by Diane Saxon
She assessed the man opposite her, perched on the edge of the settee with a Dalmatian on his lap, firmly wrapped in his long wiry arms.
Harvey Hopkins’ smile could light up a room with a hundred people in. His contagious laughter rippled out as Domino took advantage and swiped a sly tongue over his face.
And before Jenna consciously made a decision about him, she’d already fallen head over heels in love.
Fliss shuffled forward onto the edge of her seat and squinted at Harvey. But Jenna could tell with a sister’s instinct that Fliss was already as sold on him as she was.
His gentility and twitchy attitude endeared him to her.
Since the last dog minder turned out to be a drug pusher, they’d already ensured they’d carried out basic checks on Harvey Hopkins, confirming he had insurance in place. Professional, he’d had no qualms about providing copies of his insurance, together with three references who Jenna had spoken with personally. He came with a very high recommendation. Fliss’s telephone interview with him had already been a success. And now his presence felt like a favourite old blanket that had been wrapped around them.
Taking their time in choosing a new dog walker, they’d rejected a number of them in desperation to find the right one to nurture Domino. Nurture certainly seemed to be an important word in Harvey’s vocabulary as he gently eased himself from under the dog and lowered him to the floor so that he sat at his feet. A move Jenna could only admire as Mason seemed to be the only other person who could achieve that.
Doe-like, Domino’s soft eyes gazed up at Harvey with desperate affection and Jenna knew that if this man was not the right one, there would be nobody else.
Despite their desire not to have a dog walker after their previous experience, both Fliss and Jenna had come to the conclusion that it was a necessity in their life after all.
With the court case against Frank Bartwell looming, both of them would be out of the house for long periods of time. Fliss as the main witness, and Jenna as the lead police officer in the prosecution of the man who kidnapped her sister and murdered his own wife and baby. It threatened to be long and gruelling and they were both ready to get it over with. Delay had been inevitable with Jenna as the main police witness having to take time off to recuperate after witnessing her colleague die in front of her.
The days would be long and Domino would have no guarantee that either Fliss or Jenna would have time to exercise him, or even feed him, as the court case would be held in Birmingham, an hour’s drive each way at the best of times. At the worst, in peak travel time, it could take upwards of two hours.
As Mason was also involved in the trial and Adrian in London much of the time, they had no back-up.
They needed something more than just a dog walker. Someone with flexibility, but, most of all, they needed someone with empathy for a dog who had been maltreated in the past.
Jenna had a quiver of doubt that Domino would accept a strange man into his house after his experience with Frank Bartwell, but he displayed no such concern or animosity and simply launched himself at the delighted man the moment he’d walked through the front door as though he was a long-lost friend.
Within a heartbeat, Harvey had made himself at home.
‘So, let me get this clear.’ He squinted at the pad he’d brought and tapped his pen on it as he looked at the notes he’d taken. ‘You’d like me to pop in daily, around lunchtime, to give him a two-hour walk for the next few weeks on a regular basis. After which you would like me to come three hours a day, split into two one-and-a-half-hour slots every day, starting in three weeks’ time on the Monday, to walk Domino because both of you will be working out of Birmingham for possibly the following three months.’
With a quiet murmur of assent, Fliss inclined her head.
Jenna had told him nothing of the reason they would be in Birmingham and had no reason to assume he would know until it all hit the papers and her friendly neighbourhood journalist made sure their photographs were plastered all over the Shropshire Star. She couldn’t even hope for a decent one of herself. Kim Stafford would make sure he found her worst side on the shittiest of days after hours in a courtroom.
Harvey smoothed back the hair at his temple and pursed his lips. ‘Let’s make that four hours a day to walk Domino and to child-sit him.’
A flicker of anxiety crossed Fliss’s face, but she nodded as Harvey deftly outmanoeuvred her. His smile split his face, crinkling his cheeks from ear to ear, lighting up his eyes while he repositioned Domino so he could keep him in check.
Fliss glanced over at Jenna ‘Would that be all right?’
