“Here we are, ladies.” Brad arrived, drying his hands on a small towel; he poured out the tea. Going to a cupboard, he produced a packet of chocolate digestives and set them out on a pretty plate. “I hope you two realize that these are the last of my supplies?”
“May your tongue drop out!” Sue wagged a finger at him. “I bet you keep another stash hidden somewhere. I’m going to check that oven of yours!”
“Don’t you dare!” Offering round the milk and sugar, Brad said, with a twinkle in his eye, “All right – maybe I do keep a packet back for emergencies. But it’s not for me… it’s for young Rob. He gets right shirty if he doesn’t have a biscuit with his nightcap.”
“No, I don’t.” The boy came running through the door with Dave and Donald on his heels. “Them chocolate digestive things are yuk! I keep asking you to get some Jammie Dodgers, but you never remember!”
“Tuck in, everybody.” Brad stood up and fetched two more mugs for the boys and wisely chose not to get into an argument with his son. “I’ve got some shortbread fingers too, somewhere.”
So they all sat down and chatted, and Maddy was surprised at how easily she seemed to fit in. The worry had not gone away; yet here, in this place, with these people, she felt protected and secure.
“So, are you taking on the job?” Brad asked.
“I’ve already warned her what a tyrant you are,” Susan chirped in.
Brad made a sad face and appealed to Maddy. “I take it you won’t be helping me out after all then?” Becoming serious, he added, “I won’t blame you if you think it’s too much to take on.”
“Please stay, Sheelagh,” young Robin piped up, surprising Brad, and now he made an offer that surprised even Dave. “If you stay, I’ll let you go in my tree house. My dad made it for me, and it’s got a sofa and everything.”
Maddy smiled, a little tearfully. “How can I refuse? Especially when I’ve been made to feel so welcome.”
Giving a loud whoop, Brad grabbed his son, and swung him up in the air. “I built the blessed thing,” he chided, “but you never offer to take me into your tree house!”
“That’s because you’re too big, Dad. You’d break it!”
That evening, when Robin, worn out, was fast asleep in his bed, Brad and Maddy sealed the arrangement with a glass of Brad’s homemade wine. “Here’s to you,” he said, raising his glass to hers, “and here’s to the future.”
Maddy echoed his words and drank, hoping with all her heart that things might improve for this kindly man.
They were not all that different, she and Brad.
He too, had come through a bad time when he had lost someone he had thought would be with him forever. But he had learned not to dwell on things he couldn’t change. And even then, with his life and plans cruelly shattered, he had recovered the strength and belief, to hold on tight to his dreams.
Maddy thought him to be a remarkable man, a noble example to his young son, Robin.
Later that evening, under cover of a clear, moonlit sky, Maddy left her little house and wandered down to the brook. Seated on a fallen log, her thoughts drifted over the miles to Ellen and baby Michael, and she wondered if she would ever have peace of mind again.
She watched the water trickling over the pebbles, marveling at how the moonlight caught its every turn, making the water seem like molten silver as it danced and twisted, and for one beautiful moment, her heart was at rest.
But it was just one, fleeting moment, when she foolishly let herself believe that everything would be all right. Then she remembered where she was, how achingly alone, and how far from her child she had traveled – and the hopelessness of the situation froze her heart. She thought of Steve Drayton, and her rage was all-consuming. “I won’t let you beat me!” she muttered.
Fists clenched in anger, her tortured gaze searched the skies. “Help me, Lord,” she pleaded, the tears rolling down her face. “Help me to keep my baby safe. I need him so much. I want him with me, but I’m so afraid they’ll find us.”
After a time, cold to the bone and wearied by the long tiring day in a strange environment, she set off back to the cottage.
Alerted by Donald’s barking, Brad, standing by the bedroom window, saw her coming up through the spinney. He saw how she dragged her feet and how her head was hung low, and his heart went out to her.
