Redemption

by Jessica Ashe

  “We do all right for ourselves.”

  “Yes, but you’re operating outside of the law.”

  “Are we?” he said sarcastically. “Well, damn, I guess we had better shut the whole thing down.”

  His associates laughed along with their boss’ joke as good associates always did.

  “What I meant is that you have to take a risk and you’re not raking in the big bucks. No doubt, you have to keep bets modest so as not to arouse suspicion, and rugby is nowhere near as popular as football so the profit is smaller. You’re working hard for little gain.”

  “What do you propose, Mr. Cornish?”

  “Gary and I will give you ten percent of our income for a year.” That would keep me coming back here more often than I would like, but it would also buy us enough time to get the police involved. Perhaps we could set up a sting?

  “Interesting,” the boss said. “But that’s not enough. Let’s make it 30% and that goes on in perpetuity, not just for a year.”

  “20% for five years,” I replied. That was the rest of Gary’s career. Hopefully we would be able to put a stop to all this long before that.

  The boss sat there in silence, likely doing the maths in his head. I suspected this would be a slight loss for him overall, but it would also be a lot less risky for him. The temptation of easy money was strong.

  “I like the idea, in principal,” the boss said. “Get Gary involved and we have a deal.”

  “You agree to stay the hell away from his family?”

  “If he keeps up his end of the bargain then we won’t need to harm anyone.” I nodded my head and walked towards the exit. “The same goes for you, Mr. Cornish. Keep to your end of the deal, and we don’t harm anyone. If not, well, I do hope your mother’s new husband is capable of protecting her.”

  I walked out without rising to the bait. I didn’t have a kid like Gary, but Mum was finally happy with her new husband and I had to protect her. We weren’t close, but she was still my mum.

  Thankfully, I only had one person in my life to protect. I had no wife, girlfriend, or child. My selfish lifestyle at least had some advantages. If there was anyone else in my life, I might not be able to protect them. Thank God I was alone.

  We’d both had too much to drink, so we hailed a cab to take us to the police station. The traffic meant the journey took twenty minutes, which was just about enough time for me to calm down. If we’d have gotten there any earlier then I would have burst into whatever jail cell was holding Maisie and yelled at her until I was sore in the throat.

  How in the hell had she gotten herself arrested? We’d only been in the country a week. If the cops pressed charges then we might get kicked out and I’d have to explain to Mom why I let her daughter end up in jail.

  I’d also have to face up to the truth about my ability to look after her. Oliver had told me I was responsible for Maisie being the woman she was today. That was supposed to be a compliment, but now it sounded like I was responsible for raising a criminal.

  Oliver led the way to the front desk, but instead of asking to see Maisie, he asked if Chief Superintendent Hodgson was available. A few minutes later, a slightly overweight, but bubbly and confident woman approached and shook hands with Oliver. She didn’t wear a uniform, which presumably meant she spent most of her time behind a desk.

  “Michelle, this is Chief Superintendent Hodgson,” Oliver said, introducing us.

  “Nice to meet you,” I replied. “We’re looking for Maisie Portman.”

  “Yes, don’t worry. I saw her earlier and managed to intercept her before she was thrown in a cell. Thankfully, I got to her just before Superintendent Winston.”

  “Oh thank God,” Oliver said.

  “Am I missing something here?” I asked. Oliver and Hodgson looked like good friends, but that didn’t explain how she knew who Maisie was. I’d been with Oliver the entire time and he hadn’t made any calls.

  “Sorry, Ma’am,” Hodgson said, as she motioned for us to follow her into the hall. “I’ve rather jumped ahead. I saw Maisie come in with two officers and Shaun, whom I know well. Because of his late father,” she added quickly, in case I got the wrong idea about why a police officer would know Shaun so well. “Turns out young Maisie was on the receiving end of some abuse about her appearance and she clocked the guy one. Got a good right hook on her, by the sounds of it. Anyway, the guy probably won’t press charges. Not once I’ve had a word in his ear. Shaun and Maisie are waiting for you in my office.”