Jenna shrugged her shoulders, it was Fliss’s dog, her decision, although the fee would be split for both of them to pay.
‘It’s for an indeterminate length of time?’ Harvey queried.
‘Well, yes,’ Fliss gushed on. ‘Because, as I explained on the phone, the matter could take a week. It could be a year.’
In one swift move, the smile dropped from his face and Harvey’s eyes filled with sadness, ‘I’m so sorry for what happened to you.’
Fliss’s eyes flew open and she dipped her head down to disguise the surprise and pain flickering over her as Jenna’s heart jumped at his knowledge.
In the quiet, Harvey touched his fingers to his lips and looked at Fliss’s bowed head. ‘I’m sorry if that makes you uncomfortable. I thought I knew your name when I spoke with you on the phone. I didn’t know why, but I recognised Domino straight away. From the newspapers last year.’ He cast an anxious glance at Jenna who sighed out her relief. He was open, at least. He mouthed, ‘I’m sorry,’ and Jenna relaxed.
When Fliss raised her head again, her eyes were clear.
She took in a deep breath before she spoke, her voice determined and strong. ‘Thank you, Harvey. It is not something I like to discuss in particular, but as it appears you already know my situation, or as far as whatever the newspapers have revealed, I will tell you it was a very painful time.’ She flicked Jenna a sideways glance. ‘Unfortunately, we have had matters prolonged due to other circumstances.’
Harvey’s gaze swam with understanding. ‘It sounds as though you have been through a lifetime of experiences most people would never even dream could happen to them.’ His voice stumbled to a halt, and as Jenna met his gaze, she knew with certainty that this man had suffered experiences of his own.
Distracted, Jenna watched as Domino settled on the floor at Harvey’s feet with a quiet command from the man.
Harvey’s face creased back up into a hesitant smile. ‘It sounds like you’re going to have a lot on your plate. For the next few weeks or months.’ He repeated the words while he circled his gaze around the room. ‘And I’m going to be your dog minder.’
It was a presumption he’d already made, one that Jenna wouldn’t correct unless Fliss had any objections. Harvey cut in again.
‘It seems a waste to walk for four hours every day. There’s only a limited amount of time that Domino needs to be exercised, especially if this heat continues.’ He raised his hand and wiped the back of it over his brow. ‘Surely, three hours a day is more than enough? I can split it into two, so he has two hours in the morning. And then later in the day…’ He tapped the pen on his pad again while he hummed in the back of his throat, tilting his head one way and then another. ‘It will take some jiggling about, but once I get my diary sorted, I can come across and walk him late in the afternoon for an hour.’
He tucked his top lip in his teeth and chewed on it as he looked from one to the other of them. ‘And, of course, if you want me for that fourth hour, perhaps I could stay here with him, keep him company. I could prepare a meal for you, five days a week.’ Harvey glanced around again. ‘I could do a little housework, it wouldn’t be much in an hour, but five days a week, that hour a day would keep your house tidy. Otherwise you’re going to spend your weekends catching up on that.’
Jenna hadn’t given thought to housework as both sisters tended to be relatively
neat in the compact house that they lived in together. But with a dog and limited time, it would be sheer luxury to have some of the housework tended to.
Harvey leaned forward and slipped a small diary from his pocket, eliciting a smile from Jenna as she noted his lack of technology and dependence on good old-fashioned diaries and notebooks as he flicked through the first few pages. ‘As I said, I’d have to jiggle things around a little as I do have other commitments.’
Jenna didn’t doubt it, she imagined he was in high demand.
As she watched, she could have sworn he almost licked the end of his pen but pulled himself up short just in time.
‘If I come eight to ten in the morning. Four to six in the afternoon.’ He tapped the pen against his lips as he murmured to himself. ‘Four hours a day, three hours walking and an hour housekeeping.’ Harvey sniffed. Then removed a small stubby pencil from where he’d had it wedged behind his ear as he pushed the pen he’d held into the top pocket of his immaculately ironed shirt.
After a long moment, he pinned Fliss with a hawkish stare and waited for her answer as though the question had been posed.
