Holly in December

by Clare Revell

  She raised her gaze and nodded. “Just some tea.”

  He smiled. “Come on, then. And I’m sure Nick will be here soon, as well.”

  She followed him downstairs and into the kitchen. A large table almost filled the room. She perched on the edge of one of the chairs and sat quietly.

  A redheaded child, almost the spitting image of her father bounded into the room. “Who awe you?” she lisped.

  “Hope.”

  “Why awe you hewe?”

  Flummoxed, Hope just sat there.

  “Hope needed somewhere to stay for a few days,” Pastor Jack said, putting a bowl of cereal on the table. “So she’s staying with us. Eat your cornflakes.”

  “Is hew howth browken like the flowew ladyth?”

  “No, and you ask too many questions. Eat up because Mummy is taking you this morning, and then taking Scott to the clinic.”

  The child continued to eat and talk simultaneously, reminding Hope of how Angel would chatter constantly.

  Cassie came in. “Lara, are you ready? Scott’s in his pram.”

  “Thath coth he goeth out in his pjth.”

  Cassie laughed. “Well, you are today because everyone is wearing onesies for non-uniform day for the end of term.”

  “I’m going as a flippy fwog.”

  “Frog,” Cassie corrected.

  “Fffff—wog.”

  Pastor Jack grinned. “Close enough, pumpkin. Off you go.”

  “Bye, Daddy.” Lara hugged him and ran out of the door.

  “Jack, Nick’s here and there’s someone on the phone for you.” Cassie’s voice floated through the air.

  “OK, love. I’m coming.”

  Hope pushed the cup away as he left the room and let out a deep breath. Why here? Why surround me with kids when I can’t look after my own?

  The door opened.

  Pastor Jack smiled. “Help yourself to toast, Nick. I need to take this phone call and I’ll be back.”

  Nick sat beside her and grinned. “Hi.”

  “It’s all go here,” she whispered. “Busy house, full of kids.”

  “It always is,” he said, grabbing a slice of toast. “How did you sleep?”

  “I don’t remember the last time I was so warm all night. Even in the flat I was cold and the crisis center isn’t particularly warm overnight.”

  “Have you eaten?”

  She shook her head and shivered. “Not feeling all that good. And I need to go look for Angel.”

  “You should eat before you go out there. It’s freezing this morning. Feed a cold and stuff a fever is what my mother always said. Not that she ever quoted it right because it’s starve a fever, not stuff one. But then she loves her food and always has. Do you like marmite?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good.” Nick passed her his plate and started a second piece. “More tea?”

  “Yeah.”

  He refilled her cup and grinned. “Can you say anything other than yeah?”

  She shrugged. “Mum always said that.” She looked at him. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Like I said last night, I care. Now eat.”

  She took a small bite. “You don’t know me.”

  He looked at the toast and took a large bite. “You keep telling me that and I’ll give you the same answer. I want to know you. And don’t shake your head at me. People have met in stranger places than a hallway, and in a homeless shelter. My parents met at a bus stop. And my grandparents met on a farm. He was the farmer’s son and she was the milk maid. My cousin met her husband at a funeral. My neighbor…”

  “OK. I get it.” She finished the toast. “It’s just if you knew me, really knew me, you’d run a mile. I mean you’re a pastor and I’m…” She broke off as the door opened.

  Pastor Jack stood there with the two cops from the previous night. “Nick, I have to go out. I shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours. Francis Turnbull died an hour ago. I’m going to sit with Joyce for a while.”

  “OK.”

  Pastor Jack nodded. “I’ll leave Nate and Dane with you.”

  “Sure.” Nick stood. “Can I get you guys some tea?”

  “Thank you.” DI Holmes sat opposite Hope, while DS Philips sat beside her.

  She pushed away her cup, no longer wanting it.

  Nick pushed it back. “Not an option, Hope. Otherwise, you’ll get sick. Oh, and Dr. Parker is coming by later to check you over.”