  Just as we were stepping into her office, another plain clothes officer stopped to talk to Oliver. This one was a bit younger than Hodgson, but even though he was in better shape, it looked like the last few years hadn’t been kind to him.

  The unshaven look didn’t have that sexy stubble thing going on, but rather someone who simply hadn’t taken the time to shave. The bags under his eyes suggested that might be connected to a lack of sleep.

  “I see crime runs in the family,” the man said to Oliver.

  “These two kids have as little to do with crime as I do,” Oliver replied. I could see anger in his eyes, but he did manage to keep his voice calm. “Are you going to launch a full-scale investigation into them as well?”

  “No, I’d rather keep our resources focused on you. Have a nice day, Mr. Cornish.”

  The man skulked off down the corridor and I caught Oliver exchange a smile with Hodgson.

  “His investigation isn’t going anywhere,” Hodgson said, pulling up chairs for us. Maisie and Shaun had their backs to us and didn’t look around as we entered the room. “Obviously there isn’t anything to find.”

  I sat down next to Maisie who made a pointed effort of looking directly forward at Hodgson’s desk and not at me.

  “So what happened here?” Oliver asked. “Which one of you wants to do the talking?”

  The smile on Hodgson’s face helped me relax a touch. She obviously didn’t think this was that serious, so Maisie wouldn’t be in any trouble. At least not from the police. She’d still have me to contend with later.

  “Maisie?” I asked, when neither her nor Shaun spoke up. “I heard you hit a boy. What’s your excuse?”

  “He was making fun of me,” she replied.

  “So? That’s no excuse for hitting someone.”

  “He said I looked like a monster.”

  “Oh.” I rubbed my face with my hands, suddenly overcome with tiredness. Maisie usually handled abuse calmly and never reacted to it. At least, not that I knew of. Perhaps she had more of a temper on her than I realized.

  “That’s not what happened,” Shaun said softly. Maisie looked towards him. I couldn’t see the look on her face, but Oliver bit his lip and tried to suppress a smile. Maisie had one hell of a deadly pout when she was displeased and right now Shaun was probably on the receiving end of it.

  “Yes, it was,” Maisie insisted.

  “Jack kept talking about Olly,” Shaun said. “Kept saying that he was a waste of space and shouldn’t still be playing rugby.”

  “So you hit him?” I asked.

  “He deserved it.”

  Now it was Oliver’s turn to look devastated. “Maisie, I don’t need you to fight my battles for me.”

  Maisie crossed her arms in a sulk. She didn’t look in the least bit sorry or apologetic. It was a good thing we had Hodgson on our side.

  “Chief Superintendent Hodgson,” I asked. “Would you mind letting Maisie and I speak alone?”

  “Actually, Michelle, let me have a word with her,” Oliver insisted.

  I nodded in agreement and left the office with Shaun and Hodgson followed soon after.

  “She’ll be fine,” Hodgson said to me. “These things happen. If I’d got to them earlier I wouldn’t have even booked them. No need to ruin your evening.”

  “Thank you, but it was about time we stopped drinking anyway. There’s only so much of that beer I can handle.”

  Hodgson laughed. “Did he make you drink English bitters? The
y can take some getting used to.”

  “No, I had lager tops in the end.”

  “Ah, lager and Sprite. Now there’s a refreshing drink. That’s just what I like after a long day.”

  I sensed Hodgson was about to leave, but I wanted to find out what the deal was with the officer who threatened Oliver. “What was all that about with the other detective?” I asked. “The one who spoke to Oliver.”

  Hodgson laughed. “Oh, don’t worry about Winston. That guy has had it in for Oliver for years. He’s one of your lot actually.”

  “American?”

  “Yeah. Moved here when he was young though, so he doesn’t have much of an accent. He’s convinced Oliver had something to do with an illegal betting syndicate and is trying to bring him down. I can assure you, that’s complete nonsense. Oliver’s as straight as they come. Anyway, I had better be going. You have a nice evening, Ma’am.”

  “Thank you again, officer.” Hodgson passed me her card and told me to call if there were any issues with Maisie and then walked off.

