‘Grace?’
Lynette’s anxious voice was followed by the sound of heavy thumping on the door. ‘What’s going on in there? Are you all right? Why’s the door locked?’
‘Be careful Lynne, he’s in the room.’
Grace struggled to turn the cascading water off, then fell out of the shower, grabbing a towel as she did so. She hardly dared open the en-suite door, but when she did and peered into her room, it was empty. Across the other side of the bed, the curtain flapping in the now wide-open window, told its own tale.
‘Grace! For God’s sake. Open the door.’
Racing across the room, she fumbled with the key and flung it open.
‘There was someone in my room. He must have locked the door then come into the shower while I was washing. It was Rory, Lynne. I know it was.’
Lynette cast a jerky look round. ‘Has he gone?’
Grace too looked around. ‘It looks like it. He must have climbed out of the window. Look how wide open it is. He was just standing there, Lynne, watching me while I showered.’
Lynette moved over to the window and quickly closed it. ‘Did you see his face? Was it definitely him?’
Grace sat down on the bed and dropped her head into her hands. ‘He was wearing a hoody and a mask. I didn’t get a good look. But it must have been him. Who else could it have been?’
‘I don’t know. But if it was him … where’s Ellie?’
Grace’s head shot up, hysteria widening her eyes. ‘He’s done something to her … like he said he would.’
Lynette sat down next to her and put an arm around her shoulder. ‘Of course he hasn’t. He wouldn’t dare – especially now he knows the police and lawyers are involved. Try to keep calm. Do you want me to call the police?’
The shrill ring of the phone broke into their conversation. Grace jumped up from the bed and pounced on it. ‘Hello?’
‘Miss Harper? It’s DS Davidson from Wandsworth Police. I’m very pleased to tell you that we have your daughter here … can you come down to the station?’
‘You have? Is she alright?’
‘She’s fine … come and see for yourself.’
The moment they got there, Grace’s eyes darted frantically round the small room.
‘Where is she?’
‘She’s with a social worker upstairs at the moment. One of my police constables has gone to get her. I’m afraid the way her father complied with the Order made it a rather more complicated procedure than it needed to be. He could have just dropped her back to you but instead he turned up at a local police station in Northwood early this morning, showed them the order, and told them they could take over from there. That meant they had to involve social services and get her transferred across to here. But the main thing is she’s been thoroughly examined and she’s fine.’
He smiled as he said this, clearly trying to lighten the atmosphere, before adding, ‘You must prepare yourself for the fact that she may be a little unsettled for a while. It’s never easy on the children in these situations.’
Grace nodded, blinded by tears that seemed to have come from nowhere. How could she have let this happen?
‘What about Rory?’
‘He was apparently adamant that he only took her because he wanted some quality time with his daughter and he knew you’d never agree. It might be a hard argument to contest in court.’
Grace spun round at the sound of the door opening behind her.
‘Ellie …’
She ran over to her daughter, sinking down onto her knees and drawing her into her arms.
For a moment, Ellie stood stiff as a board, not reacting. Then, gradually the tension in her body lessened and two little arms crept around Grace’s neck, clinging tightly, as if she’d never let go.
‘It’s alright, honey,’ Grace soothed, holding her and stroking her hair. ‘Mummy’s here now. There’s nothing to worry about.’
‘I wanted you, but you didn’t come,’ Ellie whined. ‘I didn’t want to be wiv Daddy.’
‘I know, darling. I’m sorry. I didn’t know where you were. But you’re back now, and I’ll never let you out of my sight again, I promise. It’ll be just you and me like before.’
Her eyes turned to granite as they met her sister’s over Ellie’s head. ‘He’s going to pay for this, Lynette. He really is.’
As they prepared to take their leave, DS Davidson turned to Grace. ‘I’ve had one of my lads go over the logistics of your break-in today. I’m not saying it would have been impossible, but the main consensus seems to be that it would have been pushing it for your ex-partner to get to Balham from Northwood in the time scale you’ve provided. I’m not sure how much it would stand up in court as part of your case, if you were thinking of using it.’
Grace looked stunned. ‘But of course it was him. Who else could it be?’
‘It could have been a spur of the moment burglary that went wrong?’
‘Nothing was stolen.’
‘Did you check?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, I’ll send someone over to check for prints and take a statement but, as I say, I think we might need to keep an open mind on that one.’
Grace exchanged a despairing look with Lynette.
It just didn’t make sense. Of course it had been Rory. Who the hell else could it have been?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The walls of the courthouse were tall and intimidating, a visible statement to the fact that the strength of the Law is far greater than those puny individuals who dare to challenge it. Imposing though it all was, it gave hope to Grace that her faith in the system – which had taken a severe battering after recent events – would be restored after today’s events.
The courtroom in comparison was small and more intimate but as Grace took the seat next to her barrister she was grateful that she hadn’t had to bring Ellie in with her. It had been agreed that she could wait in another room with a court official until the Judge spoke to her privately to establish her views on what had gone on and, more importantly, Grace felt, to find out what she wanted in the future with regards any contact with her father.
