by Maddie Wade
He hadn’t talked to anyone about that day-not even Daniel, his best friend. In fact, the only person who knew was Zack and he wasn’t sure how he knew. Shaking off his horrible trip down memory lane. He instead thought about Daniel.
Dane had thought he understood how Daniel felt when Claire was killed but if it was even a fraction of what he had felt yesterday in that beer garden and in the car, then he didn’t have a clue.
In his life he’d seen the two men he was closest to in the world, Daniel and his dad, have their hearts ripped apart when they lost the women they loved and he couldn’t face that happening to him. Yes, it was selfish. He knew that. However, even if they got through this and he had managed to protect Lauren, which was no guarantee, she would stay.
Look at his mum; she’d had a loving husband, who she professed to love and children who had loved and adored her and still it wasn’t enough to stop her from drunk driving. If he hadn’t been enough to stop his mum leaving him, how could he expect another human being with no ties to him to stay?
Knowing that he would not get anymore sleep tonight he threw off the sheet and got up. He went into the conservatory he used as an office. At 4am the sky was starting to lighten and the birds were about to start their dawn chorus.
Normally he loved it, but today he just found it irritating. Taking his stale coffee to his desk, he sat down and opened up his laptop. Will had set the system up so that he could log into the secure network from home and access files that had already been downloaded, including CCTV.
An hour later Dane pushed back from his desk, and scrubbed a hand down his face in frustration. Deciding to take a shower and see if that cleared his mind he headed upstairs to his luxurious bedroom. He had bought the old detached cottage at auction 3 years ago. It had been derelict and in need of some serious TLC. He had had the cottage renovated and extended before he moved in.
It was now a modern 4-bedroom home with all its original features still intact, including the dark exposed oak beams, and the well at the bottom of the garden. The well had been restored and now gave him fresh water.
A large oak bed and oak wardrobes and drawers dominated his room. The En-suite bathroom had a luxurious claw-foot bath on a raised dais and a double-width shower. He hadn’t realised until recently that he had built a family home.
He could have had that with Lauren, but no he’d behaved like an insensitive dickhead and ruined what could have been his future with a family. All because he was a scared of losing her. Well better a coward than a broken man.
Dane had always known that he wanted a family and although he had enjoyed his days playing the field, he had always known he wanted to settle down one day.
Stepping into the shower, he let the hot water spray ease the tension and weariness from his muscles. He couldn’t help but think of the shower he had shared with Lauren and how she had felt all slick and hot as he had taken her hard against the shower wall.
Invariably his body started to respond, but he ignored his errant cock and turned the water dial to cold. He didn’t deserve any relief. His body jumped at the shock of the cold water but it refreshed him and cooled his body. Towelling off quickly he dressed in old worn jeans and white t-shirt.
Feeling more human now, Dane brewed some fresh coffee and went back to his laptop. Ten minutes later he couldn’t believe that he hadn’t made the connection sooner. There was CCTV of Preedy captured on a traffic camera going north towards Kingsland, and an hour later footage of the man from the photo with Claire. Bingo!
The images were grainy, but he was sure it was them. This footage was from yesterday, so he knew they needed to move fast. He didn’t believe in coincidence and he had to find out where they had gone. Could this man work for Preedy-was that the connection they were looking for? His veins buzzing with energy, he called Lucy.
“Lucy get up; meet me at Fortis in 30 minutes. I think I’ve found something.” He hung before he realised he hadn’t even given her the chance to speak, Ah well, she’d get over it.
~~~
Arriving at Fortis 20 minutes, later Dane was pleased to see Lucy and Drew pull in behind him. They had loaned Drew a company vehicle, since he had taken the train from Bridport, the lack of a car just another way his father had controlled him
Nate had checked all the vehicles for trackers. They had found one on each of the private vehicles. Dane had immediately told everyone that their vehicles had to checked before every use. It was a pain but worth it to keep them safe. It did mean that everyone’s home security was now compromised though, so they were going to have to be even more vigilant at home until this was finished.
