Bruce glanced at Lou then to Emma and smiled sincerely as he spoke, “Emma, this place will be just perfect for us. Can we say we’ll take it? The spare room would be perfect as a studio for Lou and the master bedroom is just amazing as it is. You have a real eye for decoration. And I speak for both of us when I say you will be welcome here anytime you are in New York. Don’t be spending money on a hotel when you can have a place here,” he offered.
“Hell yes, darlin’, I’ll make sure that we put a decent bed in the studio and it’s your place whenever you need a place to stay. I love the condo, I really do.” Lou’s smile was as broad as Bruce’s at that moment and she realized that this was just fate. She was happy to have found two readymade tenants whom she trusted to take care of the place for her. Her mind was set and moving home was now in motion.
Shortly after they had finished eating, the apartment buzzer sounded again. “Excuse me, guys, I think that may be the realtor, but she’s a bit early.” Emma scowled as she headed to the door. As Emma glanced back, she took in the sight of her new tenants clearing the table and washing up. A simple domestic action that a lot of people took for granted seemed to be a novelty for the two of them and it was nice to see them both so relaxed.
As Emma reached the intercom, the doorman’s voice came across as clear as day, “Miss McKellan? I have Officer Walters and Sergeant Davis here in the lobby for you. They are asking if you are available to speak to them as a matter of urgency. They have some news for you, and I don’t think you will want to be alone for this.” All the color drained from Emma’s face, and Lou ran across the apartment to take hold of her as the doorman’s words echoed around the open space. Lou stepped to the intercom as he handed a shaky Emma over to Bruce. “Hello, sir, it’s Lou here, I’m here with my boyfriend visiting with Miss McKellan. Is it possible for you to send the officers up to the apartment? We will be more than happy to stay with her while they speak to her.”
“Of course, sir, I’ll send them right up,” came the detached response. Emma felt a chill creep up her back as goose bumps erupted across her exposed flesh. Lou quickly got her a glass of water and knelt in front of her as Bruce held her in a tight embrace. “It’s mom and dad I know it is. They’ve gone haven’t they? Why else would they be here?” she murmured the sadness seeping with every word.
“Hush now, darlin’.” Lou’s voice soothed as he took her cheeks in his hands and wiped the stray tears away. “Whatever it is, sweetheart, we’ve got you,” he tried to reassure her just as the knocking from the door resonated around the now silent apartment.
Lou stood and strode over to the door purposefully and let the two officers in.
“Good afternoon, sir, I’m Officer Walters, and this is Sergeant Davis. We’re from the homicide special-ops team at NYPD. May we come in and speak with Miss McKellan for a moment?”
Emma glanced over to the pair standing awkwardly at the door. Officer Walters was a well-presented officer probably, not much older than Emma with a chiseled jaw and close-shaven dark hair. He wasn’t overly tall, but well-built and wore a harsh expression. Sergeant Davis was probably ten years or so older and slightly taller with greying mousy brown hair desperately in need of a trim. He wore a smart grey suit and she noticed quite randomly that he was wearing tan loafers. Something about this fact made her almost burst out laughing until she remembered why they were here.
“Hi, I’m Emma McKellan,” she answered, still scared of what they had to say. “How can I help you? It’s my parents, isn’t it?” She shook as sobs began to involuntarily take over her fragile body.
“I can confirm, Miss McKellan, as far as we are aware, your parents are safe. Although I’d urge you to call them after our visit just to check,” he quickly reassured her as the relief flooded over her. “Let me explain why we are here. As my colleague Officer Walters here mentioned, we work for a specialist Task Force within the NYPD dealing with homicide. We are also attached to the team specifically trained to deal with gang warfare. We were called to the scene of what we believe to be a double homicide early this morning over at the other side of the city. The victims were a married couple who appear to have been caught in the crossfire of a particularly notorious gang dispute. At this stage we have no reason to believe that they have any involvement on the actual activities of either of the rival entities. But I do need to ask, do you know of a Liliya Clearwater and an Gary Johnston Clearwater?”
