by Clare Revell
“Just from two. So I can show her the house, school run, get her settled, meet the kids and so on.”
“Fine, but it’s the last time. We’ll both be out of the office, working hard on this murder. Speaking of which, I had a text from the morgue. Professor Jacobs requests the pleasure of our company ASAP.”
Dane rose. “Oh, that sounds like fun.”
“Sure you don’t want to be a stay-at-home dad?” Nate quipped.
“Shut up and give me the car keys. It’s my turn to drive.”
3
Amy walked down the street in shock. Had it really been that easy? No more than fifteen minutes, and she had a job and somewhere to live. Despite the drop in salary, she’d still be better off each month than she was before as she didn’t have to pay the bills or buy food. And how hard could it be to look after two kids and a house? Even with half term coming up at the end of the month, it couldn’t be that difficult. There must be plenty of things around here that they could do.
She’d been honest about her qualifications at any rate and the experience. It was enough she’d lied about her name without anything else. She stopped outside a clothing store, her mind whirling. She couldn’t turn up without any clothes as that would just be too suspicious—and now she had a job, she could use some of her inheritance/savings. Going inside, she bought a week’s worth of everything she’d need, including some thick sweaters, and a dress to wear to church on Sunday. Stuff that would be easy to clean and practical—but what amounted to a whole new wardrobe. Next she went into a chemist and bought bath and shower stuff, including toothbrush and toothpaste.
This really was turning out to be a new start. New clothes, new name…new her?
Actually, a suitcase would be an idea, she realized. After all, no one moved in to a new place without one, and turning up with bags of new clothes was going to raise a red flag if nothing else did. She had to blend in, act normal. Finding a luggage shop, she picked out a case similar to the one she had at home—Filely, she corrected. This town was home now.
She was dead. Had to stay dead, too.
To the amusement of the assistant, she packed all the shopping bags into the case. She picked up matching hand luggage and paid cash as she had everywhere else. At least she had plenty of that. Admittedly, most of it was in fifties, but she had about five hundred in tens and twenties in her new purse. The rest was in a tin in the rucksack. She just needed to find a safe place to keep it.
What else did she need? Other than a new handbag? A map for one thing. And ID. But she had no idea how to go about that. For now a library card would do. Something you didn’t need proof of address for. She went back into the chemist and applied for a store card, filling in Mr. Philips’ address on the form. Then she went to the library and did the same thing. At least now she’d have something with her new name on.
The one flaw in her plan was not having a bank account. Or a means of using her existing one without tipping anyone off. She couldn’t open a new one without ID. She’d just have to ask to be paid in cash and say she’d sort out her own tax. Hopefully Mr. Philips would be all right with that.
Her thoughts turned to her dark haired employer. He seemed like a nice bloke. Older than she imagined, based on how he sounded on the phone, but not grey. And very good-looking—swoon-worthy in fact. If she had to guess, she’d say late thirties, early forties. Certainly no more than forty-five. So even if he weren’t her boss, he’d be too old to date. The only time the nanny married her boss was in novels. Certainly not in real life.
In any event, she reasoned as she headed to buy the last few bits she needed, she was on the run. Not looking for love or romance. A bus went past and an idea occurred to her. There must be a travel shop somewhere. She could get a bus pass with a photo ID. She’d look into it tomorrow. Along with researching fake IDs on the internet.
Amy glanced at her watch, then looked at the map. Arundel Road wasn’t that far from where she was, if she was reading the map correctly, and she didn’t want to be late.
There was just one more thing she needed to buy. A Bible. And reading notes. She found just the store she needed on the corner of the precinct. She wished she could have brought her Bible from home. Her parents had given it to her for her eighteenth birthday, but it would have been too obvious had it been missing from beside her bed, as it wouldn’t have been left on the beach with everything else. The same as with her laptop.
Putting her new Bible in her hand luggage, she set off, following the map. She found the house fairly easily. There were two cars parked outside. Was she late?
