toe of his boot. Jasper looked up at him briefly before turning back to the little girl. If only Jasmine had been there when Sam first arrived, he thought, then perhaps Jasper would have found his new home.
‘It looks like they’re friends for life,’ Laura said. The sparkle in her eyes was a reflection of her daughter’s, although partly hidden by the lock of hair that had fallen across her face. With her arms laden with shopping bags, she tried to blow it away as she manoeuvred herself past the dog and child blocking her way.
‘Here, let me,’ Sam said.
Finn nudged past him. ‘It’s all right, I’ve got them,’ he said, taking the shopping, and the light in Laura’s eyes along with it.
Jasmine stood up, conditioned to follow her mum even though she was loath to leave the puppy. ‘Can I take him for a walk?’
Sam looked up at the brooding sky but these weren’t the only dark clouds he sensed looming. ‘Maybe another day, if your dad says it’s OK,’ he said. It wasn’t the gift he had wanted to offer, but having access to a dog was surely better than nothing.
‘I thought you were looking to re-home it?’ Finn asked suspiciously.
Jasmine gasped. ‘Dad, could we—’
‘No, Jasmine,’ Finn said but then released a hiss of air between his teeth as he relented just a little. ‘Fine, take it for walks if you want, but only on the condition you don’t bang on about getting one yourself.’
‘Deal!’ she squealed.
‘But you live on the other side of the park, don’t you?’ Laura asked. ‘I don’t want Jasmine wandering about on her own.’
‘You could come with me!’ Jasmine suggested before catching the look her mum gave her. ‘And you Dad, we could all go.’
‘No chance,’ Finn mumbled.
‘Jasper will be tagging along when I do my tours so that I can keep up with his training. I was even thinking of making him part of the act,’ Sam said quite convincingly even though he was making it up as he went along. ‘We’ll be there tomorrow and Thursday from about four o’clock, so if Jasmine wants to come along then, I’d be happy for her to take him off my hands for a quick walk.’
Laura looked to Finn for his reaction before she spoke but her husband seemed more interested in going through the shopping bags. She turned to Sam with a tentative smile. ‘She’s allowed to go to the park with Keira and her older sister so I suppose it would work.’
‘Thank you, Mum!’ Jasmine yelped.
Laura’s eyes narrowed at her daughter. ‘But only on the condition that Leah is with you and you let me or Natalie know when you’re going and when you’ll be back. And you don’t pester Sam and do exactly what he tells you.’
Jasmine was nodding her head and Jasper, who wouldn’t take his eyes off her face, bobbed his head up and down too.
Sensing that he should withdraw before Finn had a chance to upset their plans, Sam said, ‘I think the heavens are about to open so we’d better get going. It was nice seeing you all again.’
Jasmine gave the puppy one last hug, and although it was clear that being parted so soon tore at her heart, she didn’t object; she had, like her mum, picked up on her father’s mood and was retreating into the shadows where she hoped not to be noticed. Sam’s heart wrenched too. She didn’t belong there. As a gardener, he spent his life nurturing seedlings and saplings, encouraging them into the light, protecting them from the frost and propping them up when needed. But Jasmine wasn’t a seedling, he told himself as he set off for home. She was a young girl, someone else’s daughter and he was the last person who should be giving advice on how to care for a child.
27
Jasmine’s home: Wednesday 7 October 2015
Every time the family liaison officer popped his head around the door, Laura searched for that first clue to the news he was about to impart and had become expert at reading his expression. There was the apologetic look whenever Michael came to offer nothing more than another cup of tea; the concerned look that wasn’t quite grave enough to suggest the news was going to crush her; and then there was the expression he wore now. It was a mixture of wariness and curiosity, as if he wasn’t sure how Jasmine’s parents would react.
‘You have a visitor,’ he said.
No one had rung the doorbell, although with police milling around to keep press and sightseers away, they didn’t need to. ‘Who?’ Laura asked.
