by Annie Dalton
Tim and Anjali left. Jake came over to suggest taking the dogs into the garden before they drove home. Anna glanced across at her grandfather and saw him in animated conversation with Desmond. ‘OK,’ she agreed.
‘Did you bring your present as per instructions?’ Jake asked.
‘I did. It’s in my bag,’ Anna said with a grin. ‘Shall I prepare to be amazed?’
‘After this much build-up?’ Jake shook his head a little ruefully. ‘I’d have to lasso a shooting star now to have a hope of impressing you! No, kid, I’d just like to put that whole ill-conceived surprise element behind me now, and move on!’
They fetched their coats and took Bonnie out into the snowy garden. Hero had firmly refused to leave the warmth of the dining room. It was still snowing so Anna and Jake went to shelter under a pergola where a dense tangle of evergreens had formed a natural roof. They stood side by side, hands almost touching, as they watched their dog happily snuffling around in the snow. Anna thought of how he’d stayed by her bed all night and how he’d been shocked into finally kissing her up on the college roof. ‘You don’t need to lasso a shooting star, Jake McCaffrey,’ she told him softly. ‘I already find you sufficiently amazing.’
Jake gave her a quick, searching glance. ‘Are you saying I already passed the test?’ His voice was slightly husky.
She deliberately met his eyes. ‘What do you think?’
‘I think you should open my damn present,’ he told her with a grin.
Anna took the package out of her bag, and began rather self-consciously peeling off the sticky tape from one end. She slid out a shallow rectangular cardboard box, about seven inches by five. ‘I should probably mention that I’m really terrible at surprises?’ she confessed with a nervous laugh.
‘I’d say you’re quite good at them,’ Jake said, straight-faced. ‘You constantly surprise me, that’s for sure! Go on, kid, put us both out of our misery and open the box.’
Anna cautiously lifted the lid. Inside the box was something flat, carefully wrapped in white tissue. ‘This is like pass the parcel!’ she protested.
Jake was looking decidedly nervous now. ‘Keep going,’ he ordered. ‘Before I decide this is a really bad idea and snatch it back!’
Anna removed the top layer of tissue and found herself looking at a photograph in a simple solid silver frame. The photograph showed a proudly smiling little boy – Anna guessed no more than six years old – dressed in a waistcoat and baggy trousers and an embroidered cotton prayer cap. He was kneeling on a piece of dusty ground with his arms around what Anna initially took for a snow-white wolf cub. For a moment, she didn’t understand what she was seeing. Then she looked more closely at the cub’s alert, intelligent eyes.
‘Oh, my God,’ she whispered. ‘Is that Bonnie?’
Jake nodded. ‘And that’s the little boy she tried to save.’
‘How ever did you get hold of this photo?’
‘It’s quite a story! It always bothered me that I never knew who Bonnie really belonged to,’ Jake explained. ‘After that roadside bomb went off it was pure mayhem. Then by the time things had calmed down, the kid’s family had decamped somewhere, nobody seemed to know where. But I kept on putting the word out and a couple of weeks ago, I got lucky and my contact finally tracked them down. The family is in Pakistan now, and they very kindly sent me this picture of their little boy with our Bonnie.’
Anna was still looking at the photograph. ‘What was his name?’
‘Emal,’ Jake said. ‘Looks like a nice little kid, doesn’t he?’
She was too moved for words. Jake hadn’t just given her a glimpse of Bonnie’s past history; he’d given her a glimpse into his world, his former life.
Jake swallowed. ‘Kind of a morbid choice for a Christmas present, right?’
She quickly shook her head. ‘Not to me. I mean, it’s tragic and wrong how Emal died, but this photo is perfect. He looks so happy with Bonnie.’ She glanced at Jake. ‘What did Emal’s family call her? Do you know?’
He gave her his here-and-gone-again smile. ‘They called her Farishta. In Pashto, it means “angel”.’
‘No,’ Anna said in disbelief. This new piece of the ongoing mystery that was Bonnie made her break into goosebumps.
‘I know,’ Jake said. ‘And that was before she found you up on the roof! How Emal’s family acquired her in the first place is probably a story for another time though,’ he added with a grin.
‘Thank you,’ she told him. ‘You couldn’t have given me anything better.’
Anna was carefully stowing the photograph back in her bag, as Isadora and Tansy came out to join them. ‘I’m leaving you girls to chat,’ Jake said. ‘Me and Bonnie have a date with some snow.’ He began to pretend-stalk Bonnie, who immediately dropped flat on to her belly, recognizing the opening moves of a well-loved game.