“Oh my God… No, not Lily and Gary. No. NO. NO!” Emma began to wail, screaming out like a wounded animal and tears flooding down her cheeks as the reality of the situation sank in. “Lily? No, it’s not possible. No, I won’t believe it.” She shook her head frantically as she jumped up to grab her cell phone. “Look,” she shouted frantically scrolling through her messaged to find the one that had come in from Gary just yesterday. “Look, she’s fine. Gary said so. No, there must be a mistake.” She cried and thrust the cell towards the officers.
“Emma, darlin’,” Lou soothed as Bruce took hold of her fragile body and steered her to the couch. He sat her down and took her face into his hands, “Just calm down, Emma, and listen to what the officers have to say, please.” Bruce begged, his face visibly falling as he watched her crumbling. They all gave Emma a few minutes to try and compose herself.
Just when she was almost there, she remembered the conversation with Lily about Adie and Leo. “Oh, no, the kids, what about the kids?” she managed to scream out as she lurched up from the couch, slapping her hand over her mouth quickly as she ran to the bathroom where she proceeded to throw up her entire lunch.
Lou followed her and began holding back her hair whilst offering her water to sip. He soothingly rubbed her back as she retched time and time again into the bowl, finally stopping enough to catch her breath and take a drink of water. He managed to get her to sit and gently wiped the vomit from her face and hands as he let her finally compose herself.
After a while, she was composed enough to be led back to the main living room, where Bruce had provided the officers with hot coffee as they talked to him in hushed voices. They quickly stopped as Emma and Lou returned to the room and took up their perch on the couch. She was shaking but needed to know more.
“I’m sorry, officers,” she said. “Please carry on.”
“Thank you, Miss McKellan, are you sure you are all right to continue?” Sergeant Davis asked. “We can leave for a while and let you compose yourself, if you’d prefer.”
“No. Please continue. I need to know what’s happening. The kids? Please tell me they are okay.”
“Yes, ma’am. The children are fine. We found them this morning safe and sound in the care of one of the neighbors of their apartment building.”
“Oh thank God,” Emma breathed out. “But what has happened to Lil and Gary?” she croaked out, trying hard to maintain her composure.
“We don’t really know much other than they have both perished in a fire that engulfed a vehicle that we later found to be registered to one Gary Clearwater.” Emma gasped, again clamping her hand to her mouth. “We also found evidence of identification for both of them close to the scene. We will be investigating this further, but at this stage we believe they were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. Unless we can find evidence to suggest otherwise and pending formal identification of them both, it would appear that they were innocent victims.”
“I can’t believe this. I really can’t. Not Lily and Gary. No.” She sniffed as Lou handed her another tissue. “So what now? Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Unless you know of anything that may suggest otherwise, then no. We have been asked to speak to you as when we checked with the hospital, you are down as the late Mrs. Clearwater’s next-of-kin after her husband. Oh, and social services also want to speak with you. A representative from the Child Protective Services will be paying you a visit this afternoon, I believe. We are still in the process of searching their apartment but we found documentation that was very recently prepare
d, naming you as sole guardian of Adie and,” the officer paused as he checked through his notes, “Leo.”
“Wait, what?” Emma was stunned into temporary silence. “Me? Guardian? I never thought in a million years when I signed those papers on Friday… Hell, I can’t be a parent to two children. I’m alone and work full-time.” she began to ramble.
“Miss McKellan, this is a conversation you need to be having with the social worker, not us. We just need to know if you may have noticed anything strange or anything that may help us in dealing with the investigation? Did you have any reason to believe that Mr. and Mrs. Clearwater were involved in any criminal activity?”
“Well. No, but they had been having some marital problems recently. I have been a bit worried about Lily over the last two or three weeks but I just put that down to a rocky patch. I have had a few strange texts and calls from Lily from a blocked number but she hasn’t suggested anything else was wrong. In fact, she had hinted that we would be meeting up this weekend…” Emma trailed off, trying to maintain some poise. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think there’s much I could help you with right now.”