On the other side of the room, she could feel Rory’s eyes fixed intently on her. She could sense his malevolence even from that distance and it took a supreme effort to resist the temptation to turn her gaze his way. He’d been called to court to give an explanation for his behaviour, and she’d taken the opportunity to add a further request to that – an Order barring him from seeing them. It was an action she knew would be a red rag to a bull.
‘Don’t look at him when you’re in the court,’ her barrister, Robert Hornsby, had instructed her. ‘Only look at me, or the barrister for the other side when he’s questioning you. That way he can’t intimidate you.’
But Grace didn’t need to look at him to be intimidated. His very presence was enough to do that.
‘All rise ...’
Grace had never felt so nervous in her life. She wanted to grab Stuart’s hand and squeeze it as tightly as she could – cling onto his strength – but something held her back. Instead, she sat calmly down again and waited, hands folded in her lap – until finally, the moment she’d been dreading.
‘The court calls Miss Grace Harper.’
She rose from her seat and made her way slowly over to the witness box.
‘... And am I right in saying that you endeavoured to keep the knowledge that my client had a daughter from him?’
The inflection of Rory’s barrister’s voice rose, indicating disbelief that she could do such a thing.
Grace was tiring and she didn’t like this man. He twisted everything she said and had a habit of not allowing her to finish her sentences.
‘Yes. Initially. But only because ...’
‘So don’t you think he was entitled to be somewhat upset when he found out quite by accident, that he was a father? And don’t you think it was quite natural that he might like some quality time with his daughter alone?’
/> ‘The only reason I kept that knowledge from him,’ Grace said firmly, ‘was because he’d been so insistent I have an abortion. I was frightened of him.’
‘Why? What had he ever done to you to make you so?’
‘He’d been ... brutal ... when he forced me to have sex with him. And he drank and took drugs – which altered his personality significantly.’
‘I see.’ He flipped over some pages. ‘It’s your contention I believe that you were raped by my client. Is that the case?’
‘Yes.’
‘And yet, according to my client, it wasn’t rape at all. It was normal sexual intercourse between two consenting adults.’
‘No.’ Despite her barrister’s words, Grace could feel herself getting agitated. ‘I didn’t want to have sex and Rory knew it. I ...’ She took a deep breath. God this was awful – far worse than she could ever have anticipated. But she had to do it – she had to do this for Ellie and put an end to Rory’s intimidation permanently.
‘I was a virgin,’ she said steadily. ‘And Rory knew that. He knew that I wanted to wait before we had sex but that night he forced me.’
‘But isn’t it true, Miss Harper, that you were both under the influence of alcohol? My client’s version of events is that you’d both had a bit to drink and it was no more than what two people get up to in the normal course of events. He denies any knowledge that you were a virgin.’
‘Then he’s lying,’ Grace said flatly, her angry eyes, despite herself, turning to look incredulously into Rory’s impassive face. A small smirk, barely noticeable, curved his mouth. He was enjoying this, she realised. Enjoying the fact that she was in this box being mauled to pieces by some anonymous man who seemed to delight in making her look a fool. Well, she wouldn’t let him see that it was getting to her.
She dragged her gaze away.
‘There’s no doubt that Rory knew I was a virgin,’ she stated calmly, staring the man directly in the eye. ‘It had become something of an issue between us because Rory wanted to go further and I wasn’t ready. I’d seen certain aspects to his character that worried me.’
‘Did you report the alleged rape to the police, Miss Harper?’
‘No …’ Her voice was low.
‘That seems rather odd to me, if things were as you said. Would you mind sharing with us your reasons for that?’
‘I was too ashamed to tell anyone. Only my sister, when I realised I was pregnant.’
‘Shame suggests a degree of culpability, wouldn’t you agree?’
‘No! I didn’t mean it that way. I knew I had nothing to be ashamed of – but I wanted to forget about it.’
‘I see. In your own words, could you tell us what happened between you and my client after the supposed attack?’
Grace took a breath.
‘After that night I refused to see him again – I told him I wanted nothing more to do with him. But he called round one day when my grandparents were out. That was when I told him I was pregnant. He was furious and told me that I had to get rid of the baby. He said if his parents found out they’d be livid and cut him off financially. I was frightened of him. So I moved to London and had the baby without telling
him–’
‘But only after you’d accepted two thousand pounds from my client’s father. Isn’t that the case?’
He made it sound so sordid.
She took another calming breath. ‘I arranged to meet Rory in the pub, to talk about the baby. I was shocked when his father turned up instead. He accused me of getting myself pregnant deliberately to trap Rory into marrying me because they were wealthy. He wanted me to use the money to have the abortion – told me that unless I did he’d make things difficult for my grandfather who worked for one of his companies. I just wanted to get out of there, so I took the money and left. But I never touched any of it. I put it in a bank account for Ellie for when she’s older … you can check that out if you don’t believe me.’
When Grace finally returned to her seat she felt drained. She’d made a hash of it she was sure; despite the fact she’d tried so hard to stay calm.
