by D. S. Butler
A faint rumble of thunder told me the storm was retreating fast.
I ducked my head under the table. “See, it’s nearly gone, Charlie. Nothing to worry about.”
I swear I saw relief in his chocolate eyes, and he then rested his head on his paws.
Stretching and smothering a yawn, I walked back into the sitting room and looked at the family photographs on the wall above the fireplace. There was one of Steve and Nicole on their wedding day.
Nicole had worn a long, cream, bias-cut dress. I’d forgotten how beautiful she’d looked. Carefree and happy, she smiled at the photographer.
I rubbed my arms, feeling a chill. “Who sent you that note?” I whispered, staring at the photo. “Who was threatening you?”
I waited for some kind of divine inspiration, but of course, nothing happened.
With a sigh, I turned away from the photos and went to check on Charlie one last time before going to bed.
The following morning, I woke late. I was making scrambled eggs for breakfast when the doorbell rang. I took the frying pan off the hob and walked to the front door with Charlie trotting at my heels. I actually hoped it was a cold caller or someone selling something. Anything but another confrontation with Janet, please. I couldn’t handle her spiky personality first thing in the morning.
But when I opened the door, I saw Zach. He pushed his dark fringe out of his eyes.
He looked different. I couldn’t put my finger on it at first and then I realised he was smiling.
“Morning, Abbie.”
“Morning, Zach. Do you want to come in? I think Sienna’s awake. I heard her moving around upstairs.”
“Yes.” He held up his mobile as he stepped inside. “She knows I’m coming around. She answered my text.”
I called up the stairs to Sienna to let her know her friend had arrived and then turned back to Zach. “Do you want some breakfast? Nothing fancy. I’m just making scrambled eggs on toast.”
“No, thanks. I’m too excited to eat.”
“Excited?”
He pulled some keys from his pocket. “I’ve just passed my driving test. I came straight here from the test centre.”
“Congratulations. They must have started the test early.”
“Eight a.m. I was the first one.”
Still smiling, he followed me through to the kitchen and sat down at the table as I carried on cooking. I’d assumed Zach was the same age as Sienna and in the same year at school, but if he’d just passed his driving test, he had to be seventeen at least.
“So, you’re in the year above Sienna at school?” I asked.
He nodded. “I’m in the sixth form. Studying for my A-levels.”
“Coffee?” I offered, putting a cup beneath the chrome nozzle on the coffee machine.
“Thanks.”
By the time Sienna came downstairs, I’d made the eggs and toast. She wasn’t keen, but I persuaded her to sit down and have some breakfast before she went out with Zach for a drive.
She didn’t seem as angry with me this morning, and I was grateful. I gave her just a small portion of scrambled eggs and one slice of toast but was pleased when she ate it all.
They kept me company while I ate. Zach leaned down to pet Charlie as they chatted about their plans for the day.
“Did you tell Zach about what happened the other day?” I asked, looking meaningfully at Sienna. I didn’t want either of them to live in fear, but I did want them to be on their guard.
Sienna pushed her plate away. “Yes, he knows. I’ll be fine. Zach will be with me all the time, right?”
She glanced at Zach, who bobbed his head obediently.
“Absolutely,” he said and drained the last of his coffee.
“Good. You can call me if you need anything. I’ll probably be here most of the day, although I’ll take Charlie out for a walk this morning.”
I felt nervous letting Sienna out of my sight, but I couldn’t keep her wrapped in cotton wool at home. It wasn’t fair.
As they prepared to leave, I started to feel worse. What if something happened? Was Zach really mature enough to handle it?
When he reached the door, Zach looked back and noticed how anxious I looked. “We won’t go far, Abbie. We’ll drive around the village and then go to the park and enjoy the sunshine.”
I tried to relax and smile. “Have a nice time. I’ll see you later.”