Isadora and Tansy went to stand on either side of Anna beneath the sheltering honeysuckle.
‘That was a fabulous lunch,’ Anna told Isadora. ‘Thanks so much for getting us all together.’
‘I needed to thank you all,’ Isadora said. ‘I wanted us to have a lovely time together before we have to dive back into the fray.’
‘What fray? What’s happening?’ Tansy looked anxious.
‘Robert’s funeral is next week,’ Isadora said. ‘I’m absolutely dreading it. I had to meet up with his ex-wife and children. I know Robert wasn’t perfect but he deserved better than those cold, grasping people.’
‘Did you know Alec Faber’s getting cremated next week?’ Anna asked her.
Liam had told them the service was scheduled for the early-morning slot, the time normally reserved for public-health-funded funerals, what used to be referred to as a pauper’s funeral.
Isadora nodded. ‘Tansy told me. Is there really no one from Alec’s family who’s going to attend?’
Anna shook her head. ‘After Tallis reported him to his superiors, they cut him off. After that, Alec’s life just unravelled.’
‘You almost sound sorry for him.’ Tansy said. ‘He killed James and left Isadora unconscious and bleeding on her drive. And he would have killed you, Anna, if Jake and Liam hadn’t got to you in time.’
Anna shook her head. ‘I’m not sorry for Alec, but I can’t help feeling bad for Roop.’
Tansy looked exasperated. ‘Anna, you do know Roop wasn’t real? He was just some character Alec Faber invented so he didn’t have to own up to all the dodgy dealings he’d got up to in the past.’
Anna didn’t feel up to explaining her feeling that Roop had not just been real, he’d been Alec’s last shot at being a decent person. It distressed her that Alec Faber had killed that gentle man; no, not Alec, she corrected herself, but the dark distillation of rage that he had finally become.
‘And he abandoned his poor old dog,’ Tansy added.
‘Actually, I have a recent update on Roop’s dog,’ Anna told her friends. ‘I had to pop into college on the way to pick up Desmond and guess who I saw in the porter’s lodge curled up in her smart new basket?’
Tansy’s face lit up. ‘Meg?’
Anna nodded. ‘Looking surprisingly content.’
‘Oh, my God, that’s so sweet!’ Tansy clapped her hands. ‘The porters decided to adopt her!’
‘Tate decided to adopt her,’ Anna corrected her. ‘But while I was there, both he and Boswell were fussing over her like two mother hens. Someone told Boswell about some special supplement that might help her joints. I have a feeling Roop’s Meg might be getting a whole new lease of life!’
‘I’m thankful some good has come out of all of this however small,’ Isadora said soberly.
The three women fell silent for a moment. Once again Anna found herself thinking of the destruction Matthew Tallis had brought about, for reasons that only he would ever know. Isadora was the only one of the Six who had survived relatively unscathed.
Isadora slipped an arm through Anna’s and Anna could smell her familiar musky perfume.
‘The police brought back Hetty’s diary,’ she said. ‘I forced myself to read it finally. I read it all.’
‘I’m glad,’ Anna said.
‘So am I.’ Isadora swallowed. ‘She said I was her heart’s friend. She really did want to tell me about her baby. And I’ve decided I got it wrong about her and Sam. It was hideous how Hetty died, but at least she died knowing she was loved.’
‘I’m glad about that too,’ Anna said. Her eyes had strayed to Jake who had started to mould a handful of snow into a snowball.
‘So I’m guessing your New Year resolution is to stay away from murderous psychopaths?’ Tansy said giving Anna a quick hug.
‘That is definitely one of my more important resolutions,’ Anna said.
Tansy took hold of her free arm. ‘You do realize that you were actually saved by my dog-walking detective scarf? Clever dogs and ex-Navy SEALS were entirely incidental. It was all down to my magic pink scarf. If I was you, I wouldn’t take it off except to wash it!’
‘Good idea,’ Anna said. ‘It will be my scarf of invincibility.’
Jake hurled the snowball at Bonnie, who caught it with an audible snap of her jaws, then stood open-mouthed, incredulous at finding her solid-looking prize turned to icy mush.
Tansy burst out laughing. She quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket. ‘Jake, get her to do it again and I’ll film it!’
Anna’s dog fixed her intense brown eyes on Jake as she gathered herself for another doomed attempt to catch a ball composed of hundreds of thousands of compressed snowflakes.
Isadora’s father was right, Anna thought. The world was a dark and terrifying place where monsters and devils of all kinds waited in the shadows, and this wasn’t something which was likely to change any time soon. But there were also fragile moments like these, each one as fleeting and unrepeatable as the starry white flakes falling through the air.