‘Jasmine’s teacher.’
‘Anna?’ Finn asked.
‘Do you want to see her?’
Laura remained tight-lipped. She didn’t trust herself to say the right thing.
‘Yes, of course we do,’ Finn said. He had stood up and was straightening his clothes and raking his fingers through his hair as Anna came into the room.
‘I’ll leave you to it,’ Michael said, and although he hadn’t posed a question, he waited for Laura to nod before leaving.
Anna was also giving the stricken mother her undivided attention and didn’t even acknowledge Finn. ‘How are you?’ she asked.
It was a question that Laura had yet to find a satisfactory answer to, and when she simply shrugged, Anna came over to give her a fierce hug. Even with her nose blocked by the dam of tears she was now too deeply in shock to let fall, Anna’s scent was not only strong enough but familiar enough to be immediately recognizable.
‘That’s Ghost you’re wearing, isn’t it?’ Laura asked.
Anna straightened up and smiled tentatively. ‘Yes, it’s new.’
‘Why the hell are we talking about perfume!’ Finn said in exasperation.
Laura asked herself the same question. Did she care that the schoolteacher had started to wear the same scent she had been wearing for years? Or that her husband’s clothes had carried that scent recently, even when she hadn’t been wearing perfume? It was a trick she wouldn’t put past her husband, buying a new conquest the same scent to cover his tracks, but did it really matter to her what Finn was up to and with whom? Not any more, she realized, and probably not for a very long time.
‘Have you any news?’ Finn was asking Anna. ‘Have you spoken to the police yet? What would Sam want with our Jazz? Do you know?’
‘I’ve made a statement for what use it is. I’m sorry, but Sam was a closed book to me. Did you know he had a daughter? The police asked me about her – as if I’d know!’ she said with a bitter laugh.
‘A daughter?’ Finn repeated.
‘I know, it doesn’t make sense, does it?’ Anna said. ‘You heard me trying to persuade him to go to his ex-wife’s wedding when we were away at the caravan, didn’t you, Finn? Did he ever mention a daughter or wanting to see her? No, not once!’ She shook her head in disgust. ‘I dread to think what else he’s been hiding.’
Laura looked from Anna to her husband. They had it completely wrong and her pulse began to quicken as she prepared to speak up for Sam. She had spent years considering very carefully not only everything she said in front of Finn, but how she said it, for fear of provoking a reaction which wouldn’t necessarily be immediate. He might brood on a throwaway comment for days or weeks and then attack her out of the blue with some irrational accusation or another – and this was certainly going to be a remark that would feed her husband’s paranoia, only this time Laura didn’t care. She wasn’t that timid little creature any more. The worst might already have happened and she would gladly face Finn’s wrath if it meant seeing Jasmine again. And while that particular trade-off wasn�
��t available, she had nothing left to lose. She held Finn’s gaze.
‘I knew Sam had a daughter,’ she said.
Finn’s head snapped back to her. ‘What?’
Anna made that sound again, the kind of laugh that held no mirth. ‘I don’t believe it! I was dating him for months and he never even suggested he had kids, but he managed to tell you? When?’
‘Oh, why am I not surprised?’ Finn sneered. ‘I knew you two were up to something. That’s why you’ve been acting weird lately.’
Finn opened his mouth to say something else but Michael had come back into the room. Laura’s heart sank when she saw the expression on his face – this was a new one. ‘What’s happened?’ she asked before holding her breath.
‘We’ve found what we believe to be Jasmine’s footprints.’
‘Where?’ Finn demanded.
‘In a private garden.’
‘Is it Sam’s house?’ asked Anna.
Michael couldn’t confirm their suspicion, but neither did he deny it. He simply shrugged and that was when the ground beneath Laura’s feet began to shift.
‘That’s it, I’ve heard enough,’ Finn said and went to push past Michael.
‘Mr McIntyre has been taken to the station for further questioning,’ the officer said, blocking Finn’s way.
