Second Time Around (4 page)

“I’d better go,” Halley said apologetically.

“Wait,” Alec said, not ready to let her leave.

Halley jiggled Cassie in her arms and waited.

“If you give me your car keys I’ll go and collect your car for you.”

“You don’t have to do that. Besides, it’s still raining,” Halley replied.

“It’s only drizzling and I won’t melt. It’s the least I can do after everything you’ve done for Em,” Alec told her, undeterred.

Halley could tell he was going to insist and decided she would be foolish not to take up his offer. The forecast for tomorrow morning was for heavy rain and she’d rather not have to walk the boys to school in it if she didn’t have to.

“Okay,” she said, giving in. “You bring Em over and I’ll get the keys.”

A few minutes later Alec was walking along the street with an umbrella over his shoulder and a torch in hand when something occurred to him. He had left Em with the neighbour and had organised for her to look after Em after school but he still didn’t know her name.

Alec barked out a laugh as he considered the irony of the situation. He and his business partner Rufus Johns owned a recruitment agency. Unlike a lot of other agencies who were only interested in the commission they received upon placement, he and Rufus prided themselves on ensuring the people they put forward for consideration would not only be suitable for the job but would also be a good fit for the company they hoped to work for.

To achieve this they went to great lengths to interview the candidates in depth as to what type of job they were looking for, their work and personal goals as well as other things such as how ambitious they were and how they liked to spend their leisure time. It was a lot of work to collect all the information and find the best employer match but it was worth it. Almost everyone they had placed since the company’s inception three years ago were still with the same employers.

Now that they were established and had a proven track record, Alec and Rufus’s company, JB Recruitment, was being noticed for the right reasons. Alec had to concede that during the brief period his surname took the first initial of the company’s name, BJ Recruitment had attracted the wrong sort of client.

Despite that hiccup they were doing well. Not only had they recently negotiated exclusive contracts with several large companies but they were also benefiting from referrals from satisfied clients.

Rufus would be wetting himself with laughter if he ever found out that Alec with his anal preoccupation for details had left Em with a woman that he didn’t know the name of. The only thing Alec knew about his neighbour beyond her appearance and address was that she was a solo mother of three children with different fathers. Alec cringed at the level of his ignorance.

When he had employed Mrs Weiss to look after Em he had been thorough in checking out her credentials but then he’d had the luxury of time, he reminded himself. At that point his ex-wife Miranda had shared custody of Em and Em had only stayed with him every other weekend.

He must have interviewed more than a dozen women over a period of two months before he had settled on Mrs Weiss. Luckily for him and Em when Miranda had remarried and she had decided she wanted a fresh start without children Mrs Weiss had been able to look after Em full time while he worked.

Looking back, even when he had hired Mrs Rice Alec knew he had made a mistake. At the time he had been working insane hours in Sydney which hadn’t been conducive to interviewing potential child minders. With time running out before Mrs Weiss left for Western Australia he had asked her to find someone. She had asked her circle of friends and they had given her the name of a friend of a friend.

Mrs Weiss had been a wonderful at looking after Em but he would never hire her as a recruiter.

A sudden gust of wind had Alec hanging tight to the umbrella then rain started pelting his legs below its protection. He picked up his pace. A few minutes later Alec found the car parked outside the school exactly where his neighbour had told him she had left it. The windscreen had a soggy ticket on it which he retrieved and read with his flashlight. It was a fine for a hundred and ten dollars for parking for too long in a drop-off and pick-up zone.

Alec raised his torch to locate the signs marking the zone then swung the beam back to the car. The car’s front wheels nudged the zone’s boundary line. Shaking his head, Alec pocketed the ticket. He’d take care of it.

Soon afterwards he backed the car up the driveway and stopped in front of his neighbour’s garage. He got out, stepped on her porch, pulled open the screen and rapped on the door.

His neighbour promptly opened it.