Mr. Philips came out with another man. He had short dark hair as well, but was a totally different build, and was also decidedly cute.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Dane. Don’t be late.”
“I won’t. Tell you what, pick me up about eight, and I definitely won’t be.” He grinned. “We’ll shock the Guv by being early.” He broke off. “Hello, Amy.”
“Hi.” She pulled the case up the driveway.
“Amy, this is Nate Holmes, a colleague from work and a friend from church.”
She held out a hand. “Amy Stabler. Nice to meet you.”
“And you.” He shook her hand. “You must be the new nanny.”
She nodded.
He grinned. “Good luck with that.” He winked at Mr. Philips and did some strange hand gestures. “See you in the morning.”
“Sure.” He returned the hand gestures then turned to Amy. “Come on in. Let me take your case.”
“Thank you.” She followed him inside and took a deep breath as he shut the door. “What were the signs?”
He grinned. “Nate’s wife is deaf. So we all speak sign language, even though she reads lips really well.”
They stood in a large spacious hallway, with doors opening off each side. A flight of stairs curved around the center of the hallway. The house looked homely and tidy. Had he just run around with the vacuum cleaner, the way her mother used to whenever she knew visitors were coming?
“I’ll show you to your room and give you the guided tour.” He lifted her case and bag again and carried them up the stairs.
Amy followed him, running her finger along the edge of the bannister. Not a trace of dust.
At the top of the stairs, he turned left and headed to the end of the landing. He opened a door to a large pale yellow double room. “This is your room. It looks out over the front of the house, and has built-in wardrobes, en suite shower and loo.”
Amy looked around in delight. It had a bay window. She’d always wanted a bedroom with a bay window. “It’s lovely, Mr. Philips.”
“Please, call me Dane.” His eyes twinkled at her enthusiasm. He set her case by the chest of drawers. “I’ll show you the rest of the house. The girls’ rooms are just along here.” He headed back into the hall and opened the door next to hers. “This is Jodie’s room. And as always it’s a pigsty.” Pop group posters littered the maroon walls and there wasn’t a scrap of carpet to be seen. The bed hadn’t been made either. “Her choice of color, even if it is a little dark for my liking.”
But this room won’t be a mess for long if I have anything to say about it. “My room used to be like that when I was her age. I had a path from the door to the bed. I don’t think I used a wardrobe or chest of drawers at all, until I found a huge spider in my clothes. After that I put them away and kept it tidy.”
“That would work here, too.” He shut the door and opened the next one. “And this is Vicky’s room.”
It belonged to a much younger child. There were dolls and teddies everywhere. It was pink and airy and again with an unmade bed. That would also change. Her father had drummed into her time and again the necessity of a made bed. And with a quilt, there really was no excuse not to straighten it each morning.
Dane shut the door. It seemed strange thinking of him by his first name, but that’s what he wanted, so she’d oblige. “Here we have the bathroom, in case you want a bath instead of a sh
ower, airing cupboard, and my room is at the other end of the landing.”
He headed back downstairs. Amy followed, in awe at the size of the house. The lounge ran from front to back, with patio doors leading into a conservatory. There was a separate dining room with a beautiful table and matching chairs and sideboard. “We rarely eat in here,” he commented wryly. “Unless we entertain and that isn’t very often.”
They went back into the hall. “There’s the study and downstairs loo, and the door to the garage. The burglar alarm is here. It’s really easy to set.” He showed her. “The code is seventeen zero one.”
She grinned. “I shan’t forget that in a hurry.”
Dane grinned back. “Yeah, it’s done after the Enterprise.”
“And why not? Nice easy number to remember, and a lot safer than using the first four digits of the phone number.”