Anna pulled Finn back and kept her hand on his arm as he shook with rage. Laura took a step away.
‘Has he told you what he’s done with her yet?’ Finn demanded and when Michael shook his head, he turned on his wife. ‘Well, I hope you’re happy now. You must have fed him all the information he needed to work out where Jasmine was and when, all so he could take her any time he liked. Are you still going to stand there and defend lover boy?’
Laura’s mind was in freefall. From the moment she had met Sam, he had been the hero, but was she really that good a judge of character? The evidence against him was damning, and for the first time she found herself questioning his innocence. What did she actually know about his past? What was it that made him feel so guilty that he hadn’t wanted to talk about his daughter? Was it possible that she had been taken in by another man who would prove to be a monster?
‘I don’t know,’ was all she could say.
28
Tuesday 1 September 2015
Jasmine drummed her fingers on the windowsill as if her restless fingers could speed up time. She was in her bedroom, her head pressed against the glass as she searched for the first glimpse of their neighbour’s silver car. Natalie had taken her two daughters out shopping for last-minute additions to their school uniforms and she had promised they would be back in time for Leah to take the girls to the park.
The day before, Jasmine had told Keira all about Sam’s puppy until her best friend had complained that her ears were bleeding. She couldn’t have been that fed up, though, because she had managed to persuade her sister to take them to Calderstones. Leah had had a glint in her eye when she said that a trip to the park suited her fine, which meant it suited her boyfriend too.
The strumming slowed to a funeral march as Jasmine looked at her bedside clock. It was a quarter to four and there was still no sign of them. Her stomach lurched as she considered the possibility that she might not get to see Jasper after all. She shook her head. It simply wasn’t possible. She had asked the Wishing Tree in a roundabout way for a dog, and in a roundabout way, the tree had granted her wish. She looked up at the paper crane hanging from a piece of cotton above the window and thought about the man who had shown her how to make it. Sam wouldn’t mind sharing his new dog with her because she had already proved how responsible she was by taking Nando for walks and she would look after Jasper as if he were her own. But she couldn’t let Sam down on the first day; what if he didn’t trust her again?
Another five minutes ticked by and, with a heavy heart, Jasmine pulled herself away from the window and dragged her feet downstairs with heavy thumps. The living room door let out a groan as she opened it.
‘Hi, sweetheart,’ her mum said although it was more of a croak. ‘Aren’t they back yet?’
Jasmine had her chin pressed against her chest but it didn’t stop her lip trembling. ‘No.’
After a brief coughing fit, Laura said, ‘Don’t worry, even if you can’t go today, there’s always Thursday.’
‘But I’m back at school then and Leah doesn’t know if she’ll be home in time to take us!’ Jasmine said and then bit her lip to stop from asking her mum to take her instead. She was sick and hadn’t left the house all day. Her dad had been quiet too when he was home and the only thing that had raised Jasmine’s spirits had been the thought of going to the park.
Laura offered a weak smile. ‘This means a lot to you, doesn’t it?’
Jasmine nodded, but when she saw her mum pull herself up from the sofa, she was already having second thoughts. ‘You can’t take me, Mum. You’re not well.’
‘It’s only a cold and I’m not going to get any better sitting on the sofa feeling sorry for myself. I was thinking of going back into work tomorrow anyway and I could do with some fresh air. It’s a lovely day out there and it would be a shame to miss out on all that sunshine.’
‘But—’
‘I’ll take you on the condition that you don’t tell your dad. He’s got enough on his plate at the moment and you know what he’s like.’
Jasmine knew only too well. There was nothing wrong with taking the dog for a walk; after all, her dad had said she could, but sometimes things didn’t have to be wrong to upset her dad. He could get angry over nothing at all and he was most definitely in one of those moods where he was looking for any excuse to unleash the anger that was eating him up inside.
