by R. J. Parker
Officer Michaels’s attention shifted from Maisie as he waited for Lily to elaborate.
‘I said we’re very lucky to have a policeman run a check on our house, to make sure we’re a hundred per cent safe and that you wanted to speak to her personally to make sure she knew that.’
‘Oh yes.’ Officer Michaels immediately picked up the baton. ‘I’ll make sure everything’s in order here.’
Maisie didn’t look up at the officer, but hefted her empty pink tin lunchbox like a suitcase. She had her banana yellow rucksack on her back that only contained her pencil case. Maisie was obsessed by anything banana yellow. She’d had it for her fifth birthday, and it was still a bit big for her.
‘I think we should get straight on with it,’ Lily said.
‘Absolutely.’ The officer gestured them to the little gate that led to the tiny front garden of their home.
Lily locked the car and then opened the gate to the short path to the door, gazing briefly up at the window above. The navy curtains were closed.
Mr Sargeant lived above them. He’d taken early retirement in his mid-fifties and was always jetting off somewhere. He used the rooms as a base but was rarely there. She was sure he was still in Dubrovnik.
Lily gestured Maisie to follow, and Officer Michaels waited for her to reach Lily before joining them on the doorstep.
Lily slid her key into the door and, as she opened up, it hissed against the usual fast-food menus that had been posted through the letterbox.
Maisie methodically gathered them off the polished porchway floor, and Lily waited. She’d appointed her the job and knew she wouldn’t be rushed.
‘Good quality lock on the front door,’ Officer Michaels observed for Maisie’s benefit.
Maisie took off her green jelly shoes and carried the junk mail through the second door and along the black and orange carpet tiles in the hallway to the kitchen door.
‘Just a minute.’ Lily opened the lounge, bathroom and two bedroom doors on the way there so the officer could take a look inside. Although Lily knew none of the rooms had been broken into, she still felt relieved as he nodded at her.
‘OK.’ Lily unlocked the kitchen door. She always secured it because it meant that if anyone did break in through the back, they still wouldn’t be able to access the rest of their home. She scanned it. Everything was in place. Mr Gingerbread, their overweight ginger tom, was at his bowl in the corner. Then her eyes shifted to the window above the sink. The oatmeal hessian blind, her sister had made her, was pulled down.
‘Go and put the TV on and I’ll bring you in some milk,’ she told Maisie.
Maisie seemed glad to be released and darted into the lounge without a word.
Lily held her breath and lifted the blind. She exhaled as her little walled garden was revealed. Nothing out of place there: tiny patio with her wicker chair on it; Maisie’s yellow plastic one was on the edge of the small square of lawn, which was bordered by flowerbeds on three sides. She’d planted pink and white geraniums in all of them, but they were just starting to shrivel. When Lily and Ewan had rented the property, the garden had been the key selling point. Maisie had been a baby and they both thought it was a contained and safe garden for her. At least that was what she’d thought until today.
‘Can you let me out?’ Officer Michaels asked unnecessarily.
Lily was already fumbling the key from her bunch and her hand shook as she slid it into the lock and turned.
A plane buzzed noisily overhead as they walked onto the patio. Lily hung back, and the officer carefully made his way onto the lawn as if he were stepping through a minefield. He kept going until he reached the red brick wall at the back and surveyed the pigeon droppings that crusted the top.
Lily’s eye settled on the middle of the lawn where the masked figure had stood, waiting for her to see him. Did he know the motion detector would reveal him via the camera?
After a minute or so Officer Michaels turned from his examination of the wall. ‘Some of your flowers have been trampled here,’ he offered lamely.
But what did she expect him to do? Reporting it didn’t really make any difference to whoever had been here. And from the way the intruder had acted she felt positive it was a very deliberate attempt to scare her. If he wanted her to fear for her and Maisie’s safety, he’d utterly succeeded. Would he come back?
‘That he made no attempt to break in is one consolation,’ the officer tried to reassure her.
Lily looked briefly back into the kitchen to check that Maisie wasn’t lingering there and couldn’t hear their conversation.
‘If you’d feel better, I could have a patrol car drive by here tonight to make sure everything’s OK.’
Everything’s OK? Lily knew that things most certainly weren’t and that, on the basis of what had happened, the police couldn’t justify anything more than a gesture. Somebody had trespassed not broken in and it was clear the officer now believed it was Ewan, even though she was absolutely convinced it wasn’t.
The officer appeared to read her thoughts and strolled back over the lawn towards her. ‘Let me take a look in the alley at the back again. To be honest, it looks like you’ve been operating good security measures already, so I would advise you to keep—’ His gaze shot up to the window above her and he halted. ‘Who lives up there?’
‘Clive Sargeant. He’s away though.’
‘I don’t think so. Even though I knocked there earlier and there was no answer. Somebody was just at the window.’
Chapter 5
‘You’re sure you saw someone?’ Lily asked Officer Michaels as she knocked Mr Sargeant’s front door a second time.
He nodded and kept his attention on the battered green panel. ‘There was definitely a face at the window.’
