by Clare Revell
Amy nodded. “Sure. Milk?”
Vicky shook her head.
“Juice, then?”
She shook her head.
“Then, what about lemonade? I can do magic lemonade if you like.”
Vicky looked confused, but then nodded.
Dane frowned. “Magic lemonade? What are you teaching her?”
Amy looked at him and then down. “OK, just plain lemonade, then.”
He reached for her, but she sidestepped him. “Amy, I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You didn’t. It’s fine.” She poured Vicky a glass. “Here you go.” She pulled open the freezer.
“Are you mad at me?” he asked, watching her.
“No.” Her tone was as stiff as her stance.
He frowned. Her body language indicated otherwise as she rattled around boxes and oven trays. “Amy?” he tried again. “Talk to me.”
She shoved two trays into the oven. “There, shepherd’s pie for you and fish fingers and chips for Vicky. And baked beans for the both of you.”
“What about you?”
“Not hungry.”
“You haven’t eaten all day.”
She shoved her hands into her pockets, leaning against the counter. “I’m not hungry.” Tears slid down her face, before she turned away.
Dane stood behind her, sliding his good arm around her waist. She leaned against him, crying hard. “You have to eat,” he whispered.
“No point…”
“There’s every point, Amy.” He kissed her neck. “I know you’re sad and scared, right now. It’s been a horrible day.”
She nodded.
“I don’t want you getting sick from not eating. We need you.” He lowered his voice, pulling her closer against him. “I need you.”
“You don’t know me,” she whispered.
“I know I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
He kissed her gently, feeling her shiver. “Please eat something. Even if it’s just soup or toast or that incredibly sugary cereal you insisted on buying.” When she glanced at him, he tipped up her chin. “So explain this magic lemonade.”
“You put a drop of food coloring into a plastic cup or mug without the child seeing it. Then you show them the bottle of clear lemonade. Pour it into the cup and give it to them. Only of course it’s red or blue or green and they sit there wondering how you did it.”
“That’s neat. We’ll have to do it Sunday lunch for the girls. Just need to rename it.”
“To what?”
“Something other than magic,” he said lightly. “How about enchanted…”
“Or fairy,” she said.
“Fairy lemonade,” Dane said, kissing her again. “I like the sound of that.” He hugged her. “We’ll be OK, I promise.”
She looked at him. “But everything is so messed up and I can’t see how to put any of this right.”
“It looks messed up, yes, but it isn’t. God is in control. We just need to remember that. And tomorrow, both girls are out at the church bonfire with Nate and Adeline. So, how about you and I take a long walk somewhere. Just the two of us?”
“I’d like that.”
16
Dane shut the front door as Adeline picked up Vicky and Jodie to take them to the bonfire. He and Nate had spent most of the day at Maranatha farm as the cult case they were working on escalated and took an unexpected and somewhat nasty turn. Nate was still there and would most likely end up working, rather than watching the fireworks.
Dane had come back home, because Nate insisted. Things at home seemed to be mirroring events on the farm just a little too much for either of them to be comfortable leaving Amy alone.
He looked at Amy. “Alone at last,” he grinned.
She shook her head. “Am I safe with you?” she asked. “I mean you climb fences and put handcuffs on people all day long.”
He laughed. “That sounds terrible. Put your coat on and we’ll get out of here. I thought we could walk to the park, go around the lake and maybe watch the fireworks from there.”
“There’ll be some here?”
He nodded. “Yes, although we’ve never been to that display. We always go to the church one.”
“You could have gone with them.”
“They didn’t have room in the car. Besides, it was planned this way because I want to be with you. Without the girls around for once.” He kissed her cheek. “So, shall we?”
She nodded. “Sure.”
He took her hand and led her from the house, along the dark streets towards the park. At that moment, he knew he had fallen for her, without ever hope of recovering.