Swinging his legs from the truck, he jogged to the front door and punched in the security codes. Wrenching it open, he waited for Lucy and Drew to proceed him. Striding through the security doors he watched Drew and Lucy banter and felt for the first time that perhaps they were getting somewhere with all this. Shaking of his thoughts he went looking for coffee in the kitchen.
“I’m making coffee! You guys want some.” He shouted from the kitchen. Lucy just poked her head round the door and looked at him like he had grown horns. Yep she wanted coffee.
“Yes please.” this from Drew. He was starting to warm to the boy.
He was glad Drew had agreed to stay with Lucy until things were sorted out and knowing that he had someone there to watch her, helped give Dane one less thing to worry about. He was very protective of his sisters, especially Lucy. Drew had also agreed to a personal tracker if he left the building, so that they could find him if something happened. Dane knew he was still in danger from his father, but also knew if he wanted to keep him around the best way to do it was to offer him some freedom. He was almost certain now that he wasn’t a threat to them.
He would ask Lucy if she had done any more digging on Drew’s background, if Drew was hiding something, he found himself hoping that he wasn’t, then Lucy would find it. Though it pained him to say it, the kid was growing on him.
Ushering them both into the tech room he explained what he had seen. Lucy and Drew both agreed that it wasn’t a coincidence.
“The only thing that’s troubling me, is if this guy knows where Lauren is and he works for Marcus, why hasn’t he told him?” Drew asked. Dane was impressed. Drew was showing immense insight; he had definitely underestimated the kid.
“We’re assuming because nothing has happened as yet that he hasn’t told him, or maybe it’s a power play, by with-holding information he thinks he has control, and we both know he wants to see us suffer for our supposed bad treatment of Claire,” commented Lucy.
Lucy was right, thought Dane, and nodded his head in agreement.
“I agree. I think it could be a power play. Marcus wants Lauren unharmed and clearly, this guy doesn’t. But why hasn’t he made his move yet, he’s had ample opportunity to do so and hasn’t?”
“Maybe it’s all part of his sick, twisted game,” said Lucy, “he builds it up in order to make her and us suffer more.”
“Agreed-but,” Dane said, “that is also a huge risk, and the more time he wastes the more time we have to find him.”
“I’ve seen this before though,” Lucy interrupted “I think this guy thinks he is superior to us and so we won’t catch him. We can use this; if we can get Marcus to believe that this man means his daughter harm, he might give us information on him.” Dane wondered what Lucy meant by that comment. When had she seen this kind of behaviour? She had been an analyst at GCHQ hadn’t she? Drew broke into his thoughts.
“I’ll do it, I can contact him and speak to him, and see if he will take the bait?” Drew said almost excitedly. Dane agreed.
“Fine. I’m gonna run some searches and see if we can find any properties out towards Kingsland that link to Preedy.” Dane felt more positive than he had since all this started. They all set about trying to gather more information.
Three days later, they weren’t any closer to Preedy and they hadn’t found any links to any properties in the area. Preedy
had apparently dropped off the grid, nobody could find him and he wasn’t answering Drew’s calls.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Lauren was beginning to get antsy. Everything was quiet, there were no new developments on Preedy or the mysterious stalker and she knew she must be driving Nate mad asking him every few hours.
She slumped on the couch and tried to read, but her thoughts kept drifting. She had been thinking of her mum the last few days and what she would make of all this. She couldn’t think of Marcus Preedy as her father, it just provoked too many feelings of “What if.” What if he had found them years earlier, what would her life have been like? What if he had been a good man, how would her life have been different? Would she want to change things if she could have? Urgh, it was too complicated, it was easier to think of him as Marcus Preedy-the man that was responsible for the death of her friend.