“My feelings exactly.” He walked through into the kitchen—a huge spacious room with a breakfast bar and stools around it. Beautiful multi-colored tiles, black marble worktop and white cupboards lined almost every wall. Children’s photos and paintings hung off the fridge with magnets. There was a spoon collection proudly displayed on the wall. A utility room opened off it with the back door leading outside. “Hoover, washing machine, tumble drier, and ironing stuff lives in here. When I start dinner, I’ll show you the oven and so on. It can be a little temperamental at times.”
Wow, just how big is this place? And he only wants me to clean the girls stuff? Does he have a cleaner, too?
“It’s a lovely house. It must take a while to keep clean.”
He slid his hands into his pockets. “More time than I have some days, but I like to take care of it. Jas, my wife, couldn’t stand things dusty.”
She wondered what had happened to his wife. That was the first time he’d mentioned her. “Mum was the same.”
He glanced at the clock. “We should go and pick up Vicky. Jodie walks herself home, but is usually in around three thirty, by the time she’s finished gossiping with her mates and dawdling.” He set the burglar alarm and headed out. “I need to introduce you to Vicky’s teacher. They only let the children go if they know who’s collecting them, if it isn’t a parent.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“Yes. The whole system was tightened after one of the kids was taken without authorization.”
“Really? I didn’t think that was possible.”
“Nor did we. We found the child unharmed, but it could have been a whole lot worse. There was a pretty big police hunt for her.”
“I bet. It’s good she was unhurt.” Amy paused. “You said we found. Did you help look for her?”
Dane nodded. “A lot of us did. It could have been any of our kids.”
Amy walked with him, taking note of which way he went. “If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to your wife?”
“She was killed almost two years ago.” His eyes clouded, and his whole body stiffened.
“I’m sorry. What happened?”
“She was murdered.”
Amy caught her breath. She hadn’t expected that.
He stood still for a moment, his eyes glistening before he blinked and cleared them. “It’s been hard on all of us. Vicky in particular. My parents have helped out a lot, but they’re not getting any younger, and the girls can be a handful at times.”
“Hence hiring me.”
He nodded. “Yes. I’ll work up a contract tonight, and we can both sign it.”
“OK.” She looked at the trees by the school. The autumn colors glowed in the sunlight. It was so beautiful. She didn’t intend to waste a single moment of her new freedom.
“Hello, Dane.”
Dane turned and held out a hand. “Hey, Pastor Jack. How are you?”
“I’m good.” The bloke had auburn hair, the most amazing grey-green eyes and a captivating smile. No dog collar, so not Anglican and not in robes so not Catholic. There seemed to be no end of good-looking blokes in this town.
“How’s Cassie?”
“Complaining she looks like a beached whale and hasn’t seen her feet in weeks.”
Dane nodded in agreement. “I remember that well. She hasn’t long to go now, has she?”
Pastor Jack shook his head. “No, four weeks, give or take a few days. She’s due November tenth. And I don’t mind admitting the whole idea scares me to death.”
“It’ll be different this time, you’ll see.” Dane turned to Amy. “This is Pastor Jack Chambers, one of the pastors of my church. Pastor, this is Amy Stabler, my new nanny.”
Amy shook his hand. “Hi. What denomination of church do you pastor? I’m looking for one to attend.”
“Evangelical. You’d be most welcome at the services.”
“Thank you. I’ll do that.”
“Then I’ll see you Sunday.” Pastor Jack headed in through the gate.
She watched him go, amazed at how friendly everyone was here. Or was it simply that everyone she’d met so far was a Christian?
She may have uprooted herself, but God had seen fit to plant her in the midst of His people.
Dane held open the gate for her, then followed her inside. “I was going to ask you to come to church with us, just hadn’t gotten that far yet.”
She glanced at him. “We’ve had other things to talk about aside from denominations of churches. But it was on my list of things to ask you at some point.”
He nodded. “Yes.” The doors opened, and he watched for Vicky as the children spilled onto the playground. He had kept back the fact he was a cop. Something told him that he shouldn’t tell her just yet, and he’d make sure the girls and Nate didn’t let it slip either. He wasn’t sure why, but knew this feeling came from the Lord, and therefore wasn’t his to reason why.