Standing by the sitting room window, I watched them drive away. Charlie did too. He leaned his paws on the windowsill and pressed his nose against the window and gave a low whine.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to be doing that, Charlie. Come on,” I said, and tapped my thigh to encourage him to follow me.
I measured out his breakfast and then set about clearing up the kitchen. Angie would be here this afternoon, and I was looking forward to seeing her. I had more questions. Maybe Angie wouldn’t be able to give me the answers I needed, but I had to ask.
Once the kitchen was clean, I went to fetch Charlie’s leash. He jumped up, as excitable as a puppy.
Charlie was a big dog who needed to be exercised regularly, and I decided to kill two birds with one stone and take him to the park. Dogs weren’t allowed onto the pristine grass or near the playground, but walking there and back should give him more than enough exercise for the morning. I was hoping to see Zach and Sienna there. I wasn’t checking up on them exactly… more just reassuring myself they were safe.
Worrying about them wasn’t unreasonable, and if luck was on my side, I’d get there, spot them in the distance before returning home. They’d never know I’d been keeping tabs on them.
A twinge of guilt pricked my conscience, but I ignored it. So what if Sienna got angry with me for following them. I could deal with that. What I couldn’t deal with was Sienna getting into trouble while I just sat at Yew Tree House, twiddling my thumbs.
It was a gorgeous day. The thunderstorm last night had cleared the air, and the sky was a cloudless blue. It wasn’t yet noon, but it was already warm. Charlie and I strolled slowly along Fleet Hill, taking care to stick to the grass verge whenever we heard traffic.
The sunlight filtered through the tree canopy above us, and listening to the birds singing, with Charlie walking happily by my side, it was hard to remember the fear I’d felt last night. I’d let my imagination get the better of me. That plus Angie’s influence had made me suspicious and scared of my own shadow. Today, with the warm sun on my back, my confidence had returned.
Soon, the police would arrest whoever was responsible for Nicole’s murder and we could get on with our lives without living in fear and constantly looking over our shoulders.
I found the situation hard enough to deal with, and it had to be so much worse for Sienna. At fifteen years old, she now had to cope with the aftermath of her mother’s death. There was never a good time to lose your mother, but fifteen was especially difficult.
Her anchor, her biggest supporter, the one person who’d shown her unconditional love had been ripped away, and now she had to try and find her own place in the world. She had Steve, of course, but even I could see he was a workaholic. Would he be present enough to give Sienna the stability she needed?
A black Mercedes roared towards us, going way too fast on the winding, undulating hill.
Charlie and I only just managed to scramble onto the grass verge in time to get out of the way as the car zoomed past. I let out a string of expletives and Charlie looked up at me. His surprised expression made me laugh. Before now, I hadn’t believed it was possible for a dog to look surprised.
He cocked his head to one side, watching me curiously.
“Sorry about that, boy,” I said taking a deep breath and petting him. “Some drivers shouldn’t be allowed on the roads.”
He dipped his head in such a way it almost looked like a nod of agreement.
We’d just started walking again, when my mobile rang. It was Sienna.
“Hi, I’m just taking Charlie for a wal
k. Is everything okay?”
“No.” She was whispering.
I froze. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“It’s that man. The one that was following me. He’s here.”
I stopped breathing. “Where are you? I’ll get there as soon as I can. Call the police!”
Then Sienna said the words that made my blood run cold. “Abbie, I’m scared.”
Chapter Thirty-One
“It’s going to be okay, Sienna. Just tell me where you are.”
“At the park. We’re sitting on the grass, and the man is on a bench near the children’s playground. He’s watching us.”
The fact she said us made me feel marginally better. That meant Zach was still with her.
“Okay. I’ll be there in five minutes. Stay with Zach.”
I hung up and started running. Poor Charlie wasn’t used to moving that fast. But he wasn’t as unfit as me. By the time I passed the petrol station and the village hall, I was panting, and when we reached the entrance to the park, a stitch pinched my side and I could barely draw a breath.