The morning dragged on. Grace could hardly remain seated when she heard the clever way Rory twisted and manipulated his version of events to make it sound as if she’d been the neurotic, manipulative one, playing hard to get one moment and then egging him on the next. He’d made an effort for the court appearance, looking smart and presentable in his navy suit. His convincing portrayal of a loving father deprived of seeing his only child without Grace being present, and being forced into taking her away as the only means of having some time with her on his own, made her want to throw up. Surely no one could believe him after all she, Lynette and Stuart had told them?
She waited now, hands clasped tightly in her lap, for the Judge to return with his decision. He’d had a private meeting with Ellie in a separate room and she couldn’t even begin to imagine how that had gone. Ellie seemed to be so easily intimidated these days.
The judgment when it came made her want to jump up and scream.
‘I’m not letting you off lightly,’ the Judge said seriously, his eyes fixed penetratingly on Rory’s face. ‘The actions you took and the subsequent distress caused to your daughter, can hardly be described as those of a loving father wanting the best for his child. Also, on pursuance of the facts, it’s plain that you have drink- and drug-related issues that significantly affect your judgement and personality. Until such time as these problems have been resolved, I’m going to apply a Restraining Order preventing you from having any further contact with either your daughter or her mother. Should these issues be successfully dealt with in the future you may, if you wish, reapply to the courts to regain reasonable access to your child.’
As Grace walked devastated from the courtroom she turned angrily to her barrister. ‘A Restraining Order! It won’t be worth the paper it’s written on.’
‘It’s better than nothing, Grace. It’s a criminal offence to breach an order. If he breaks it let me know straight away. He’ll be back in court before he knows it.’
‘But you don’t realise what he’ll be like now. What does someone have to do these days to get put away? Commit murder? Because I wouldn’t put it past him, I’m telling you.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Robert said. He patted her arm awkwardly before taking his leave down the steps of the courthouse.
Grace was distraught. She thought of all Ellie had undergone having to give evidence against her father – all she’d had to go through in the witness box. She thought of Rory sitting only a few feet away from her, his calculating eyes watching her, enjoying her distress – and, more chillingly, promising retribution.
She was standing at the top of the steps waiting for Stuart to bring the car round, and, as if her thoughts had conjured him up, Rory was suddenly there beside her, his breath warm on her ear as he leaned in and whispered softly.
‘Don’t think this is over, Grace. Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking that.’
She spun round, but already he was moving on, his attention swinging back to the lawyer at his side as if the exchange had never taken place.
By the time they got home, she’d made her mind up.
‘I’m moving,’ she said to Stuart, after she’d settled Ellie into bed.
He looked shocked. ‘What? Where to? What do you mean?’
‘The Restraining Order won’t have any affect on Rory – you know that. He’ll be out there, hanging around watching us, just like he’s been doing the last few weeks. I can’t live like that and I need to think of Ellie. Now he’s got off, God knows what he’ll do.’
There was a long silence before Stuart said carefully. ‘And do I have any place in these plans of yours?’
Their eyes locked. She felt as if she could see right into his soul. ‘I don’t know. Do you?’
‘It’s not easy for me to up-sticks and move with my job.’ He hesitated. ‘It’s been a difficult couple of months, hasn’t it? I love you, Grace, but it
gets to me that you shut me out. I knew it wasn’t easy for you when Rory came back on the scene, but I can’t believe you left it so long before telling me how bad things were. If you’d told me at the beginning what was going on, we could have dealt with it better.’
She didn’t need him reminding her of what a crap job she’d done.
‘And what would you have done differently? Even if we’d gone through all the hoops of going to court earlier, it wouldn’t have stopped him. Surely you see that?’
‘Well, we’ll never know, will we, because I never got the chance.’ He took a breath. ‘Maybe we need a bit of space from each other to think things through …’
She felt as if the safety net had been yanked from beneath her.
‘You want us to break up?’
He didn’t answer.
‘I thought you loved me…’
‘I do … but all this has got to me. It’s affected our relationship, hasn’t it?’
His eyes slid away from hers, and in that moment she knew it was over. He was bailing out.
The sense of betrayal she felt was devastating … it had taken her so long to trust him after Rory. He and Lynette had been her rocks through all that had gone on, and just as she’d never question Lynette’s unswerving loyalty, so she wouldn’t have questioned Stuart’s. Until now …
She felt numb – couldn’t bring herself to even try to say the words that might change his mind.
She shook her head. ‘I don’t know what to say. You’re right, I should have involved you earlier and I’m sorry that I didn’t. I suppose I felt it wasn’t fair to embroil you in it all.’
There was a long, awkward silence and when it became obvious that he wasn’t going to fill it, Grace steeled herself and said quietly. ‘If that’s how you feel … it’s probably best you leave.’
‘Where will you go? ’
‘I don’t know. Somewhere Ellie and I can have a reasonable life.’
‘Can we stay in touch?’
‘Is there any point?’ Her eyes held his.
‘I can’t bear the thought of not seeing you again.’
A part of her felt the same – wanted him to say to hell with Rory … whatever the future, we’ll face it together – but her feelings were confused – her faith in him shattered. If she’d been honest with him from the start, told him the whole story, would things have been better? Or might he have ditched her even sooner? She realised her trust in him had gone. And without trust how could there be love? She felt the wings of self-protection folding around her.
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