Am I putting my girls at risk by hiring her, Lord? Maybe it’s simply that she needs my help as much as I need hers and You want me to gain her trust first.
Vicky came running over and wrapped her arms around him tightly as if she hadn’t seen him for years.
He swung her into a bear hug, the usual ripple of joy spreading warmth through him. “Hello, Vicks. How was your day?”
She shoved her painting—a man and a dog—right into his face.
“It’s very good.” He ruffled her hair and set her down gently. “Vicky, I’d like you to meet Amy.”
She looked up shyly, pulling back into her shell.
He hunkered next to her, holding her hand securely. “Remember how I told you I was looking for someone to come live with us and take care of you and Jodie when Daddy has to work? Jodie called her a fairy godmother, rather than a nanny.”
Amy grinned.
“Well, Amy is that person.”
Amy knelt next to him and held out a hand. “Hi, Vicky. It’s a pleasure to meet you. And I love the idea of being a fairy godmother. So long as I get pink sparkly wings.”
Vicky nodded.
“Can I see your painting?”
Dane watched as Vicky slowly held it out. He didn’t believe what he was seeing. His youngest daughter barely responded to anyone she didn’t know. Just getting her into school had taken a major effort and even now a change of teacher or routine could knock her back.
“Wow. That’s really good. Is that your daddy with the spiky hair?” Amy pointed and as Vicky nodded, gestured to the dog. “And who’s this?”
Vicky shrugged, looking at her father.
Dane gave a grin. “I’m guessing its Auntie Adeline’s dog, Ben.”
Vicky nodded.
“I wish I could paint dogs as well as you. He’s a lovely color, black and brown and white. He must be a King Charles spaniel.”
Vicky nodded again.
“Ben is Adeline’s hearing dog,” Dane said.
Amy smiled, her whole face lighting up. “That makes him a very special dog.”
Vicky seemed to be bonding with Amy. Relief surged through him. That was a huge weight off his mind.
Miss Macnin, Vicky’s teacher, began walking toward him and he met her halfway. “How was she today?”
“She refused to do PE. Clammed up for an hour afterwards, hence the painting. There’s a letter in her bag about the class homework. It fits in with the topic this half term. Mr. Philips, there was another matter. I was talking to a friend of mine, she’s a child psychologist.”
Dane’s hackles rose, and he stiffened.
“I didn’t mention any names or Vicky in person. Just said we had a child in the school that was having a hard time, but loved art and painting. She suggested maybe using the painting to get her to talk about what happened to her mum.”
“She was only four when my wife was killed.”
“But it’s surprising how much she’ll remember. Either way, it’ll help her to work through what’s bothering her. It might get her talking a little as well. This would help her integration with the other children immensely.”
Dane nodded. At times the teacher sounded like a broken record over the talking issue. It wasn’t as if Vicky was mute. She’d just decided not to talk. “I want to introduce you to Amy, the new nanny. She’ll be dropping Vicky off and picking her up, if it’s not me doing it now.”
Amy waved from where she stood with Vicky. “Hi.”
Dane looked at his daughter. They’d suggested counseling for her before, but he didn’t see the need. She was a child and children bounce back. Vianne, Nate’s niece, had been the same age when her parents died and she’d turned out just fine. Maybe he should encourage Vicky to use sign language, by signing to her each time he spoke.
Vicky walked up and tugged on his sleeve.
“What is it, honey?”
She pointed to the gate.
“Sure, we can go home. We need to show Amy what happens after school.” He took firm hold of Vicky’s hand, and glanced at Amy. “Milk and cookies, her favorite thing and guaranteed to put a smile on her face.”
Amy laughed as they walked. “Now that sounds like fun. Have you ever tried dunking the cookies in the milk?”