I leaned heavily on the rough wooden gate at the park entrance, trying to get my breath back and locate Sienna. It wasn’t busy and it didn’t take me too long to spot Sienna and Zach sitting beneath an oak tree. Pressing a hand to my chest, I breathed a sigh of relief. They were both there. They were both okay.
With a shaky hand, I pulled open the gate and looked around for the man who’d been stalking Sienna. As it was the school holidays, the playground was busy. Small children squealed and kicked their legs on the swings, and there were kids queuing up for the slide.
In front of the play area, there were three benches. Two of them were occupied. An elderly couple sat on one, and on the other a young mum, cradling an infant was calling out instructions to her little boy who was scaling the climbing frame.
Beside her, sat a man wearing a brown jacket.
Although I was still some distance away, I was surprised how old he looked. Sienna had described him as middle-aged, but I’d guess she’d viewed him through the filter of youth where anyone older than thirty was middle-aged. I judged the man to be around sixty. He had light sandy hair, turning to grey, and he wasn’t wearing the light trousers he’d worn when he was following Sienna the last time. Today he wore jeans.
It had to be him.
Finally having some air in my lungs, I marched forward, tugging on Charlie’s lead. My tunnel vision focused on the man on the bench. I barely noticed a dark-haired woman, pushing a double buggy, shoot me a dirty look.
“You’re not supposed to bring dogs into the park,” she said sharply.
I ignored her and kept striding forward.
When I was about twenty feet away, he spotted me. He’d been holding a newspaper. I supposed that was some kind of ruse to make it look as though he was simply enjoying the sunshine while catching up on the daily news. Or maybe he’d brought it with him so he could hide behind it as he spied on Sienna? I gritted my teeth.
He folded the paper and stood up, his watchful gaze now on me. As I got closer, he tucked the paper under his arm and walked quickly towards the other exit.
“Wait a minute. I want a word with you.” I was fuming and didn’t stop to think this man could be dangerous. We were in the local park. It all seemed so safe and ordinary.
He didn’t slow down, but he did look over his shoulder, and I realised he looked vaguely familiar. He wasn’t wearing a plain brown jacket… It was tweed.
“If you don’t stop walking right this minute, I’m going to call the police.”
That worked. He hesitated and then slowly turned around to face me.
If I hadn’t been so breathless, I might have gasped.
I did recognise him. I hadn’t seen him in over fifteen years, but he hadn’t changed much, at all. It was Professor Eric Ross.
He smiled politely and rubbed the side of his nose. “Can I help you?”
I was so confused. First off, was he really going to pretend he hadn’t been watching and stalking Sienna? And why was Professor Eric Ross here anyway?
As the pieces of the puzzle began to fit into place in my mind, I groaned.
Professor Ross cleared his throat. “If there’s nothing I can do to help you, I’ll just be on my way.”
“Wait.” I took a deep breath.
A one-night stand? No wonder Nicole hadn’t wanted to tell me who Sienna’s father was. It wasn’t that she didn’t know his name. It was because he was our biochemistry tutor.
He blinked, and I wondered if he recognised me.
“I’m Abbie Morris, Professor Ross. You were my biochemistry lecturer at Southampton.”
A pink flush tinged his cheeks. “Oh, I thought you looked familiar. Nice to see you. How have you been?”
I shook my head slowly. We were way past the small talk stage. “You’ve been following Sienna.”
He blinked again and then looked over my shoulder. “Sienna.”
I turned to see Zach and Sienna behind me. Sienna was clutching Zack’s hand.
Zach stood tall and put a hand on my shoulder. I have to admit, his show of solidarity touched me.
I turned my back on the Professor and handed Charlie’s leash to Zach. “Could you please take Sienna and Charlie home? I’ll be back soon.”
Sienna’s face was pale and her eyes were wide. “I don’t think we should leave you alone with him, Abbie.”
“It’s fine. No one is in any danger. I’ll sort everything out and explain when I get back.”