“You’re soaked!” Halley exclaimed as he held out her keys.

“I had a bit of a hassle getting the umbrella to go down,” Alec admitted, dropping the keys into her hand. “Don’t worry,” he added hurriedly “The car seat should still be dry.” That was about the only part of him that still was.

“Would you like a towel?” she asked.

“No, I’m fine,” he said in denial as he wiped water from his face with the back of his arm. “If you could bring Em out I’ll get her home and into bed.”

Seeing that the porch provided little protection to the rain lashing down, Halley quickly brought Em to the door, sensing that Alec would be too chivalrous to come inside and drip on the floor. She opened Em’s pink umbrella over the porch and handed it to her.

“See you tomorrow,” Halley said cheerfully.

“G’night,” Em replied around a yawn.

Em stepped off the porch and Alec went to follow her then abruptly turned back to Halley.

“Thank you for looking after Em.” Alec paused. “I’d like to call you by name but I don’t know what it is.”

“It’s Halley,” Halley said with a smile. “Like the comet.”

Alec checked the time as he sat in the car in his garage wondering whether he’d been had. Mrs Rice had been on time this morning and she had seemed attentive to Emma’s needs before he had left.

When he had told Rufus he had to leave work early Rufus had wanted to know why. After sheepishly telling his business partner that he needed to go and spy on the babysitter Rufus had laughed then told him he was paranoid. But then Rufus didn’t know that he hadn’t vetted Mrs Rice to the extent that he should have.

Alec took a sip of his rapidly cooling coffee and started tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. Inside the garage it was hot and stuffy so he had changed into cooler clothes before returning to the car, deciding there was less chance of being discovered by staying in there. Since he couldn’t run the air conditioner without the engine going he’d wound down all the windows. He now wished he had bought a cool drink instead of the coffee and some work to do while he waited.

Before long he heard the sounds of car doors outside slamming shut.

“It looks like we got here before your neighbours,” he heard Mrs Rice remark. “You’ll soon have someone to play with.”

“Why wouldn’t you let Sophie come over?” he heard Em complain. The tone of her voice indicated that the subject had not been settled to her satisfaction. “We would have played quietly.”

“Because I have better things to do than run around after an extra child,” Mrs Rice snapped. She opened the front door and they must have gone inside because Alec could no longer hear what they were saying.

Alec frowned. He had told Mrs Rice during her interview that with Em being an only child he encouraged her to have friends over to play after school. Mrs Rice had agreed that it was important for Em to socialise out of school and had even said she would be happy to drop friends home afterwards if necessary.

He was tempted to get out of the car and tell her that he longer needed her services but he had got this far and he may as well let her dig her hole a little deeper. Alec set his now empty cup of coffee down and continued to wait.

About ten minutes later he heard the sound of young enthusiastic voices coming up the driveway. Without seeing them he found it was easier to pick up the nuances of their voices. When Halley responded she sounded tired which made sense. At this time of year Alec usually slept with the window open and last night the baby’s crying woke him on three occasions. He had the luxury of going straight back to sleep but she didn’t.

He waited another five minutes after they had gone inside before getting out of the car. Not caring whether Mrs Rice heard the car door close, he strode purposefully into the house.

He heard voices coming from the lounge and entered the room to find Mrs Rice stretched out in his leather recliner watching satellite TV. On one armrest sat the TV remote and in her hand was one of his crystal lowball tumblers filled with ice and something he suspected was stronger than water. A quick mental inventory of what he had on hand suggested the contents were gin and tonic.

“Good afternoon,” Alec said and had the satisfaction of seeing Mrs Rice jump at the sound of his voice.

“You scared me,” she exclaimed, pressing a hand to her chest as she deftly returned the recliner to its upright position and stood up. Alec noted that the glass had been slipped somewhere out of sight.

“Where’s Em?” he asked, looking around.

“She decided to play with the boys next door,” Mrs Rice said as she picked up the remote and switched off the TV.