  I turned to smile at Shaun, but didn’t know what to say to him. We hadn’t spoken a lot and he was a shy kid, the complete opposite to Maisie.

  “It’s not true,” Shaun said. “What Superintendent Winston thinks about Oliver.”

  “I know,” I said. “Oliver would never do anything like that.”

  “My dad did,” Shaun said. “And Oliver was his friend. That’s why the cop thinks Oliver was involved, but he’s not.”

  Shaun sat down on a bench and didn't say anything. I looked into Hodgson’s office and saw Oliver leaning forward and talking casually to Maisie. He said something that made her smile, and then something else that made her laugh.

  I smiled too, even though I had no idea what they were laughing at. How could Oliver have changed so much? Shaun probably had a lot to do with it. Adopting your dead friend’s child certainly would force you to grow up.

  Maisie had a similar effect on me. I wasn’t her mother, but she looked up to me and I earned most of the money that supported us. It had made me serious and a touch grumpy, whereas Oliver had taken it all in stride. It probably helped that he earned millions a year playing sports, mind you.

  They stood up and I moved away from the door so they wouldn’t know I’d been watching them. Oliver had his arm around her, and there were signs of tears on Maisie’s face, although whether that was from laughter or sadness I didn’t know.

  “Sorry, Michelle,” Maisie said. “I shouldn’t have lost my temper.”

  “Don’t let it happen again,” I said, sounding more Mom like than ever.

  Maisie came up and threw her arms around me for a hug. Damn, it was hard to stay mad at her.

  Hodgson quickly processed Maisie’s paperwork and it looked like she was in the clear.

  “You going to be at the game on Saturday?” Oliver asked Hodgson.

  “Nah, going to have to miss that one. This place doesn’t run itself.”

  “Well next time you’re free, give me a shout. I’ll sort you out with some good seats. Don’t tell Winston though. He’ll do me for trying to bribe a police officer.”

  Hodgson gave a hearty laugh. “Depends on how good the seats are. I hope you two are going to the game?” she asked Maisie and me. “Rugby’s a real sport, not like that silly one you play with all the body armor. I tried to watch a Super Bowl once, but gave up after ten minutes. It just looks like an excuse to play adverts.”

  “That about sums it up,” I admitted. I didn’t actually hate football, but I didn’t have a lot of love for it either. It seemed easier just to agree with her for the time being.

  “Anyway, I’d better get back to work. See you later. Pleasure to meet you both.”

  The fresh air hit me the second we walked outside and I realized that the aftereffects of the alcohol were definitely still lingering.

  “Can we get some food?” Maisie asked. “I’m starving.”

  “Punching people gives you an appetite does it?” I asked. “We can eat something at the hotel. I’ll get room service for us.”

  “Awesome. You want to come, Shaun? Oliver?”

  “I’d love to,” Oliver said, looking at me as he spoke. “But we should probably head home. Remember Maisie, you were lucky tonight. If Hodgson hadn’t seen you, you could have been in a lot of trouble.”

  “I know,” she said. “And I am sorry.”

  “How did Hodgson know to step in anyway?” I asked. I’d been assuming she stepped in because of Shaun, but Shaun wasn’t the one who had been arrested. “She said ‘I saw her.’ It sounded like she recognized Maisie.”

  “She did,” Oliver said. “She wouldn’t want me to tell you this, but Hodgson was the one who caught the men who attacked Maisie. It happened after you left the country of course, but she had the photos of her in hospital. She’s not hard to recognize and the name is firmly lodged in her mind.”

  “I didn’t think anyone was ever caught,” Maisie said, taking the words right out of my mouth.

  “They weren’t arrested for that attack, but they got them on other charges. They were definitely the ones who attacked you though. I’ve seen the evidence, but they couldn’t show it in court.”

  “Wow,” I exclaimed. “I feel like we should go in and thank her.”

  “No,” Oliver replied. “I’ll get no end of grief. She’ll insist she was just doing her job. I know she loved seeing you again tonight though. I could see it in her eyes.”

  “You can come back to the hotel,” I said. “We don’t mind. I know I’m not going to be able to sleep for a few hours yet.”