He’d seen enough criminals in his long career to know that Amy wasn’t one. Her love for God radiated from her, even when she was at her most vulnerable and downcast. And she loved his kids. That was evident from the way she cared for them and had gone the extra mile to help both Vicky and Jodie when they needed it. She wasn’t an evil person; she was wonderful and sweet and he couldn’t believe God had brought her into his life the way He had.
Whoever it was targeting them had better watch out. Because Amy now rated right alongside his girls in the keep-your-hands-off-them-or-else stakes.
“What are you thinking?” Amy’s voice broke into his thoughts.
But there was no way he could tell her his true thoughts. Not yet. Not until all this was sorted out. Instead, he went for the other thing on his mind. “Thinking how nice this is,” he said. “Just you and me.”
She nodded. “It is. Not that I mind the girls being around. It’s just nice that, oh, how do I put this without it sounding bad?”
“Without having to worry about them being safe?”
She smiled. “That’s it exactly. Especially with all this stuff going on.” Then he felt her stiffen.
“Amy, if you know something, you would tell me, right? Doesn’t matter what it is, or how small it may be.”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
He looked at her, unconvinced, but not going to push it, no matter what his instincts told him. “OK.” He ran his gloved fingers over hers, wishing the gloves weren’t in the way, but with the temperature actually below freezing, he wasn’t going to risk taking them off. His breath froze in front of him, and he tugged his hat down further over his ears.
Amy did the same, pulling her matching red scarf close around her face. “Bet it looks pretty around here when it snows.”
“It does. The council isn’t very prompt with the gritting lorries though, so driving is a pain for a day or two. But the girls love it, especially when they get a snow day.”
“That must be fun. I haven’t seen snow since university.”
“Didn’t you get any in Filely?”
She looked sharply at him. Did he imagine the gasp? “Where?”
“That’s where Ray Malone is pastor, right? You said you moved to the same town as him and his wife.”
“Oh, yeah, right. We got some, but it never lasted long. Not the way it does in other parts of the country.”
He walked with her, their footsteps crunching on the gravel as they entered the park. The moon shone high above them and excited children ran to and fro across the car park, calling to each other. “Did you have bonfires as a child?”
“Yeah. Dad would build one in the garden. We’d never have fireworks, but we had sparklers. And afterwards we’d have fish and chips from the chip shop. What about you?”
“We’d go to the local display. They’d do soup, hotdogs, and jacket potatoes.”
“I love those. Jacket potatoes that is.” Her eyes lit up. “I haven’t had a proper one in years. Ones covered in butter and grated cheese, cooked for a good two hours in the oven. With the skin all crispy and the inside so hot it burns your mouth and lips.”
Dane grinned. “A woman after my own heart. Only I want a jacket potato now.”
“When we get home.”
“But I don’t want to wait two hours.”
Amy laughed. “You sound
like Jodie. That must be where she gets it from.”
He pouted. “I do not sulk either.”
“Do too.”
“Do not.”
She elbowed him. “Do too and are now.” She grinned. “But you look so cute when you do.”
Dane turned to face her. “Cute?”
Amy tugged his hat right down over his face. “Even cuter now.”
He pulled the hat back and looked indignantly at her. It didn’t have the desired effect as she just dissolved into giggles. “Oh, really?”
“Yes, really,” she managed.
He tugged her hat down over her face. “Big improvement.”
“Oy.”
“Something wrong?” He grinned as she pushed her hat back.
“Yes. You.”
“Me?” He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. “How about now?”
Amy leaned against him. “Much better.”
He kissed her forehead, mindful of the fact that they were in public. He didn’t want word getting back to the girls. Yes, they knew, or at least Vicky did, but he didn’t want to give anyone else the wrong idea. Not yet anyway.
As they stood by the lake, fireworks exploded over their heads, the colors reflecting in the still water. Amy looked up. “Wow. So pretty.”
“Like you,” Dane whispered, pulling her close. She made his life complete, something he never thought it would be again.
