Tuesday's Child (13 page)

DI Welsh sighed. She brushed a hand over her face. “Fine…but you keep me in the loop and you don’t step on MI5’s toes. They won’t like it.”

Nate nodded as he rang the doorbell. Sweat covered his palms, bile rose in his throat, and his stomach cramped. As he prayed for peace and the strength to do this, he hopped from one foot to the other.

A small shadow ran down the hallway and flung open the door. Jodie looked at him, her face falling slightly. “Oh, Uncle Nate. I thought it was mummy without her door key. She’s always forgetting it. Daddy says he’s going to put it on a chain around her neck before he’s much older.”

Nate somehow managed to find a smile for her. “Hey, Jodie. Is Daddy here?”

Jodie nodded. “He’s burning dinner in the kitchen. And getting all stressy with it.” She opened the door wide to let them in.

Nate headed down the hall to the kitchen, his boss at his side.

Dane stood by the sink, straining a pan of potatoes into the colander. His voice floated across to them. “Did you forget your keys again, Jas? How’s Adeline doing? She was pretty shaken—” His voice died as he turned and saw Nate and his boss standing there.

The pan fell from his hand, hitting the floor, boiling water and potatoes spilling everywhere. Color drained from his cheeks and his face cracked. “No….”

Nate turned to Jodie. “Take Vicky in the lounge for a minute while we help Daddy clean up. Don’t want you getting hurt.” He watched Jodie take her sister’s hand and leave the room. Then he moved over to his partner. “Dane, I’m sorry.”

“No, no, no. I don’t want to hear it. She’s fine. She’s at Adeline’s.” Dane’s gaze flicked desperately from Nate’s face to DI Welsh’s and back.

“There was an incident at Adeline’s,” Nate said quietly, his own heart breaking as he destroyed his partner’s world.

“
Incident
?” Dane spat the word back at him. “What do you mean an
incident
?”

“After we left the station, I took Adeline home. The front door was open, and we found Jas in the hallway. She’s dead, Dane. I’m so sorry.”

Dane’s eyes widened, and he arched forwards as if he’d been punched hard in the stomach. His hands clenched and unclenched, before he swept everything off the worktop onto the floor in one sweep. “No,” he yelled, his voice cracking.

Nate moved over to him, grabbing his arms. “Stop it.”

“Let go of me,” Dane roared, struggling free and sweeping the plates from the table to the floor.

Nate grabbed him, pulling him to his chest and not letting go. “Dane, stop it. She’s gone. Destroying the kitchen isn’t going to bring her back.”

Tears ran down Dane’s face. “Jasmine…why did God take her when I need her?”

“I don’t know,” Nate whispered, tears burning his own eyes.

“How did she die? You saw her, tell me how she died.”

“I can’t tell you any more than I already have.”

“Don’t give me that,” Dane yelled. “You just told me you found her. How. Did. She. Die?”

Nate sucked in a long breath. “Her throat was cut.”

Dane let out an almost animal scream of pain. “Nooooooo.”

DI Welsh’s phone rang. She pulled it from her pocket. “Welsh…I see. All right, thank you.” She snapped it shut and looked at the two men. “You interrupted the killer.”

“What?” Nate shook his head. “We can’t have. There was no one else in the house. I’d have seen them leave.”

“Jasmine had a packet of ivy in her pocket. It was the Herbalist. He hadn’t had time to move the body.”

Dane struggled, trying to get away. “No. It wasn’t her murder I sat and listened to in that interview room.” He hit out at Nate. “It wasn’t her.”

Nate warded off the blows. He glanced at the door as Jodie appeared.

“Daddy, Vicky won’t…what’s wrong with Daddy?”

DI Welsh moved over to her. “Jodie, isn’t it? I need your help. Do you know your grandma’s phone number?” She took the child’s hand and led her from the room.

Nate didn’t let go of Dane, sinking to the floor with him as Dane’s knees gave way, finally giving in to his own sorrow.

When the DI came back in, the first storm of grief had passed. Both men sat on the floor, knees against their chests and wrists resting on their knees. DI Welsh sat on the floor opposite them. “I’ve called your parents, Dane. They’re coming over.”

“Thanks.” Dane’s voice shuddered out, his rage spent. “Are you sure it was him? I mean…”

DI Welsh nodded. “The ivy, the MO, it all fits. And her injuries are consistent with what Miss Monroe described in the interview room.” She fixed her gaze on Nate. “I think he was after Miss Monroe. What’s her brother’s address?”