“Okay, Miss McKellan, I am so sorry to have had to bring such bad news. Here, this is my card. It has all of my contact details on it and I have written Officer Walter’s number on the back, too. If you have any questions or think of anything that may help at all, we are both just a call away. Any questions please contact us, even if you think it is insignificant. I think we need to be leaving you now to digest this news and get prepared for the social worker visiting. She should be in touch with you within the next hour, according to the latest update I received. Good luck, Miss McKellan. We will be in contact as soon as we know anything further.”
Sergeant Davis and Officer Davis stood to leave and shook the hand of each of them as the bid them goodbye. Bruce stood to show the officers out and as he closed the door. Emma had collapsed once again sobbing to the point of exhaustion onto Lou’s broad shoulders. He was doing an incredible job of being the support that she needed and she was so touched by the tenderness he was showing.
Chapter Nineteen
Within the hour of the police officers leaving, the emergency social worker appointed to look out for Adie and Leo arrived at the apartment. As the buzzer sounded, Emma caught sight of both guys staring over at her. She contemplated how she must look like such a miserable figure sitting there curled into a ball on the recliner chair. She felt so fragile and alone despite their presence. Wringing a tissue in her shaking hands she made a huge effort to pull herself together enough to tackle what was coming next.
“Shall I go, darlin’?” Lou asked quietly as Bruce walked over and sat down next to her on the floor as he took her hand.
“Please, Lou, if you could. I don’t think I’m ready for this,” she whispered with a voice that was hoarse from all of crying.
“We’ve got ya, darlin’,” he leaned over and planted a kiss on her forehead. As he walked past, he squeezed Bruce on the shoulder on the way to the door.
As the door opened, Emma wasn’t expecting the kids to be there with the social workers. She had assumed that there would be a ton of paperwork to go through before they would be released to her care. One of the social workers was carrying a sleeping Leo and a diaper bag. Out of nowhere Adie appeared, ran to Emma and leaped onto her knee inspecting her face carefully. “Aww, don’t cwy, Auntie Em, you wook so sad.” She fussed as she jumped up and down on her knee. She threw her arms around her neck in a tight embrace.
Then suddenly she realized that Emma wasn’t alone. Whispering in her ear she said, “Hey, Auntie Em, whose deese men in your house?” She then looked up and suspiciously eyed Bruce and Lou.
As quick as a flash, Lou strode across the room and crouched by Emma’s side and held out his hand. “Well, hello there, beautiful, I’m Louis Dupoint, but you can call me, Lou.” He took her hand and gently kissed the back of it as she tried to figure him out. “I’m very pleased to meet you, Adie, darlin’. I’m a friend of your Auntie Emma and this funny looking guy here is Bruce,” he said conspiratorially as he winked at Adie. “He’s okay, I suppose, for someone who likes eating boogers and snores.”
Adie broke out in peels of laughter at Lou. It was infectious and even through the somber mood that shrouded Emma she couldn’t help laughing too. Even Emma managed a weak smile. “You is funny, Lou, but I wike you a wot!” the little girl exclaimed as she flew from Emma’s knee and grabbed him round the neck giving him a hug.
“Hewwo, Bwuce,” she finally said as she let go of Lou’s neck and turned to him. “But you don’t eat boogers. Thems will make you sick,” she said as a matter of fact. “And you might get your finger wost if you go up your nose, too.” Her serious expression as she wagged her tiny finger and chided Bruce made Emma smile, but he couldn’t stop from bursting out laughing.
“Hey, Adie, and thank you for telling me that. I had better remember your advice. But you know Lou has been known to tell stories. I don’t really eat boogers, you know, they are pretty gross really.”
“Well, I know and Mommy tells me to stop picking my nose all the time, doesn’t she, Auntie Em?” Adie looked to Emma who was struggling to keep herself from falling apart again at the mention of Lily.