“I hope she didn’t invite herself over,” Alec said, sounding disturbed by the thought.

“No, one of the boys came and got her,” Mrs Rice assured him.

“Which one?” Alec asked, sounding interested. Em had mentioned them repeatedly but he would now be surprised if Mrs Rice knew them by name.

“The little one,” Mrs Rice said after a few moments.

Alec nodded.

“And did he come to the front door or the back?” he asked.

“The front door of course,” Mrs Rice answered, giving him an odd look.

That was definitely a lie because Alec had been in the garage and hadn’t heard anyone walk past after everyone had arrived home. He guessed that Em had slipped next door via the gap in the back fence as Halley said she did.

“I’m glad she’s not here because you and I need to talk,” he said, changing the subject.

“Is there something wrong?” Mrs Rice asked, mildly curious.

“Maybe,” Alec hedged. He spied Em’s backpack dumped on the floor beside the front door. “I know you go to a lot of trouble to make Em’s lunch,” he said, crossing over to pick up the bag. “What did you give her today?”

“Let’s see,” Mrs Rice said, mulling the question over. “I gave her a homemade chocolate muffin for morning tea and a ham salad pita pocket as well as carrot and celery sticks with dip and a juice box for lunch.”

“What flavour was the juice?” Alec asked as he unzipped the bag.

“Apple and blackcurrant,” Mrs Rice promptly replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Because today I told Em not to open her lunchbox. Instead I gave her money to buy lunch from the school canteen.” Alec withdrew Em’s lunchbox from her bag. “I was just curious as to what I’d find in here.”

“Don’t worry about the waste,” Mrs Rice said, crossing the room to take the lunchbox from his hand. “I’ll dispose of it for you.”

She tried to grab the lunchbox but with their height difference it was laughably easy for Alec to hold it out of her reach.

“No need, Mrs Rice,” Alec said firmly, stepping away from her. “I’ll take care of it.”

He opened the lid of the lunchbox and lifted out a single uncut hard jam sandwich without a wrapper and a small soft apple with obvious bruises. Alec’s jaw tightened at the sight despite Halley having warned him.

“Care to explain?” he asked silkily.

Mrs Rice’s mouth opened and shut several times before she thought of something to say.

“One of the other children must have swapped lunches,” she said indignantly.

“And if I was to summon Em back, what would she tell me?” Alec asked.

“I have no idea,” Mrs Rice said defensively.

“But you go to so much trouble to make her lunch every day,” Alec said, trying to hide his anger. “Surely you could hazard a guess.”

“Since she gave the lunch I made her away I would imagine she would tell you a sandwich and an apple,” Mrs Rice said with a sniff.

Alec nodded, annoyed at having to concede the possibility. It would be Em’s word against Mrs Rice’s. He thought he had been clever to have Em buy her lunch but instead he should have just been late to work this morning and checked before they left the house. That way Mrs Rice wouldn’t have been able to lie.

“How often does Em play next door?” he asked, dropping the items back into the lunchbox.

“Now and then,” Mrs Rice said calmly at the change of subject.

Alec almost admired how she lied so easily. He set the lunchbox on the end table beside the recliner and spied the crystal lowball tumbler underneath. Alec snatched it up and gave it a sniff. Definitely gin and tonic.

“Is this yours?” he asked.

“No. I didn’t even know it was there!” Mrs Rice exclaimed.

Alec gave her a smile. It was not friendly.

“I’m sure that if I was to go to the effort I would find your fingerprints all over this glass. Let’s stop lying about everything now, shall we?” he demanded.

“I’m not lying,” Mrs Rice told him, sounding set upon.

If he hadn’t known better, Alec would have believed her charade. He guessed that if he persisted in challenging her she’d wind up claiming a conspiracy of some sort. Unfortunately for her it wouldn’t change the outcome so he decided to cut to the chase. She was fired as of this moment.