Monday came with no more incidents, but Amy put that down to the fact Dane had once more made his presence felt all over the weekend, both inside and outside the house. Once he’d gotten back from work on Saturday afternoon, that is. He’d mowed the lawn one handed both front and back, before helping the girls build a scarecrow after lunch on Sunday. Albeit under duress, but despite his constant complaining to wind up the girls, she thought he’d actually had fun. But the highlight of the whole weekend had been while the girls were at the bonfire on Saturday evening, and the long moonlit walk along the river she and Dane had shared.
Being with him, just the two of them like that, made her forget her troubles for a short time. For those brief stolen moments, nothing mattered. Would it be too much to ask for this to become her permanent home? To be a part of his life forever?
She glanced out the window at the scarecrow the girls and Dane had made. Called Mr. Scruffy, he moved around the garden as the girls saw fit. Right now, he sat in a deck chair, legs crossed, newspaper on his lap. Jodie stood behind him, arranging the patio umbrella over him to keep the rain off.
Amy shook her head.
Jodie came back inside and grinned. “I told Dad he’s not allowed to burn him once we’re done with him.”
“Think you might lose that battle before it begins. Actually, I’m surprised he let you build one at all.”
“He’s a softie really.”
“Your dad or Mr. Scruffy?”
Jodie laughed. “Both. Besides, Dad never liked that outfit anyway.”
“No?”
“No. Not sure why.”
Amy glanced at the clock. “You need to go or you’ll be late for school.”
Jodie nodded. “Yeah, see you tonight.”
Amy watched her go, then chivied Vicky up, walking her the short distance to the primary school. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched. Which was crazy because the only other people around were those either going to work, or doing the same thing she was—the school run.
She got home to find a dead cat lying in the middle of the drive. It looked like next door’s. Sighing, Amy let herself in and pulled on the rubber cleaning gloves from the downstairs cloakroom. It probably died from eating all those birds and squirrels. She picked up the cat, carefully laying it on next door’s lawn. Then she went inside and washed the gloves, then her hands.
First on the agenda was laundry. She had no idea how the girls managed to make so much. Dane had finally come around to her doing his washing and left the clothes in the utility room for her. She shoved the clothes in and set the washing machine going. Next, she went to the kitchen to deal with the breakfast dishes.
She glanced out at the scarecrow. For a moment it seemed as if its head was tilted up towards the house, looking at her. She turned away and then back. The scarecrow sat studying the newspaper. Exactly the way Jodie had left it. Exactly as it should be. She must be imagining things.
Dane wouldn’t let them call it a guy, not after Friday. This was probably just as well, as their creation looked nothing like a guy at all. Although after the events on the farm over the weekend, she was amazed he’d let them build one at all. There had been a fire at the farm, aside from the bonfire, and Meggie, one of the church apprentices, had been burned. Rumors abounded as to just how she’d been hurt, but Amy didn’t put any store in rumors. All she knew was that was one of the cases Dane and Nate had spent so many hours working on the past few weeks.
Nate had appeared very late Saturday evening and spent an hour locked away in the study with Dane, filling him in. Maybe now that case was over, she’d see a little more of Dane.
Her thoughts returned to the scarecrow. They’d used a pumpkin for its head, Jodie carving the crookedest, not to mention ugliest, face she could manage. His body was stuffed with newspaper, and he wore Dane’s old, patched jeans and a stripy jumper. Honestly, it looked like something out of a horror film, but the girls thought it was great.
Maybe she could persuade Dane to burn it at the end of the week after all. She pulled the blind. No matter how cute Jodie insisted he was, Mr. Scruffy gave her the creeps.
Dane folded his arm against his chest, cradling the arm in the sling as he stood in the car park at work. He had to keep his anger in check. He glanced at Nate, and then looked back at his damaged car as another officer took photos.
“And you saw no one?” Nate asked.
“No, I didn’t,” Dane repeated for the umpteenth time. “I normally garage the car, but forgot to last night.”