  Hope pulled a face. “I don’t think so.”

  “I know so,” he said firmly. “He’ll be here about half past nine. Because you look dreadful, and from the way you keep shivering, you’re probably getting sick. Never mind the way you were out in the cold for a while last night.” He brought across the cups and placed them on the table.

  “Thank you.” DI Holmes looked at her over the top of the cup. “First, you should know that we found Angel.”

  Relief flooded her and she slumped back into the chair. “Good,” she whispered as tears leaked out of her eyes. “Where is she?”

  “She walked across town to Carnation Street to the florist. It’s now owned by one of the church members, who is currently caring for her.”

  “Good.”

  “Is that all you can say?”

  Nick smirked and coughed. “I already tried that line,” he explained. “It didn’t make her smile then either.”

  Hope shrugged. “What do you want me to say?”

  “Angel is sick with a chest infection. The doctor came out last night and gave her antibiotics, as he’s concerned it’ll turn into something more serious.”

  “OK.”

  DS Philips shook his head. “Don’t you care?”

  “Of course I care,” Hope hissed. “But it’s not like you told me where she is so I can take her home.” She paused. “Well, back to the only home I have.”

  DI Holmes pulled out his notebook. “I can’t let you have her back for a while. I spoke to the DSS and they want us involved in this investigation.”

  Tears pricked her eyes. “When do I get her back?”

  “Once this investigation is over.”

  Hope gasped. She knew all too well how the system worked. That could take months. “Can I at least see her?”

  DI Holmes shook his head. “Can we start at the beginning?”

  Hope looked away.

  “We either do it here or at the police station. That is the only option you have right now.”

  Any emotion left in her drained fast. She buried her face in her hands and swallowed hard. Finally, she looked up. “Are…are you arresting me?”

  “I want you to tell us your side of the story.”

  Nick rose. “I’ll go.”

  Hope grabbed his arm. She couldn’t lose the one friendly face in the room. “You want to know the real me, so you may as well know everything about me, so please stay. Granted, after that, maybe you won’t be so keen to help me. And the Pastor and his wife won’t want me anywhere near their kids, either.”

  “Don’t be so sure. I’m a sucker for hard luck cases.” He sat and picked up his cup.

  DI Holmes nodded curtly. “Why would Jack want you to leave? Do you have a record?”

  Hope caught her breath. “No, not as such. We were cleared of any wrong doing, but the client seems to think otherwise. He’s dredged up something I’d hoped no one knew, and there was only one place that could have come from.”

  The two police officers exchanged a long glance before DI Holmes looked at her. “OK,” he said firmly. “Tell me everything from the beginning.”

  “From when I left Angel at the church?”

  He shook his head. “All of it. From the moment you ran away from home until now. Including the reason someone would want to harm you and your daughter.”

  Hope sucked in a deep breath. “I was born Hope Chadwick. We lived in Ely. I guess my parents still do. I have a brother Rick, and two older sisters, Grace, and Faith. Mum and Dad took us to church every Sunday, but it wasn’t for me
. Things got really bad and I ran away when I was seventeen.”

  “Just because they made you go to church? Surely at seventeen you could choose not to go. My brother didn’t go for years.” Nick interrupted her.

  Hope rubbed her sleeve over her eyes. “Not just because of that. They didn’t like my boyfriend because he was much older than me. I had to leave, because I was pregnant. I thought Angel’s father would take me in, but he didn’t want to know when I turned up at his house. The only thing he offered me was a job in his club. I didn’t enjoy it, but needed the money. There was some modeling, photos and so on, but most of the men wanted other stuff. The place got raided and we all got arrested. Some of the girls got done for solicitation, but I got let off without charge or caution on account of the fact the pregnancy was showing by then.

  “I moved as far away as I could. Got a job clearing tables to pay for college and got qualified. Angel went into the nursery while I studied and worked. I’m not proud of my past, and if I could undo it I would.” She couldn’t bear to look at Nick. “Nick, you probably don’t even want to be my friend anymore.”