‘Are you going to stand there and argue or shall we get going?’ Laura asked, but she was already talking to thin air as her daughter raced to the front door.
The fresh air made Laura’s lungs burn. She had started coming down with the cold on Sunday night and had made the mistake of trying to push through it on Monday. When she had woken up this morning, she had been aching all over but had dragged herself out of bed because she hadn’t wanted to take time off work. Her boss was the owner of the builders’ merchants, the one who had fired Finn after he had come in one day so drunk that he had crashed a forklift truck into a wall. It had been lucky that no one had been hurt, luckier still that Laura hadn’t lost her job too, although that wasn’t how Finn saw it, and his wife’s determination to get out of her sickbed only served to fuel his suspicions further. He had suggested that the only reason Laura wanted to go in was because she was having an affair with her boss, and so she had stayed at home. It had probably been the right thing to do because she really wasn’t well; it had just been for the wrong reasons.
Walking across the park in the late summer sunshine, her legs felt distinctly wobbly although she wasn’t entirely sure it had anything to do with her illness. She was looking forward to seeing Sam again. He was the exact opposite to Finn in every sense of the word, in his looks and his demeanour, and it was hardly surprising that her feelings for the two men should be another contrast. She had tried her best to understand her husband, to excuse and forgive him, but he had destroyed the last vestiges of her affection for him. She hated him now. While Sam …
‘Do you think he’ll have waited for us?’ Jasmine asked.
‘It’s only just gone four,’ Laura said. ‘And Sam said he had a tour organized, so we’ll track him down somehow.’
They followed the path that curved around Calderstones Mansion, dipping them into cool shade before bringing them to the Coach House. There were quite a few people milling around, families making the most of the last few days before the start of term and the arrival of autumn, but there was no sign of Sam or his dog.
‘Where else can we try?’
Laura gave her daughter’s hand a quick squeeze to reassure her but a second later, Jasmine wrenched herself away.
‘He’s here!’ Jasmine squealed.
Sam had
appeared around the corner looking as anxious as they had. He too had scanned the crowd but it was when his eyes met Laura’s that his features relaxed into a smile. Reminding herself that Sam had made arrangements to see Jasmine and that she was only tagging along, Laura took her time catching up to her daughter who was now kneeling on the ground. The puppy was jumping up and licking her face while leaving little puddles on the flagstones in his excitement.
‘You made it,’ Sam said, still looking at Laura.
‘It was a close call,’ she said, and would have smiled except she was struck by a sudden coughing fit. She patted her chest as she brought it under control. ‘Sorry, I’ve got a stinking cold. Natalie’s eldest daughter was supposed to bring Jasmine but they’ve been waylaid.’
‘So Jasmine dragged you out of your sickbed.’
There was a smile on Sam’s face as if he wasn’t the least bit sorry, or was she fooling herself? ‘Oh, I’m stronger than I look,’ she said.
There was another cough only this time it came from behind Sam and was a deliberate one by the sounds of it. Laura drew her eyes from Sam to notice the elderly lady peering over his shoulder.
‘Sorry, where are my manners?’ Sam said. ‘This is my landlady, Selina. Selina, this is Laura and her daughter Jasmine.’
Laura ought to have been taken aback when Selina gave her a hug, but there was kindness in this stranger’s eyes and it felt comfortable.
‘Sam has told me so much about you both,’ Selina said. ‘It’s good to meet you at last.’
‘And it’s good to meet you.’
‘It’s Selina you have to thank for the dog. Not that I’m foisting him on you or anything,’ Sam added quickly, ‘I just meant it’s clear that Jasmine must have been pestering you to bring her here.’
Jasmine was oblivious to the three adults who were now watching her with satisfied smiles.
‘I’ll leave you to it,’ Selina said, ‘I want to get home and give the garden a good mowing while the weather’s so glorious.’
‘But I—’ Sam began, only to be silenced by a stern look from his landlady. ‘Oh, OK.’
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