Jumping up from the sofa, she wandered round her flat that she was beginning to hate because of her enforced house arrest. Nate walked out of the bathroom, in only his running shorts, whistling some happy song and that made Lauren want to throw something at him.
“Do you have to be so happy?” she snapped. He stopped in his tracks.
“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” he said looking wounded.
“I’m sorry.” She instantly regretted her outburst. Nate had been such a sweetheart and she was being a bitch.
“No worries Chiquita, I know it’s frustrating for you.” He ruffled her hair affectionately as he went past her on his way to the kitchen.
She’d grown close to Nate over the last few days, and felt that they had formed some kind of bond after their visit to the Paediatric ward. She hadn’t told him about Noah’s dreams and wondered if that was best left to Skye. Nate had been true to his word and the blood tests had been set up for next week.
She had called Skye after setting up the blood tests, and told her that Nate had asked to be tested. She had been over the moon and insisted on talking to Nate. Nate had blushed as he had spoken to Skye, and she knew that they had spoken on the phone a couple of times since. It made her happy that Skye and Nate were forming some kind of friendship, that Skye had someone to talk to, and maybe just maybe there would be some hope for Noah.
She still missed Dane though and she felt like a horrible selfish cow for begrudging others their happiness. How was it possible to miss someone that had only been in your life for such a short time? Putting her thoughts of him aside she realised, Nate was waving a hand in front of her.
“Hey, earth to Lauren.”
“Sorry, I was miles away, what did you say?”
“Dane said they should have some more info on your father’s whereabouts soon, in fact I have to go into the office today, so you can catch up with Lucy if you want, while I do a few things”.
Her heart jumped-would Dane be there? Did she want him to be? Hell, when did she become such a basket case?
“Sounds good,” she said plastering on a bright smile and trying not to look too eager. She ran her hands down her denim shorts and pulled at her old soft Levi vest top. Maybe she should change. But she didn’t want to look like she cared. Oh well stuff it.
When they arrived at Fortis, she wasn’t sure if she was relieved or upset that Dane’s truck wasn’t there. Opening her door, Nate escorted her into the building and down to the tech room, where Drew and Lucy were working.
Drew lumbered over to hug her, they had taken to chatting every night and they had developed a closeness that surprised her, considering she’d known him less than a week. But maybe it was a sibling bond? They shared so many interests and if anything good had come from this mess then he was it. Her little brother, she didn’t think that would get old any time soon.
Nate went over to talk to Lucy.
“So what we got, Luce?”
“Well we have a name for our Stalker!” That got Lauren’s attention and she went over to join Lucy and Nate.
“He is 42 year old Terry Griffiths and he is a porter at the hospital. He lives alone, after his mum died last year, he was her caregiver.
The mother had had a hernia operation and a district nurse had been coming in daily to change the dressings. There is a bit of a question mark over her death. Apparently she fell down the stairs at home, but she wasn’t very mobile so as a rule didn’t go upstairs. All her things, including her bedroom were downstairs, so I’m not so sure about that. Anyways, one of the district nurses found her.
The Coroner ruled it an accidental death. Griffiths also has a history of mental illness including Schizo-affective disorder, which means he is prone to mood swings and psychotic episodes.”
“So we know how he came into contact with Claire but not the nature of their relationship.” Lucy added. Lauren, who had perched on the edge of the desk beside Lucy, bristled at this.
“Easy tiger!” Lucy said catching Lauren’s hand and squeezing. “I didn’t mean anything by it, just that he thought it was romantic, not that it was. We all know Claire adored Daniel.”
“Any news on Marcus?” Nate broke in.
“Yes actually,” said a deep voice from the door. Her heart jumped to her throat.
Dane strode into the room but wouldn’t look her in the eye. She didn’t know if she wanted to throw herself at him or punch him, either way her stomach went all fluttery and her heart beat faster.