  His light touch on her hand stilled her. “Yes, I do. Whatever we did in the past stays there. It’s not something you’re doing now, is it?”

  His tone was as gentle as his touch, and she felt strangely bereft as he moved his hand away. She shook her head. “No, and no matter how desperate I am for a job, I wouldn’t go back to a club of any sort.” She took a deep breath. “But I know he’s still working in that line and has a club here now. One of my former social service clients works there.”

  DI Holmes kept taking notes, the stern look never once leaving his face. “You said a bloke threatened you? Do you know who he was?”

  She nodded. “He and his wife were accused of abusing their daughter. It was my first case here. She’d gone to school covered in bruises and wouldn’t say how she got them. The school involved us, and I organized temporary care for her. The parents were cleared, and it turned out the child was being bullied by a classmate.

  “But before we could return the child, the home she was staying in burned down, and she was killed. The parents blamed me and the DSS.” She wiped a tear. “And I do feel guilty. I wanted to help them and ended up tearing them apart.”

  “I remember the case,” Nate said. “I was on the investigation team. Go back to last night.”

  “I got Angel from school and we went back to the shelter. Once she’d had tea, we went out to look at the Christmas trees. She likes counting them, seeing who can see them first. But at the church I got the phone call. I recognized the number, it was the child’s mother. I felt I should answer but the battery died on my mobile. What if they needed help? The door to the church was open, so Angel walked inside and sat on the back row. Where is she?”

  “Safe.” Nick spoke. “She’ll be well looked after until you’re ready to have her back again.”

  “I’m ready now,” Hope insisted.

  DI Holmes sighed. “Not today. Once you’ve been checked over by the doctor and I’ve spoken to the DSS again, I’ll decide what action to take. Only then will a decision be made concerning Angel.”

  Hope shook her head. “They’ll take her away once they find out I’m living in a shelter with her. Especially when they hear about the man with the knife. If Nick hadn’t come in when he did…”

  DI Holmes looked at Nick. “A word.”

  “I need some air.” Hope pushed back from the table and ran outside into the frigid winter air as something occurred to her. She needed to think it through before she said anything. What if it was the same man? It could be why he looked and sounded so familiar. Was this really all her fault?

  She dropped to her knees by the frozen fish pond, clutching her stomach. Wordless cries welled up. Where had everything gone so wrong? Could she ever find her way back?

  9

  Nick watched Hope through the kitchen window. “All she needs is a chance.”

  Nate kept his steel blue gaze on Hope. “I can’t let her see Angel or have her back without an investigation, you know that. She could be putting the child at risk. Am I to assume she was the woman and child from the other night? And you’re the bloke who played hero?”

  “Yes. And I know David Painter is undercover there right now, as it’s his nick that’s handling the case. Tori told me so I didn’t blow his cover when I recognized him. Hope keeps Angel well away from everyone else now. She’s so careful.” He paused. “Hope made the effort to go straight for Angel. Only now she’s lost her job and her home. You can’t take her daughter away as well.”

  “I have to do what is in the child’s best interests.”

  Frustration curled Nick’s hands into fists and he shoved them into his pockets. “She loves her, anyone can see that. You love your kids, right? So much so, that you’d do anything for them, right?” He watched the woman sob outside. “She’s Grace’s and Faith’s missing sister. She’ll have all the help she needs.”

  And me. Because there is something about her that draws me to her. Despite her background, I want her. And I will do everything I can to help her get back on her feet again.

  “Will she accept the help?” Nate asked. “She strikes me as a proud woman.”

  “I believe she will, yeah. Especially if we give her back her family.” Nick glanced at the officers. “If she can ID the bloke who threatened her and tried to hurt Angel, would that work in her favor? Could she see her daughter then?”

  “I’m doing this by the book,” Nate told him firmly.

  Dane elbowed him. “I think your new rank has gone to your head, partner,” he teased. “It is Christmas.”