“Mrs Rice, I find that I no longer require your services. Your employment is terminated as of now and you may go.”

Before his eyes she seemed to shrink into herself and suddenly appear a frail old woman.

“You can’t mean that,” she said in disbelief. When he continued to look at her stonily she began to plead. “I need this job. Do you know how hard it is to live off a pension?” she asked.

“It would be easier if you stayed away from the bingo halls,” Alec suggested. Her lips puckered and Alec knew that Halley hadn’t misled him.

Mrs Rice picked up her handbag and began to shuffle towards the door, a pathetic caricature of the woman she had been minutes earlier. Not believing her act for a moment, Alec helpfully opened the door for her.

“Mrs Rice,” he called out from the doorway as she got into her car.

Mrs Rice closed the car door and wound down her window.

“Yes?” she asked hopefully.

“I recommend that if you try for future employment you should take better care of the goose that lays the golden egg.”

She scowled and revved the car’s engine before starting to back down the driveway at speed. The effect was lost when she nearly crashed into the neighbour’s fence halfway down and she had to come forward to straighten up.

Alec came to the top of the driveway to see that she didn’t take out the mailbox of either house before she backed onto the street.

“Good riddance,” he murmured as her car disappeared from sight.

Feeling as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders he strolled over to Halley’s house and knocked on the door. Alec could hear children cheering inside but nobody came to let him in. He leaned on the buzzer then pulled the screen door open in anticipation.

Moments later a frazzled looking Halley opened the door.

“Hi,” Alec said. “May I come in?”

Halley stepped back and gestured him inside. Alec had been in the house once, a couple of months after Paul and Krystal had moved in, to borrow a square tip screwdriver so he could open a toy that Em had posted coins into somehow. Although he had only been inside briefly, it seemed to him as he walked deeper into the house that all the furniture was the same.

“Did your sister and brother-in-law leave you the house furnished?” he asked as he followed her into the lounge.

“You could say that,” Halley said.

A cheer erupted overhead and a whimper from the other side of the room directed Alec’s gaze towards a bassinette set up beside the couch.

“Damn,” Halley muttered under her breath and briskly crossed the room to start jiggling the bassinette. She looked at Alec over her shoulder. “You’re home early,” she remarked.

“I followed your suggestion and as a result Mrs Rice is no longer in my employ,” he told her.

“How did she take it?” Halley asked, jiggling the bassinette more vigorously when Cassie’s cries grew louder.

“Denial, denial, denial,” Alec said. “She tried a spectacular exit but it got lost in the execution.”

“I wish I could have seen it,” Halley said.

“You probably heard it… The car revving?” Alec prompted.

“Was that Mrs Rice?” Halley asked in surprise. “She sounded like a boy racer.”

Alec smiled at the thought.

Cassie let loose an angry howl and his attention returned to the woman rocking the bassinette in front of him. Halley looked absolutely exhausted.

“Seeing as I have the rest of the afternoon off I was wondering if you’d like me to take all the children to the playground,” he said. “You look as though you could do with a break.”

“Thanks but it isn’t necessary,” Halley replied. “The boys can entertain themselves for a while. It’s this one who needs to let me rest.”

“I’ll take her too,” Alec added before he could think better of it. Then he couldn’t help himself. “Have you checked her nappy?” he asked.

“Already?” Halley said in surprise as she gave in, picked Cassie up and gave her a tentative sniff. “I only changed her five minutes ago,” she grumbled.

Several minutes later Alec had all the children buckled into Halley’s car to save swapping over the car seats and pushchair to his car. As soon as they reached the playground the three older children took off in three different directions while Alec transferred Cassie to the pushchair.

“Now where have they all got to?” he muttered when he straightened up. Alec spied Corey hanging upside down off a bar and pushed Cassie in his direction, all the while trying to locate the other two. He had nearly reached him when Corey fell off and landed heavily on the ground below.