Fliss shook her head, a smile curving her lips with delighted disbelief. ‘That could be just exactly what all three of us need.’ She glanced at Jenna and then over to Domino, who was flat out on his side at Harvey’s feet. She let out a short bark of laughter and went to clap her hands, but as they closed together, she let them touch silently so Domino didn’t leap back up and think that it was all a game. She grinned. ‘Let sleeping dogs lie.’
In the last few months, the dog had definitely calmed down in his attitude, but his exuberance still occasionally got the better of him. Jenna considered Harvey may well be a great influence on him.
He tucked the pencil back behind his ear and rolled to his feet, holding his palm downwards as Domino scrambled up. ‘Fabulous. That’s what we shall do then.’ His business like tone brooked no resistance and Jenna and Fliss both came to their feet at the same time. ‘I’ll get your contract in the post by tonight and then I suggest that I come around in two days’ time and walk Domino just to make sure that we’re all in harmony with each other.’ His face crinkled into a smile as he raked his gaze over the dog in front of him.
Harmony, Jenna puffed her lips out. Harmony would be good. She hesitated to believe they could be so lucky.
As they approached the door, Harvey opened it to slip outside, but his hand briefly touched the top of Domino’s head in a gentle swipe of affection.
‘Just one thing.’ Jenna halted him while she sent him a cheeky smile. ‘Harvey, please tell me you don’t do drugs.’
With a crack of laughter Harvey threw back his head. ‘I can assure you, my lovely, not only do I not do drugs, I’m not even very good with paracetamol.’
As the door closed behind him, Fliss turned and leaned back against it, a pensive flicker crossing her brow with a moment of doubt.
Jenna met her gaze. ‘Okay. Is everything all right? Are you happy with that?’
Fliss puffed out a breath and wiped the back of her hand across her brow, smoothing out the wrinkles. ‘I’m not sure what happened then, but I think we may have been bamboozled into exactly what we want.’ She broke out into a wild grin. ‘I liked him. I really did.’
Jenna smiled back. She’d carry out some checks. Make sure this one wasn’t a child trafficker or a flasher. She didn’t even want a shoplifter.
26
Monday 12 July, 18:55 hrs
‘Put the child down, Emily.’
Surprised at her sister’s return so soon, Fern’s pulse hammered at the base of her throat, constricting the bubble of air that had lodged there as fear sent spikes of ice coursing through her veins.
She took a cautious step closer to her sister, hands held up in front of her. ‘Emily.’ She kept her voice soft, but the lowered tone remained firm and immovable. ‘Put Angel down.’
Emily turned from where she’d been looking out of the open window. Her long, straggled hair slipped over one shoulder onto the child’s screwed-up face and appeared to irritate her even more as Angel let out robust scream after scream. The child’s dangling legs thrashed as she strained backwards to get away from Emily’s tight grip.
‘Emily.’ With more urgency, Fern deepened her voice to make it heard above the wild wailing.
Unperturbed, a slow, sinister grin spread over her sister’s face while her eyes remained a cold, hard glow as she exerted power over her sister. ‘I won’t harm Angel, you know. I’m not about to hurt Zak’s child.’ One eyebrow winged its way up her forehead as her lips twitched with cold humour enough to set Fern’s teeth on edge. ‘You do trust me, don’t you?’
Not in a million years.
Speechless, Fern watched as Emily stepped closer to the open window. Her long, plump fingers turned white as she grasped the child to her bloated bosom in an attempt to stop Angel’s desperate thrashing.
Bent backwards, Angel’s howls escalated as Emily wrenched her away from the relative safety of her breasts and held her at arm’s length towards the open window.
Emily tilted her head, her lips parted to reveal her perfect, white teeth. ‘You do trust me, don’t you?’ she repeated, without a flicker of concern.
Panic sliced Fern’s heart in two as tears tracked down her cheeks while Emily applied more pressure for her to bend to her will. ‘Yes. Yes, Emily. I trust you. I really trust you.’ Whatever it took, whatever she had to say, she would say it.