She tucked her hair behind her ears, shot a wary glance at Professor Ross and then squeezed my hand. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I won’t be long.”
Zach put an arm around Sienna’s shoulders as they walked away.
I turned back to the Professor. “What have you got to say for yourself?”
His face took on a sulky expression. “Nothing. I was merely spending the morning in the park, reading my paper. I don’t have anything to say to you.”
“Well, I have plenty to say to you. So you can listen.” I pointed at the bench he’d recently vacated. “Let’s sit down.”
With a sigh, he did as I asked.
When we were sitting down, I turned to him and said, “You’ve been following Sienna, and I have a pretty good idea why.”
He stared down at his lap miserably. “Nicole promised me she would never tell anyone. I should have guessed she’d tell you. The two of you were always so close.”
Although he didn’t mean it, it was a barbed comment. I couldn’t help wondering why Nicole hadn’t told me. We were close, and if she’d confided in me, I would never have told anyone her secret. But she hadn’t trusted me.
“Why have you been following Sienna? You could have reached out to her, instead of scaring the life out of the poor girl.”
Professor Ross delved into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “Nicole sent me a letter. She said Sienna had been asking about her father. She wanted to know if I’d like to meet her.”
“That must have been quite a shock. When did she tell you that you were Sienna’s father?”
“Just after she found out she was pregnant. I gave her some money, but I didn’t want another child. I was married with children of my own. I still am.” He lifted his head and stared at me intently. “I couldn’t hurt them.”
“So you gave Nicole some money and left her to bring up Sienna alone?”
“It was what she wanted,” he said defensively. “She knew I didn’t want a child with her.”
There were so many ways I could reply. Most of them included swear words. I decided to take the high ground.
“So I have to ask you again, why are you acting like a creepy stalker? If you wanted to meet her, why didn’t you get in touch?”
“You make it sound so easy.”
“Isn’t it?”
He shook his head. “Nicole’s letter made me wonder how she’d turned out. I just wanted to see her, I suppose.�
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“Did you reply to Nicole’s letter?”
“I intended to. But I had a lot to consider. My wife… My children.”
He didn’t see the irony in that statement.
“Did you hear Nicole was killed?”
He closed his eyes and nodded.
My heart was thudding against my ribs. All I could think about was the note left in Nicole’s locker at the health club — keep your mouth shut.
“I think the police are going to be very interested to hear about your recent contact with Nicole. It’s a good motive for murder, isn’t it? Perhaps you were determined to keep the fact you’re Sienna’s father a secret whatever the cost.”
His eyes widened as he turned to me. “Don’t be ridiculous. Nicole was very mindful of my privacy. She understood.”
“Did you see her before she died?”
He clasped his hands together and shook his head. “No, I wish I had. I needed time to think. After I’d heard what happened to Nicole, I just had to see Sienna.” He lifted his head to glance at me. “I suppose I wanted to see if she needed anything from me.”
“Why didn’t you talk to her?”
He gave a humourless laugh. “I was building up the courage.”
Disdain must have shown on my face because he pursed his lips together and slapped his hands on his legs before saying, “I don’t think you realise what I’m risking here. I could lose my job, my family, my reputation… Everything.”
I folded my arms over my chest, leaned back on the wooden bench and tried to hold my tongue. Giving him a verbal dressing down wasn’t going to help anyone. Though, it might make me feel better.
Everything he said focused on how he felt, how this situation affected him.
“However difficult this is for you, Professor, I think things are far worse for Sienna.”
He gave a little remorseful nod and sniffed. “Look, I think I’ll leave things for now and wait until things are settled before making any decisions. There’s no point upsetting Sienna any more than necessary, is there?”
Was this his way of asking me to keep my mouth shut? No chance. Sienna had a right to know, and right now, I didn’t care about this man’s reputation at all. He hadn’t considered his reputation when he’d taken advantage of his position with Nicole.