Mr Sargeant’s door didn’t have a bell and was a few feet to the left of Lily’s but separated by a low wall. He also had a square of front yard, but it didn’t have any potted trees like hers and was littered with cigarette ends. Their landlord didn’t allow smoking inside the properties, which was a great relief to Lily. But it meant she often found Mr Sargeant puffing away on the doorstep. It was probably the only time she spoke to him.
He was sufficiently friendly, but she got the impression that as soon as he finished his cigarette, he was eager to go back inside. She’d never been in his home and had only glanced the flight of stairs that led up to the floor above hers. She occasionally heard his shoes dropping onto the floor when he got in and sometimes his TV when it was turned up. Other than that, very little else.
A creak from the other side of the door but it didn’t open.
‘Mr Sargeant?’ Lily said after they both waited a few more seconds.
No reply.
Officer Michaels addressed the panel. ‘It’s the police. Would you mind opening the door.’
Still no response.
‘Is he usually this sociable?’
Lily shook her head. ‘Maybe it’s not him. He’s away a lot and I know he has somebody who comes in to water his plants.’
‘They should still open the door,’ the officer said loudly.
The lock clicked and the door opened wide. The diminutive Mr Sargeant was standing there in loose claret pyjamas. His grey hair was in disarray.
‘Sorry to disturb you …’ Lily began.
Mr Sargeant squinted. ‘Hello, Lily. Sorry, I was catching up on some sleep.’
Lily noted that his nostril hair and eyebrows were looking more wild than usual. ‘I had to call the police out because I had an intruder in the garden.’
Mr Sargeant’s eyes darted between her and Officer Michaels. ‘Today?’
‘In the last hour,’ the officer interjected. ‘You didn’t see or hear anybody? Or hear me knocking earlier?’
Mr Sargeant immediately shook his head. ‘Sorry, I’d taken a sleeping pill.’
‘But you saw me in the garden,’ the officer pointed out.
‘I’ve just woken up,’ Mr Sargent replied, exasp
erated.
And it certainly looked like it to Lily.
‘So why did you take so long to open the door?’
Lily didn’t like the officer’s tone but she wanted an answer to that as well.
‘I had to quickly grab these pyjamas before I could come down. I sleep naked.’
That was more information than Lily needed. ‘Well, if you didn’t see anything—’ she was about to apologise again.
‘I didn’t. Anything else?’ He sharply directed the question at the officer. Before he could answer, Mr Sargeant closed the door.
‘Thanks for your time,’ Officer Michaels called mock gratefully after him. He turned to Lily. ‘Well, I guess that answers that.’
The door opened again, and Mr Sargeant took a deep breath. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude.’ But he only regarded Lily. ‘I’m trying nicotine patches but very unsuccessfully. Thought I’d attempt to sleep off the craving, so I’m not in the best of moods.’
‘That’s OK.’ Lily held up a hand. ‘Didn’t mean to drag you down here.’
‘Did they steal anything?’ Mr Sargeant kept his gaze on her.
‘No. It’s just a little unnerving for Maisie and me.’
‘With all your security I’d be surprised if they had.’ He smiled briefly with yellow teeth. ‘I’ll certainly keep my eye out now though.’
‘Thank you. I thought you were away.’
‘I will be after today. Will you and … you two be OK here on your own?’
‘Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.’ Lily appreciated the question but could tell he wanted the conversation over with.
‘OK. Give me a shout if you need anything,’ he concluded glibly and closed the door again.
‘Good to have neighbours looking out for you.’ Officer Michaels projected the comment so Mr Sargeant could hear.
Lily waited for the thumps back upstairs to end. ‘I feel so much safer now.’
Chapter 6
After Officer Michaels had left Lily found the number in her phone contacts. Even though Ewan was no longer in her life she knew they would always be inextricably connected. It went beyond their child and what they’d shared in the past, good and bad. It was Ewan’s resonant voice she still heard encouraging or admonishing her after every decision she made in her daily life. She dismissed it as often as she had in their seven-year marriage, but the passing months hadn’t diminished it. She wondered how much longer that would take.
Eight months and three weeks ago Ewan had given the number to her and every time her phone had rung since she’d anticipated seeing it in her display. But he hadn’t been in touch in all that time and that told her exactly why they’d divorced. She understood that he was still bitter she’d got custody of Lily and that he was now attempting to set himself up lecturing mechatronics in a different part of the country, but he’d not once made contact in eight months and three weeks to find out how Maisie was doing.
Maisie had received a card on her fifth birthday in June but that had been it. He may now hate Lily but how could he possibly have severed his affection for their daughter? After several irresponsible incidents that had been instrumental in her winning full custody, she didn’t trust him to look after Maisie at his home, but she’d never tried to prevent him from seeing her.
Now Maisie had stopped asking if she would hear from her dad, Lily didn’t want her to overhear the conversation she was about to have. She wouldn’t use it as an excuse to berate him. She would find out precisely what she needed to know and then hang up. But Lily was positive it wouldn’t be as straightforward as that. As soon as she heard his voice, she knew the part of her she hated would immediately take over.