She gauged the distance between herself and her sister and knew she could never reach her in time if Emily decided to drop the child out of the window. It was one step for Emily and at least eight for Fern. She didn’t stand a chance of getting there in time. The best she could do was to go along with the torturous game Emily wanted to play.
Angel’s tiny face screwed up, turning puce in her hysteria as she dangled from Emily’s hands. Arms and legs pumped in unison with a ferocity borne of panic. She couldn’t know what her fate was to be but could only be aware of the whipping away of all security.
‘Emily, put Angel down.’
‘You don’t trust me, do you?’ She tilted her head to one side as her lips kicked up in a mocking smile, one Fern recognised as dangerous.
‘It’s not that. I know you wouldn’t mean to, but you might slip.’ If she could pacify her long enough to get her away from the window.
‘I wouldn’t slip. I never have before.’
Fern blinked away the image of the tabby kitten, leg broken, dangling from her sister’s cruel fingers while words strangled in her throat. She knew she should say something, anything, to persuade Emily otherwise, but as she had then, she waited, breath backing up to burn her lungs as Angel’s screams reached fever pitch.
The smile dropped from Emily’s face and Fern stood frozen to the spot, not a whisper of a breath moving.
‘Oh, for God’s sake!’ Emily shot her a disgusted sneer as she whipped the child back against her chest. She cradled her as though she was the most precious thing on earth and she’d never dream of hurting her. But Fern knew better. ‘You’re pathetic!’ Emily spat vitriol from her lips, exposing her neat, white teeth.
It wasn’t over yet as the squalling cries of panic reached breaking point.
Fern remained still, feet firmly planted on the floor, while she waited. The white-water rush filled her head as she swallowed the small amount of saliva that hadn’t already dried up while she waited for her sister to make her next move.
‘Oh, very well.’ With a soft pout, Emily strode forward, shoved the child at Fern, who grabbed her with both hands, almost dropping her in her desperation.
Before she could respond, Emily was gone.
Fern flopped her head forward to bury her face in Angel’s hair while she rocked the child, terror still sending shudders through her body.
‘Shhh, Angel, shhh.’
To comfort them both, she jiggled Angel in her arms and walked over to switch on the music machine. The s
oft melodic notes floated above the crying wails of Angel as Fern rocked, rocked, rocked.
‘Close your eyes, little girl. Close your eyes, go to sleep. Close them tight, little girl, for the rest of the night. Close your eyes. Close your eyes, little girl.’
27
Monday 12 July, 23:50 hrs
Fern shot upright in bed, the thin sheet dropping from her sweat-slicked body. She hauled in gasp after gasp of breath, her mouth gaping wide open while she tried to control her racing heart.
‘Angel, oh my God, Angel.’
With her pulse thundering in her ears, she tilted her head to listen, but in the silence, there was nothing but her own laboured breathing, the drum of her own heart.
No child crying.
No other sound in the house.
Nothing.
Just her tortured imagination that Emily had spurred with her infernal torment. The cat-and-mouse game of power.
She drew her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, dipping her head onto her knees while she fought to get her breathing under control.
‘Emily.’ Voice hoarse, she raised her head and looked towards the closed bedroom door, suspicion curling in tight bundles in her stomach. ‘Emily. Dammit.’
There was no sound from the nursery. Nothing to make her think that her sister was back.
Except that small nugget of doubt. Doubt that fired her up enough to move. Fear of what her sister may do if she was left alone with Angel.
She plucked at the balled-up sheet and pushed it to the end of the bed as she swung her legs over the side and stood, her breath still rasping in her throat.
On naked, silent feet, she tiptoed to her bedroom door and reached out to twist the handle and crack it open.
Her breath still came in fast snatches while she hesitated.
Was she just being paranoid?
Maybe, but she needed to check Angel was safe.
She whispered open the door and sneaked onto the landing, avoiding the floorboard she knew would squeak when she stood on it. She touched the doorknob on the nursery door and waited again. She angled her head to listen, straining to hear any giveaway sound in the silence.