The two social workers had now been shown over to the seating area and Emma noticed that they had been observing the little exchange between Adie and the rest of them with interest.
“Hello, I’m Cathy Jennings and this is my colleague, Laurelin Pope. We are from the Child Protective Services department.” She spoke in a calm and friendly manner and held her hand out to Emma. As she took it, Emma replied, “Hi, I’m Emma McKellan and as you may have already heard this is Bruce Jenson and Lou Dupoint. They have both been with me since my… erm… visit earlier.” She was unsure as to how much the kids, especially Adie may know at this stage. So she chose her words carefully.
Cathy was an older lady and an officious look about her. Emma even noted her dress sense was decidedly officious and stuffy too. She was wearing official departmental identification on a lanyard around her neck and Emma noticed that it had become fairly tangled in the chain attached to her reading glasses. She was carrying a substantial file and had already started flitting through some paperwork as she was making her introductions.
“Well, we have a ton of paperwork here I need to get through and I have to get going as quickly as I can. We have had a busy weekend so far and it’s not showing signs of relenting today. I have my assistant with me because she will be able to watch the children while I go through most of this with you. Is there anywhere we could go to do this more privately? Laurelin, can stay here with the children.” She was right down to business before Emma had a chance to catch her breath.
“Erm, well there is a residents lounge down on the second floor we could go to. It’s rarely used and I’m sure we would have it to ourselves. Would that be okay?”
“Absolutely. Now, it might be an idea to have someone come down with you to help you take all of this in.”
“I’ll come, Emma,” Bruce intervened. “Lou seems to have found a new pint-sized friend over there.” He gestured toward Lou who was now sitting on the floor having his hair styled by a chattering Adie and looking to be thoroughly enjoying the experience.
“That’s fine,” Cathy interjected before turning to Adie. “Adie, I just need to take your Auntie Emma to talk to her for a bit about you maybe staying with her for a few days? Is that okay?”
“Yes, I want another sweepover! Yay! Can we make it snow again, Auntie Em, pwease?” Adie jumped up and down.
“We can talk about that in a bit, sweetheart,” Emma said as she reached over and gently stroked Adie’s tiny cheek. Her heart was breaking all over again at the thought of having to explain to the innocent little girl just how much her life had changed overnight.
As Adie turned her attention back to Lou and started chatting away about making snow, Emma, Cathy and Bruce made their way down to the r
esidents lounge. Emma quickly grabbed her purse, knowing she had a plentiful supply of tissues stashed away inside should she need them. As predicted the room was empty, so Emma quietly asked the doorman if he could allow them to use the room uninterrupted for as long as they needed.
As the three of them made themselves comfortable, Cathy began to fill the pair of them in on the events running up to the heartbreaking weekend.
“It would appear that an application was submitted only yesterday by Liliya Clearwater and Gary Clearwater to appoint you as the legal guardian of their two children. I assume you will have received the court paperwork yesterday so this can’t have come as a huge surprise to you.”
“It’s a huge surprise, yes. I only attended court to fill out the paperwork on Friday, yesterday even, and I can’t believe everything has been done already,” Emma replied. “I had absolutely no idea that this was going to happen so quickly. I feel like I’ve tempted fate or something,” Emma thought out loud with a shudder.
“Oh, well, the application was submitted yesterday morning and can now be fast-tracked through the system. As luck would have it, because this application was commenced pre-death, there is a good chance that the courts will simply rubber-stamp you as the guardian of the children, unless you have any objections? I can appreciate the situation is difficult, but according to my file you be already been pre-approved for this so it should just be a case of us requesting an urgent hearing and this matter be closed. Although I haven’t seen it for myself, it would also appear you are named as sole guardian for the children, as well as their custodian in the wills of both Liliya and Gary, so in any event, it appears you have just inherited a family, Miss McKellan. Congratulations,” she announced brusquely.
Steeling My Haart Page 14