“Fifteen Highgrove Crescent. We can’t ring her as we still have her phone as evidence.”

“I’ll make sure she gets it back in the morning or we get her a replacement. I’m putting an officer outside her brother’s house tonight. I’m not waiting on MI5 to make a decision about protective custody.”

“I need to call Jas’s parents,” Dane’s voice was no more than a broken whisper. His shoulders slumped as he glanced up. He looked fifteen years older than he had twenty minutes ago.

“I’ll drive over there and tell them myself,” DI Welsh said. “Your parents will be here any minute.” She stood up and dropped a hand on Dane’s shoulder. “If there is anything I can do, let me know.”

“You can catch the man who killed my wife, lock him up, and throw away the key. That’s what you can do.”

“That’s a given,” she promised. “Where do Jas’s parents live?”

“Twenty Stonebridge Close.”

“OK. I’ll head over there now. I’m really sorry.”

“Thanks.”

Her footsteps clicked across the floor, and the front door opened and closed.

Dane groaned. “What do I tell the girls? How do I tell them mummy isn’t coming home?”

“I don’t know. But I know Someone who does.” Nate turned to his friend and partner and wrapping his arms around him, began to pray.

8

Adeline pushed her spoon through the bowl of cereal, her eyes following the closed captions on the television. Her picture was plastered all over the breakfast news, right alongside the Prime Minister’s.

Every time she’d closed her eyes during the night, she had seen Mrs. Williams fall against her over and over again. Those images had blurred and mixed with the ones of Jasmine lying dead in Adeline’s hallway.

She glanced out of the kitchen window at the police car. She remembered them arriving very late in the evening. Mark had talked with them and hadn’t told her what they wanted. Just the fact they were parked there spoke volumes. She was obviously being protected from something.

As she watched, the MI5 agent from the previous day arrived and exchanged a few words with the police. The panda car drove off to be replaced by a black sedan.

She put the spoon down. The sedan screamed unmarked police car just as loudly as the stripes and lights yelled police car.

She pushed the bowl away.

“You need to eat something.” Her mother gently pushed the bowl back.

“I’m really not hungry, Mum.”

“None of us are, darling. But, Jasmine wouldn’t want you getting sick on her account.”

“OK.” She took a couple more mouthfuls.

Her dad came in with the morning paper. “It’s chaos in the newsagents,” he said laying the paper on the table. “And as for the grocery store, forget it. No milk left already. You’ll need to run over to the supermarket later on and get some, Adeline.”

“OK, Dad. I will.”

“Anyone would think it was Christmas, it’s so busy. Talk about panic buying.”

Her mother nodded. “It was like that after Princess Diana died, David, do you remember?”

Adeline tuned out her parent’s conversation. She rose and turned off the television, not wanting to see news of Jasmine’s murder. They were concentrating on the death of the Prime Minister for the moment, but the local news was due on any moment. The Deputy Prime Minister was making a statement in an hour followed by an emergency debate in the House of Commons. She caught a glimpse of the morning newspaper. Her picture with the Prime Minister had pride of place on the front cover. Right next to the black edged photo of the Prime Minister on her own, and beneath that the one of the two of them with Ben.

Mark came into the kitchen in his uniform.

She managed a faint smile. “Love the new insignia,” she told him. She flashed off a mock salute. “Lieutenant-Colonel looks good on you, bro.”

Mark smiled. “Thank you, sis. When I get called that, I automatically look around for someone else. I need to sew them onto my dress uniform and my class A’s.”

“If you like I’ll sew them on for you.”

He signed as he spoke. “That would be great. Thanks. The uniforms are in the wardrobe, and the insignias in the box on the dresser. I have to go soon. We’re going to be flat out today. I wish I didn’t have to go. I’d rather stay here with you.”

“I’ll be fine. I have Ben.”

“It’s not the same. I should be here. You shouldn’t be alone right now. Not after yesterday.”

“Really, I’ll be all right.”

“But Mum and Dad are leaving on the cruise today. You’ll only have Ben for company.”

“I just don’t feel right about leaving.” Her mother placed her hand over Adeline’s arm. “We were thinking of cancelling—”

Adeline cut her mother off. “Don’t you dare cancel the cruise. You’ve been looking forward to this trip for months.”