His first thought was to go to her. From the first minute he had looked into her eyes… he cast his mind back to when he had literally bumped into her at the garage… he had known that she was running from something – or someone.
He kept his gaze on her, watchful, protective. “You hide your troubles well,” he whispered. “You talk and laugh as though in your world, all is well. Yet inside, you hurt so much. Like me, you make a brave face to the outside world. Yet inside, you need reassurance that it isn’t too late; that somehow everything will come right.”
As she entered the garden, he stepped away from the curtains, though he kept a watchful eye until she was safely inside her cottage. Like a loyal sentinel, he stayed at the window. He saw the upstairs light go on, then he saw it go off, and when all was quiet, he returned to his bed.
Across the way, unaware that she had been watched, Maddy found it difficult to settle. She paced the floor, and occasionally she went to the window and looked out.
After a time she climbed into bed and fell asleep. But her sleep was fitful, and her nightmares, all too real.
Steve Drayton was none too pleased to hear that all his efforts had come to nought. “I’m beginning to wonder what I’m paying you for.” The look he gave the little man left no room for imagination. “Bloodhound! Huh! More like bloody useless if you ask me!” His cruel eyes bored right into the other man’s soul. “If I thought for one minute you were being paid by others to double-cross me, I swear…”
“No! You couldn’t be more wrong.” Danny was in fear for his life. “I know better than to cross you. We’ll find her, I can assure you of that. Besides, I’m still inside the timeframe you set me.”
“Why haven’t you found her, then? What’s the delay?”
“Look, all I can say is, I’ve got the very best of men out there looking. Somehow or another, she must have discovered you’d put the word out on her, and gave us the slip. There’s no other explanation for it. She’s obviously gone into hiding and, for the time being, she’s managing to stay one step ahead of us.”
He quickly explained the situation. “We scoured every square inch of the Blackpool area, in a radius of forty miles. We’ve tried the rental companies and B &Bs; we’ve kept a twenty-four-hour watch on the clubs and gaming houses up there, and still there’s no sign of her.” Putting up his hands in a gesture of defeat, he fell back in his chair. “I don’t mind telling you, guv, I thought it would be a hard and fast case; to be accomplished well within the time and me away to my next assignment. But I swear… it’s like she’s vanished off the face of the earth.”
Drayton wasn’t listening. Instead he was deep in thought, casting his mind back to that last big fight between himself and Maddy.
“Danny Boy?”
“Yes, guv?”
“Did you try the local hospitals?”
“Can’t say I thought o’ that. Why? Are you thinking she might have tried to top herself?”
Drayton’s face creased into a wicked grin. “Nah. I’m thinking she might have had a kid. According to her, she was up the duff. She claimed it was mine, silly tart. You can get rid o’ the brat, an’ all. Two for the price of one, like.”
The little man was horrified. “I’ve done some things in my time, but I’ve never done for a kid, no sir. And I’m not gonna start now,” he said.
“Is that so?” Drayton said softly. “In that case, you might as well hang up your gloves here and now. And I’ll make sure to let everyone know how you’ll only do a job if it suits your conscience. You’ve every right to make a stand if that’s how you see it. But you have no right being in this business if you let yours
elf become squeamish.”
“I’m not squeamish, and you know it!”
“If I let the word out, Danny, it could finish you off altogether. Is that what you want?”
“’Course not. It’s taken me years to get back in.” The hired killer looked indignant.
“Then do the job, and do it well. Afterward, I’ll make sure everybody knows how they can always rely on you. That you haven’t lost your touch… that you’re still as good as you ever were.”
Danny felt physically sick. “How do you know she didn’t get rid of the kid when you two split up? She might’ve had an abortion – gone to one o’ them Harley Street clinics.”
Drayton gave a snigger. “No way. I know her better than that. She would no more get rid of that kid, than I could walk out that door without being tackled to the ground and handcuffed.”
Leaning forward, Danny whispered, “About the kid – are you really saying you want me to…” Disturbed by the very thought of murdering a child, he glanced nervously at the patrolling officer.