  “I’d be remiss if I put that kid back in her care and something happened. She can’t live on the streets or in a temporary shelter with a child.” He pulled out his phone and dialed.

  Nick sighed and headed outside into the cold. He sat on the grass beside Hope and handed her a tissue. “It’s cold out here.”

  “Cold in here, too,” she sobbed, touching her heart. “I have made such a mess of things. I can’t fix it.”

  “I know Someone who can,” he said gently.

  “Who?”

  “God. Really, He can,” he insisted as she shook her head. “Sometimes we can’t see how, but He takes the mess we’ve made and flips it over a little so we can see the silver lining to it.”

  “God won’t want me, not after what I did.”

  “He can and He does. Whatever happens in the next few days, you’ll still love Angel, just the way you do now. Just the way your parents and God love you no matter what you do.”

  Hope rubbed her eyes. “It’s too late. I haven’t seen my family in years. They won’t want me back.”

  “You don’t know that until you’ve tried. They might surprise you yet.”

  “I don’t suppose they are even in Ely anymore.”

  He looked at her, the desire to tell her how close Grace and Faith really were almost overwhelming. But he had to know if she was willing to try. “Would you like to see them?”

  Hope nodded slowly and twisted the tissue in her hand. “Is it too late?”

  “Is what too late?”

  “To put things right with God? Have I pushed him away too much? I mean I’ve broken half the Ten Commandments, I’m a single parent, not honored my parents...” She shrugged. “I—can I tell you something?”

  Nick nodded, aware that Nate and Dane were standing behind them listening. “Sure.”

  “The bloke on the phone last night. It’s the same bloke from the shelter, the one who put a knife to Angel’s throat. He works for the bloke I used to. He’s the muscle, only we could never prove it. I could never tell work how I knew him, without the paperwork to prove it and he’s too clever for that.”

  Nate moved in front of them and sat on the wall of the fish pond. “Hope, does he have many girls working for him?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. He holds stuff over them so they have no choice.”

&
nbsp; Nate scribbled in his notebook. “I need their names.”

  “Eddie Blackmore. He runs the Mistletoe off South Street. He’s Angel’s father.”

  “I know where that is,” Dane muttered.

  “I also need the name of the bloke who threatened you.”

  “Tommy Ackerman.”

  Nate nodded. “Hope, make a formal statement for us about him.”

  Terror etched on her face. “I can’t. He’ll kill me. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s tried.”

  “Not from a cell he won’t,” Nate told her firmly.

  “Help us and it might just work in your favor,” Dane added. “The DI isn’t the ogre he makes out he is. He may decide to drop any other charges if you help us get Eddie.”

  Nate didn’t let up. “Right now I could haul you in and charge you with solicitation, you’ve admitted as much, along with every other charge the DSS want to throw your way. But I’d far rather get these men off the streets; especially if he is responsible for the death of one girl and has threatened you and Angel. Chances are he’s behind these allegations to the DSS.”

  Hope rubbed her face. If doing this meant she’d get Angel back, along with justice for all the women whose lives that man had ruined, then that far outweighed any risk to her. “OK.”

  Nate rose. “Dane and I will go pick up the both of them. Nick, can you bring Hope to the station about twelve?”

  “Anyone home?” An American accented voice called over the gate.

  “Sure Dr. Parker, one minute,” Nick yelled back. He got up. “We’ll be there, Nate.” He took hold of Hope’s hand, leading her back into the kitchen. “Stay there and I’ll be right back. And once this checkup is done, I’ve got stuff planned for the two of us.”

  “I’m sure you have better things to do,” she objected.

  “I have a sermon to finish, but it can wait. I want to spend the day with you and show you that things will get better.”

  “OK.”

  Nick nodded and headed to the front door to show Nate and Dane out and let Jackson Parker in.

  “If she doesn’t come and make an official statement, I’ll arrest her,” Nate said.

  Nick held his gaze. “She’ll be there.”