“You need us here.”

“You need this holiday. I’ll be here when you get back.”

Her mother looked at her. “But, sweetie, you need me here more than we need a holiday.”

Adeline scowled. “Mum, you can’t. You’ll lose all that money. You and Dad saved for years for this trip. It’s the chance of a lifetime, and I won’t let you throw it away. If you cancel it won’t bring Jasmine back.”

Then she changed tactics. “Please…Jas wouldn’t want you to miss out on her account.” She deliberately quoted her mother’s words back at her. “I promise, I’ll be fine. Anyway, the taxi is due here at any time. It’s too late to cancel.”

Her mother’s brow furrowed as she waivered. Worry, grief and concern danced in her mother’s eyes and she twisted her wedding ring. A sure sign she was conflicted about something.

Adeline tried one last tack. “I’ll text you every day. At least once every six hours. And if I don’t, Ben will.” She tilted her head. “Did I tell you I’ve been teaching him how to use the phone?”

“OK.” She relented after a long pause. “But if you need us, call and we’ll come right home.” Her mother hugged her.

Adeline returned the hug. “Thank you.”

Mark hesitated, his face contorting with conflicting emotions. “Addie, I’m not sure…”

Adeline held his gaze. “Don’t you get on my case as well. I know you love me and want to protect me, but right now I just want to sew your insignia on your uniforms. The police are right outside. Then I have to call Dane to see how he and the girls are doing this morning. I should ring Susie, tell her to go in and open up and maybe I’ll go into work for a little bit.”

“Work? Are you crazy?” He shook his head at her, repeating the signs twice.

“Maybe, but it’s what I want to do.”

“Fine, but if you need anything, you call me. I am never too busy for you, Adeline.”

“Thank you.” She hugged him tightly. “You always wanted a famous sister,” she joked.

“Not like this, hon. Not like this.”

She sat down again, listlessly playing with her breakfast. She glanced up as Mark sat opposite her. “I’m sorry. I’m not hungry.”

His hand covered hers, his touch warm against her cold skin. “It’s fine.”

Ben jumped up, touched Adeline’s leg and ran to the door. Mark smiled. “That’s someone at the door. Be right back.”

Adeline grabbed her bowl and carried it to the sink to wash it. She took pleasure in the water enveloping her hands, washing away…everything. It was hot against her cold, clammy fingers. The bubbles sat in the palm of her hands and coated the backs of them. For a moment normality existed. Nothing bad had happened.

Who am I trying to kid? I can’t even manage to eat a bowl of cereal this morning
.

Although Mark was an amazing cook, she’d refused his offer of bacon and eggs, and even turned down his suggestion of pancakes. Jasmine was dead. Breakfast wouldn’t fix that. Nothing could. Nothing would ever be the same again.

She turned around and leaned against the counter. Her parents came in wearing coats.

“The taxi’s here,” her father said.

She hugged him and then her mother. “Have a great time. Email me lots of photos. And don’t worry too much. Everything will be fine.”

Her mother still didn’t look convinced. “Three months is a long time.”

“You’ll be too busy having fun to worry about me. Shuffleboard on the deck, walks on the prom, dinner at the Captain’s table to name a few. Oh, and don’t forget all those men in uniform.”

Her mother laughed. “Take care.”

“You too.” She raised a hand and waved as they headed into the hall. She turned back to the sink, finishing the dishes slowly. She swallowed hard, trying to push off the feeling that she wasn’t going to see them again.
Now you’re being stupid. Of course you’re seeing them again. In three months’ time they’ll be back, bronzed and well rested. Stop being pathetic.

Ben nudged her and she looked down, drying her hands on the tea towel. “What is it?” She followed his gaze to the door. Mark stood there with Nate and the MI5 bloke from the previous day. Her heart pounded as she took in the black suit, shirt and tie Nate wore. With huge dark circles under his red rimmed eyes, he didn’t look like he’d gotten much sleep, either.

“Morning, Nate.” She wasn’t going to say good morning. There was nothing good about it by any stretch of the imagination.

Nate looked at her, a slight smile on his lips that never quite reached his eyes. He moved over to her and hugged her. “Morning, Adeline. How are you?”

“I’ve been better. How are you?”

Nate shrugged. “Been better. Guv told me to take the day off, but I need to be working. It’s the least I can do for Dane and Jas.”