“Look,” Drayton snapped, “the kid isn’t mine, all right? She was carrying on with some other man and when she got caught out, tried to use it to snare me into marrying her.”
Danny would have said something in return, but Drayton gave him that look, so he remained silent and listened.
“Sharpen your ears, Danny Boy. I need you to hear what I’m saying.” His voice inaudible to others, he instructed, “I want the bitch found, and soon. I want her hurt bad before you finish her off. And if the kid happens to be with her, then you know what to do… don’t you?”
When the little man fell silent, he glowered. “Cat got your tongue?”
“I know what to do, yes.”
“And is that a problem for you?”
“No, not a problem at all.” Though his stomach turned over at the very idea.
“Then you’d best get on with it, hadn’t you?”
Danny nodded. In his haste to put space between him and Drayton, he felt a pang of sympathy for Maddy. “Jeeze! You can’t blame the woman for keeping her head down,” he muttered. “Not with that crazy bastard on her tail.”
All the same, because he knew no other trade, and because he desperately needed to earn the trust of others, he would do the job he was being paid for.
Above all else, his reputation – and his livelihood – depended on it.
Behind him, Drayton seemed to have met his match, in the bulky form of prisoner Armstrong.
While Drayton was searched, Armstrong was kept waiting a short distance away, under the eagle eye of the second officer.
It was when Drayton and Armstrong were ushered to the outer door and Armstrong turned to look at him, that Drayton felt the full weight of the other man’s loathing.
The feeling was mutual, and of this Drayton left the other man in no doubt.
So far, they had each managed to stay on the right side of common sense.
But the brooding atmosphere intensifying between them kept all the other inmates at bay.
Nineteen
“Ellen!” poking his head in through the open kitchen window, Bob shouted for his granddaughter. Abba’s new hit, “Chiquitita,” was blaring out on Radio I, and Ellen was warbling along to it. “Ellen! The phone’s ringing! I can’t go in, because I’m up to my neck in it.” With new spring flowers scattered all over the bench, he had part-emptied the flower barrel and was now in the middle of refilling it with fresh soil. “ELLEN!” he bawled. The phone was insistent, and still no sign of her.
“All right! I’m on my way, don’t panic.” With the child in her arms, she ran to the radio, turned it off and snatched up the phone in the hall. “Hello?” A pause, then, “Oh Maddy – how are you? Is everything all right?”
There was a time, not so long ago, when if she heard Maddy’s voice, a smile would light up her face. But not today. In fact, not for these past few weeks. Since she had grown ever closer to baby Michael, the idea of Maddy claiming him back was devastating.
“I’m fine. And how are you and Grandad Bob?”
“We’re both well. In fact, Grandad’s outside in the back garden at the moment, pulling out the winter plants and replacing them with summer ones, and making one hell of a mess in the process!”
“Well, give him my love,” Maddy said, and then, her voice full of yearning, she asked, “So, how’s my baby?” Maddy wanted to know everything. “Is that bothersome tooth through yet? Has his hair thickened up? Oh, and what about-”
“Hey! Hang on – give me a chance and I’ll tell you,” Ellen laughed. “Michael is absolutely thriving. His tooth is just about through, with the one next to it beginning to show. So as you can imagine, it’s sleepless nights for everyone. His cheeks are red, and he’s dribbling so much I have to keep changing his bibs. And he’s chewing on everything in sight. He’s doing so well with his feeding, Maddy. We’ve got him on mashed-up vegetables and gravy and bananas and stewed apple. He eats every scrap.”
“I miss him so much.” Maddy tried hard not to let it show, but the tremor in her voice told it all. “I want to come back. I want to see him, to hold him in my arms.” The tears broke through. “Oh Ellen, I don’t know if I can stay away any more. I’m missing everything: his first tooth, cuddling him and feeding him, hearing his little baby noises. Even the sleepless nights. How long will it be before he starts crawling, then taking his first step?” She burst out sobbing. “Have I made a big mistake in thinking it was better for me to leave and keep you all safe? Every day seems like a lifetime away from him… from all of you.”