Lily could hear the sound of the TV that Maisie was watching in the front lounge. She closed the door and stood in her bedroom window to make the call. Her stomach muscles clenched as she dialled. She could see into the back garden and the lawn where the intruder had stood. That would remind her of the only reason for picking up the phone.
The number rang then stopped. There were three clicks and then it started ringing again. Perhaps he was forwarding to another number. She hoped he hadn’t changed it.
‘Lily?’ It was him.
And it was like the intervening months hadn’t existed. His firm utterance of her name speaking to a part of her she’d tried to shut off. ‘Hi,’ she said awkwardly and could hear a low hum in the background. A motor?
He was silent.
She’d called. She shouldn’t expect him to talk. ‘How are things?’
‘Finding my feet,’ he replied emotionlessly.
‘How’s … Christian?’ Lily didn’t want to know about his brother. She was stalling.
‘What d’you want?’
‘I thought you might be interested to hear about Maisie.’ And there she went.
‘You’ve done all you can to make sure I’m not part of her life,’ he declared coldly.
What did she expect? ‘I’ve never tried to shut you out.’ She heard the air down his nose boom against his phone.
‘No, not completely. Sorry I couldn’t fit into those tiny slots you left for me.’
‘Look, you don’t want to get into this, I don’t want to get into this.’ But she knew both of them still did.
‘Then why are you calling?’
Exactly. Lily focussed on the lawn. Should she tell him? Would he really care? ‘I just need to know … whatever our problems are, I hope you’d never expose Maisie to any danger.’
There was a brief pause before he answered. ‘What are you talking about? How could I possibly do that?’
Lily didn’t like the way he’d said it. Was there a taunt lingering at the back of his reply? ‘Just assure me …’ She could hear the emotion bleeding through her voice. She’d promised herself not to do that. ‘That you don’t have some sort of game plan with her in the middle of it. You can think what you like of me, but I won’t allow you to use Maisie.’
‘What the hell has prompted this?’ The mystification in his voice sounded genuine.
But all of his lies in the past had too.
‘If you’re planning to do anything then you’d better have a rethink.’ She felt a rush of the usual hostility and simultaneous regret for its arrival.
He sighed, as he usually did. As if he were so used to her verbal attacks he could scarcely summon the energy to defend himself. ‘Look, I count myself as fortunate now. I really do. Even though I’m living in the spare room of Christian’s house and I have to wait for my nephews to finish in the bathroom before I can have a shave. The reason is, whatever’s going on in your head right now … I don’t have to care about it anymore.’
‘Ewan.’
But he didn’t allow her to interject. ‘I’ve paid dearly for it. You’ve made that clear to me. But that is the one piece of compensation I’ve got out of this.’
‘How can you not want to speak to your daughter?’
No response.
Lily suspected he wasn’t about to justify himself to her. ‘However you square that with yourself, fine. But if you want to punish me then just ask me to tell you what it’s like to tell Maisie why her father has completely forgotten about her.’
‘You know that’s not true.’ Ewan’s voice suddenly sounded small.
But Lily’s anger had properly taken over. ‘Every time I have to make an excuse for you, honestly, you can chalk one up for yourself. I’ve told you before, I won’t have my daughter endangered. I said that in the court and I’m saying it again now.’
But Lily knew he’d hung up before she’d finished speaking. She hit redial but it was engaged.
Chapter 7
‘It’s got Ewan written all over it.’ Paulette dumped her denim handbag on the kitchen table and pulled out a chair.
‘Ssshhh.’ Lily closed the door so Maisie couldn’t hear. She was in the bedroom on her tablet.
Paulette’s normally spiky bleach blonde hair had been flattened by the rain. She tried to tease it upright again.
‘He did some nasty stuff.’
‘When he was drunk. Alcohol changed his personality. You can be the same.’
Paulette’s gaze hardened.
‘And like you it was all verbal … mostly.’
‘Mostly. I did tell you to prepare for this, the day you won full custody.’
She had. But it was rich coming from her younger sister. Paulette lived her life by the seat of her pants. Her middle name was lastminute.com. The fact that she’d got soaked when the September downpour had been forecast for the last few days was testament to it. Lily watched the rain against the kitchen window as it suddenly intensified.
‘Wow … let’s hope that’s not an omen.’ Paulette took out her vape kit and put it on the table, caught Lily’s expression and put it away again. ‘You’re sure he’s definitely still in Dundee?’
‘Who knows.’ She really didn’t. ‘He said he was staying at Christian’s.’
Paulette gingerly slid her soaking leather jacket off her brown arms. ‘You could always call Christian.’
Lily had been tempted. But she was positive, after the divorce, that she was the last person Ewan’s brother wanted to speak to. Particularly as Ewan had ended up sleeping in his spare room. ‘I thought maybe you could.’
Paulette froze in the middle of hanging the garment on the back of the chair. ‘Me?’