  “Thanks,” Oliver said, “but we should get back. I still need to have words with this one.” Oliver motioned to a sheepish looking Shaun. “It seems that small gathering of friends tonight got a bit out of hand and a load of randoms turned up.”

  Maisie and I got into a taxi which took us back to the hotel. Now that things had calmed down, I remembered the worst part of what Maisie had done tonight. She’d managed to time her arrest just as Oliver and I were about to kiss.

  Maybe I should be thanking her. Oliver seemed pretty keen to pretend the entire thing had never happened. Better I find that out now than after we’d taken things further. We could have gone back to the hotel together. I had no doubt that my “wait until at least the third date” rule would have not been applied in the case of Oliver. If he’d kissed me, I’d have stood no chance.

  But it didn’t happen. Our lips had barely touched, and now Oliver had rejected an invitation to come back to my hotel room. Perhaps he had his reasons, but I couldn’t help but think he was having second thoughts about the entire thing.

  “Sorry for ruining your evening with Oliver,” Maisie said, with her uncanny ability to read my mind. “I know you’d been looking forward to it.”

  I tried to effect a casual shrug, but it ended up looking more like a muscle spasm. “I’m going to see plenty of him this summer when he’s training you.”

  “Yeah, but… never mind. I’m just sorry is all.”

  “Just try and keep the violence to the rugby field, okay?”

  I needed an excuse to see Oliver again outside of his work. Somewhere I could have a drink to ease my nerves, and maybe even tell him how I feel. Because there was no point in hiding it anymore. I couldn’t deny what had been painfully obvious tonight. I needed Oliver back in my life. I needed to feel his touch again. Whatever else happened this summer, I couldn’t go back home without at least trying.

  -*-

  Even though Oliver had expressly told me not to, I couldn’t resist calling Hodgson the second I got in my room. She answered immediately even though it was now gone midnight.

  “Is something wrong?” Hodgson asked.

  “No, it’s just… well, Oliver told me that you were responsible for arresting the men that attacked Maisie.”

  “All in a day’s work,” Hodgson replied casually. “Honestly, it was nothing. Unfortunately, the evidence we had on them wou
ldn’t stand up in court, but we nailed them for something bigger anyway. They’ll be in prison for years.”

  “How did you find them?” I asked.

  “Some men matching the description you gave showed up on CCTV a few hundred yards down the road just after the attack. We traced them back to a hardware store they were using as a hideout. We eventually gathered enough evidence for a warrant and managed to lock them up for money laundering, among other things.”

  “Thank you,” I said. “It’s not enough, but I don’t know what else I can do.”

  “Like I said, it’s all in a day’s work. I mean that. There are just as many cases where we don’t catch those involved, so I’m almost as happy as you are that we got the men who attacked you and your sister. I know you both must still have the scars from that night, but they have it worse. I promise you.”

  I thanked Hodgson once again and then hung up the phone. The news that our attackers were behind bars should have made me delighted or at least relieved, but for some reason I felt even more on edge than before.

  Maybe finding out the men were behind bars was just a huge anti-climax. When I hadn’t known what had happened to them, I could pretend they died a gruesome death after being hit by a bus. Now I knew they were alive and getting three square meals a day.

  That might have explained my unease, but I didn’t think so. There was more too it than that, but by the time I fell asleep I was no closer to figuring it out.

  When I woke up in the morning, all my energy was focused on Oliver and our disastrous ‘date.’ One problem at a time. At least I could rectify the situation with Oliver. As long as I could find the courage to do so, that is.

  Michelle and I spent the next week dancing around the idea of going on another night out. She wanted to—I knew she did—but neither of us wanted to call it a date. In the end, we ate out or went for a drink practically every night, but always with Maisie and Shaun in tow. I loved those kids, but damn, they did tend to cramp my style a bit.

  Not to mention, Maisie served as a constant reminder that my relationship with Michelle wasn’t supposed to be physical. I could ignore that, but Michelle had her doubts. It was almost like the closer I got to Maisie, the less chance I had with Michelle, and that was a tough position to be in.