Hearing the sobs on the phone, the child in Ellen’s arms began to wriggle and whimper. “Just a minute,” Ellen told Maddy. Putting the baby on the floor, propped up between her feet, she gave him a rusk to suck and picked up the receiver again.
Lowering her voice, Ellen tried to calm her. “Take it easy, love. Think what you’re saying. You were not wrong in going away. You have kept us safe in doing that, and what happened a fornight ago makes that crystal clear. You know exactly what I’m talking about: why would the hospital ring up and ask permission to give out our address? Apparently, somebody was asking after you and Michael. That somebody was out to find you by any means. So don’t even think about coming back just yet.”
There was a long, painful pause, during which Maddy realized that Ellen was talking sense. “You did what we agreed, didn’t you?” she asked in a trembling voice. “You told them they were not to give out the address under any circumstances?”
“Of course! I already told you. I said I was moving to Scotland the very next day, anyway, just to put them off the scent. And like I said, they assured me they would do as I asked – me being you, of course.”
“And you’ve heard nothing since?”
“Not a word. But it doesn’t mean to say they won’t try another way to find you. So, for now, Maddy, you must stay where you are. Promise me you won’t think about coming back – not until we’re sure they’re not watching the place.”
Maddy took a moment to answer. Then: “Ellen, I’ve been thinking about something. In fact, it’s been on my mind a lot lately.”
“Go on then, tell me.”
“Well, I’ve been wondering – what if you came here? Bring little Michael, and the three of us could spend a few days together.”
“Maddy! Are you crazy?”
“I don’t think so. I mean, they don’t know where I am, do they? You could travel at night… Oh please, Ellen! I miss you and Michael so much. I look at the photographs you send, and I see how he’s growing, and I can’t bear it.” The main worry she had, was, “If he doesn’t see me soon, he won’t know who I am. And that scares me.”
“Listen to me, Maddy,” Ellen began. “I didn’t tell you this before, because I didn’t want you to worry.” She was amazed at how easily the awful lie came to her mind. “The last time me and Grandad took Michael out, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that we were being watched.”
Havi
ng begun the lie, she elaborated, “I can’t explain it, and as far as I know, we were not followed. But it’s worrying all the same. They obviously know you had Steve Drayton’s child. And I dare say they’ll keep scouring the area to find you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” This was the last thing Maddy wanted. “Thankfully, they’re obviously looking for me, not you, and hopefully the ones who are looking will not know you by sight. But you should have told me. I need you to tell me every little thing that happens. I don’t want to be kept in the dark.”
Her ploy had worked. Ellen felt desperately ashamed, but she couldn’t risk losing “her” baby. “So now you can see why I don’t think it would be a good idea for us to travel down to see you. And the reason I didn’t tell you was because I didn’t want to frighten you. But, like you just said, I’m probably not on his list, and hopefully, they won’t know me by sight. So, as long as I keep a low profile and we all stay away from each other, we should all be safe.”
She added a sweetener. “We will come and see you one day, I promise. But not yet.” Before Maddy could comment any further, she skillfully changed the subject. “What about you, Maddy? How’s it going?”
Still uneasy after Ellen’s warning, Maddy told her that, “It’s going okay. This is such a lovely place, and my boss, Brad, is kind and generous, as are the neighbors, especially Sue, who is the mother of Dave, Robin’s best friend.”
“So you’re keeping busy then?”
“I’m working every minute I can. It helps keep me sane. I’m earning decent money, which I can put away, because the cottage is rent free. The only real money I spend is what I send you and Michael, so my savings are building up really well.”
Anticipating Ellen’s next question, she added, “I haven’t opened a bank account, because I don’t want to use my real name So, I put the cash safely away, where I can find it quickly if I need to.”
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