She needed to get a grip, but it was so hard when all she wanted to do was run to him. He looked tired, with bags under his eyes and had at least two days-worth of beard. He still looked like the most gorgeous man on the planet to her though. She hated that he wouldn’t look at her and wondered if he just couldn’t stomach the thought of her or if it was guilt for him being a douchebag.
“Marcus is in Southampton.” Dane went on, “Looks like he has some kind of shipment coming in. I have surveillance on him now so we’ll be able to watch all his movements. Nate, can I have a minute please?” Nate followed him out of the room.
“I’m sorry Lauren, I’m gonna kick his ass for behaving so rudely.”
“Don’t worry Lucy; it’s probably for the best anyway.” she said bravely, while her heart continued to break.
~~~
“What do you want?” Nate said tersely.
Dane stopped and turned, “What’s with the attitude?” he demanded.
“Really you’re asking me that, after the way you just behaved. I hear her crying herself to sleep at night over you hermano, you’re fucking breaking her heart, you prick.” Nate paced and brushed a hand through his hair and blew out a breath. “She’s trying to be brave but you really hurt her and now you’re ignoring her. I never would have believed that you could be deliberately cruel.”
“It’s for the best,” Dane said coldly, “I’m trying to protect her, I can’t protect her if I’m not being objective and I can’t be objective around her. When I’m with her all I can think about is her.” he finished uncharacteristically. Nate could see the strain on his friends face.
“Just do your fucking job and protect her.” Dane grated out.
“Fine, if you don’t care, maybe I’ll take her out and show her some fun.” Before Nate could finish the sentence, he found himself up against the wall with a forearm to his throat.
“You stay the fuck away from her, you hear me?”
“Yeah, exactly man,” Nate said shoving him off, “You don’t care do you?”
“Of course I care, that’s why I have to stay away from her,” he said sounding defeated. “Why can’t anyone see that?”
“You better wise up quickly hermano, and tell her you love her, cos if you don’t you are gonna lose the best thing that ever happened to you.”
Nate slammed from the room.
“Everything okay?” Lauren asked when Nate returned.
“Yeah fine let’s go,” he said tersely.
~~~
Back in the conference room, Dane paced. Was he in love with her? He knew he had been falling for her, but was that what
this was. Love! He sat at the table and put his head down for a second. He thought about the time they had spent together, recently and in the past, and the emails they had sent.
It was true he cared for her deeply, and he admired her, her bravery, and courage, her wit and humour and her sharp intelligence. She made his body burn and he wanted to be with her all the time. He sat up suddenly as an epiphany hit him. Yes! He was in love with her. He loved her! He didn’t know when it had happened, but it had. She was it for him.
That was why he knew he was doing the right thing by leaving her protection to Nate. Nate was objective, he wasn’t. However his loving her didn’t change anything. Just because he loved her didn’t mean she would stay with him. No, this was the right thing. Wasn’t it? He was beginning to wonder.
~~~
Moving unseen through the hospital as if a ghost, was a blessing for Terry Griffiths. All his life, people had ignored him. At school he had never been picked for team sports, prefect, pupil council, and his parents had been no better. They had been so involved with each other that they had just ignored him and allowed him to do his own thing. It used to upset him.
But when he became older, he had realised that actually walking around unseen was a good thing. He could go places other people couldn’t and do things and nobody would know.
He would often listen in on conversations and no one realised he was there. This was the very thing that had allowed him to get close to his beloved Claire. He had always been socially awkward and people shied away from him, but he knew they were just scared of his superior intelligence. She hadn’t been though, she had smiled at him.
He’d heard her talking to her Consultant about her diagnosis, and heard her telling Mr Hale how she couldn’t tell her family and friends about it. He’d thought nothing of it, until she had come out of the room and he saw her beautiful face.
She had noticed him as she came out of the room and smiled tentatively. He knew in that moment that they were destined to be together, and that she felt the same way.
He’d made a point of looking out for her over the next few months. She’d sat and chatted with him in the hospital cafeteria and he’d known then that she would be his, and he would love her forever.