DI Welsh came down, her normally smart look slightly frazzled. “What’s the damage?”
“It’s been pretty badly keyed. It’ll need a complete re-spray, never mind the slogan on it. Just glad Amy and the girls didn’t see it. I don’t want to have to explain that set of words to them.”
Nate eyed the wording on the car. “I think Jodie would know what it means without you having to explain it. I know for sure that Vianne does.”
Dane raised an eyebrow. “What do you teach your niece?”
“She doesn’t get it from us. Actually, she tried that one out for size over the weekend. Adeline hit the roof.”
“I bet she did. I imagine you did as well. What did you do? Other than ground her for the rest of her natural life.”
Nate grinned. “Nah, not that long. Just until she’s thirty-two. I put a lot of soap on her toothbrush and stood over her while she cleaned her teeth. She won’t be saying anything like that again for a while.”
“I shall remember that one.”
Welsh coughed. “If I could have your attention for just a moment, please gents. I’ll get the car dusted for prints. Dane, do you have any idea who’d do this?”
“No. Assuming that we arrested the entire coven and they’re not out to get me. Did you hear about the arson?”
“The one at your place? Yes, I did.” His commanding officer looked even more disapproving if that were possible. “However, I would far rather have heard it from you instead than from a report dropped on my desk. But then with you two, nothing surprises me anymore. I’m arranging for a car to drive past your house four times a day.” Welsh held his gaze. “Someone is targeting you—”
“Or Amy,” Nate added.
“Or Miss Stabler. And for the sake of your kids, we need to do something.”
“OK, fine,” Dane agreed. “But it’s most likely to be one of my old cases come back to haunt me. Someone with a grudge.”
“That is as good a place to start as any. You a
nd Nate get up to the office and start going through old files. Leave the car to me. I’ll get someone to do it today or tomorrow. And no more driving with that shoulder until you’ve been cleared by the doctors. Are you sure you should be here?”
“No, Guv. Yes, Guv.”
“Which is which?”
“No, I won’t drive. Yes, I should be here. I’m going upstairs to sit at my desk.”
“OK, make sure you do. Spend the morning with the files and then take the afternoon off. Nate, I want you to take him home no later than one.”
“Will do.”
Dane spent the next four hours sat at his desk, going through case after case. He sighed, tossing the file to the desk. “This is hopeless. They are all either locked up still or dead or have an alibi.”
“There’s got to be something,” Nate reasoned. “Maybe we go further back. But tomorrow. Let’s get you home.”
Dane frowned. “I don’t want to—”
“Ack. Guv said for you to go home at lunch. So you’re going home. She already wants your guts for garters as it is. Don’t make it any worse.”
Dane pushed to his feet, then sat down again, as his gaze fell on the post-it-note. “Need to make a quick call first.”
“Oh?”
“Amy said the gas man read the meter soon after she started working for me. I haven’t had a bill yet.” He dialed.
“Strange.”
“Oh, yeah. I meant to chase this up last week… Yes, I’d like to inquire about my bill, please. Someone read the meter last month and nothing’s arrived yet.” He gave the woman his account number, tapping his pen on the desk.
The pen fell from his fingers. “Are you sure? Yes, he had ID, else we wouldn’t have let him in the house. I see…No, I’ll inform the police myself.” He hung up and looked at Nate. “The gas man didn’t come. They don’t need the meter read for another three weeks.”
Nate scrawled on his notepad on the desk. “I’ll chase that up with the fraud boys when I get back in. See if anyone reported any bogus callers in your area. Right now we need to get you out of here.”
Dane followed Nate from the room, grabbing his coat on the way out. He gazed out the window as Nate drove, his mind running rampant. If it wasn’t him, then was it Amy? OK, it was her name, and the caller had told her to “burn in hell,” but could she really be the target or was it as simple as this being connected to Maranatha Farm? And if so why?
