Behind Closed Doors (Season One: Book 7) (Jessica Daniel) (5 page)

Adam was smiling too. ‘Yes, unlike you. Everyone’s got flower beds, you can drive from one end of the village to the other in five minutes, there are no big supermarkets, two primary
schools, fields everywhere. It’s so different.’

‘It’s a nice place to retire to but it’s so boring. Nowhere to eat, nothing to do, everyone knows what everyone else is up to—’

‘Nowhere to get into trouble, you mean.’

Jessica laughed. ‘Exactly. Come on, give me a hand.’

Since the catch was on the opposite side, she pressed her foot on the horizontal metal rung across the low gate, shushing Adam as he told her to be careful. ‘I’m not an
invalid,’ she said irritably, as he helped to lift her up and over the gate. ‘If you wanted to feel up my arse, all you had to do was ask,’ Jessica added, landing on the other
side with more of a thump than she wanted to admit. This type of climbing, or anything similar, was soon going to be a thing of the past.

Adam had his hands on his hips. ‘In my defence, it’s so big, there wasn’t anywhere else to put my hand.’

Jessica snorted in playful annoyance. ‘Just for that, you can stay out there.’

‘Okay, but I’ve got the car keys, remember. If you want to stay up here for a few days then feel free. I’ll drive back down to the big city.’

‘Fine.’

Jessica unclipped the gate and waved Adam through, taking his hand in hers as they strolled through to the back garden. At the far end, Jessica’s father was walking away from them, pushing
a lawnmower.

‘How old is he?’ Adam asked.

‘Sixty-seven this year. Now he’s retired, he does more work than he did when he was actually working. He’s off playing bowls three times a week, then he gets up and goes for a
walk every morning. If it’s not raining, he’s in the garden every evening. Mum’s never had so much peace.’

‘How long have they been married?’

‘Forty-three years.’

‘Wow.’

‘I know.’

‘And they’ve had to put up with you for most of that time.’

‘Oi!’

Before Jessica could scold Adam any further, her father turned the corner with the lawnmower and noticed them. The loud moaning of the engine cut out instantly as he stepped away, waving and
hurrying towards them, a huge grin on his face.

Jessica stood clutching Adam’s hand as her father neared. Age had treated him kindly. Despite the increase in wrinkles and the odd wince when he stood, he had the same boyish sparkle to
his eyes he’d always had, coupled with the astuteness that could only come with age.

‘Daddy,’ Jessica said, releasing Adam and reaching out as her father wrapped his arms around her.

‘Why didn’t you say you were coming up? Your mum could have put something on especially.’

‘We didn’t want to cause a fuss.’ She nodded towards the lawnmower. ‘You should get someone in to help you with this.’

‘What, mowing the lawn? I’m not decrepit yet.’

‘I didn’t mean that but you do too much.’

He released her, throwing his arms in the air. ‘Bah, it keeps me young.’ He reached forward, shaking Adam’s hand. ‘Good to see you again, son,’ he said, winking in
the way Jessica knew was just to tease. Adam was always a little edgy around her dad, in the way she guessed most men were around fathers-in-law. She knew Adam was uncomfortable at being called
‘son’, not because his own parents were dead, simply because it made him feel a little
too
much like part of the family.

‘How much is it for you to take her permanently?’ Jessica’s dad asked, raising his eyebrows and looking at Adam.

‘How come every time I bring a lad home, you try to sell me off?’ Jessica complained.

Her father turned to her, grinning. ‘Because I’ve had forty years of looking after you. It’s someone else’s turn. If that costs me a few grand, then fair
enough.’

Jessica hugged into his arm. ‘I’m not that old.’

‘Not long now until the big four-oh though, is it?’

‘Long enough – when do you think I was born?! Anyway, where’s Mum?’

Her father nodded towards the house. ‘Inside. She was reading the last I saw.’

‘No one answered the front door.’

‘Her hearing’s been going for years. I stood out there for twenty minutes myself the other week when I forgot my key.’

‘That’s what you get for changing the locks on me.’

Her dad threw his head back, roaring with laughter. ‘I told your mother that would annoy you more than anything. Still, she’s yours now, son.’

He nodded towards Adam again, making him squirm, before turning back to the garden.

‘Anyway, I’ve got work to do before it gets dark. You go and say hello to your mother. I’ll be in soon.’

He leant forward, kissing her on the forehead. ‘It’s good to see you again.’

As he turned, walking away, Jessica could hear his chuckles carrying on the breeze.

‘He’s only winding you up,’ she said, taking Adam’s hand and leading him towards the house.

‘I wouldn’t mind so much if he’d actually paid me the money promised. Last time, he reckoned he’d pay five grand for me to take you off his hands.’

‘I’m only worth five thousand?’

‘Well, I’d hope to negotiate him up to five and a half, maybe six.’

The back door was unlocked and Jessica led the way into the house.

‘Mum?’

There was a shuffling from the living room and then Jessica’s mother walked through the doorway, seeming confused as she glanced from Adam to Jessica. ‘Why didn’t you say you
were coming up?’

She yawned as Jessica stepped forward to hug her. ‘Because we knew you’d make a big fuss if we said we were coming. I wanted it to be low-key.’

Her mother was looking tired, her short grey hair stuck to the side of her head as if she had just been sleeping on it. She reached forward and hugged Adam.

‘Nice to meet you again, Mrs Daniel,’ he said.

‘I’ve told you before, it’s Lydia.’

‘We tried the front door,’ Jessica said. ‘But you’ve changed the locks.’

Jessica’s mother turned, leading them into the living room.

‘Sorry, love,’ she said over her shoulder. ‘I’ve got a spare key for you somewhere. I’ll sort it out later. I’ve been having problems sleeping recently. One
minute I’m in my chair reading, the next it’s three hours later. Then I can’t sleep at night. You know what doctors are like – they say it’s one thing, then it’s
another. You may as well ask the wall for its opinion for the amount of good it does. I must have dropped off when you were at the front.’

She relaxed into a rocking chair, leaning backwards and making it sway gently. Adam and Jessica sat on the sofa across from her.

‘How’s the new house?’ she asked.

‘It’s good,’ Jessica replied. ‘It needs a bit of work but it’s nice to be somewhere that belongs to us. It all happened really quickly.’

There was a short silence as Lydia fixed her daughter with a knowing stare. ‘So why are you really here?’

She was used to having her mum one step ahead of her, but Jessica hadn’t expected such directness. ‘Who says we’re here for anything other than to say hello?’

Lydia tilted her head to the side, grinning. ‘I’ve known you way too long to think you’ve driven all of this way to pop in and say hello . . .’

Jessica shrugged, the game up. ‘I was going to break it gently.’

‘What?’

Jessica leant back into the sofa, lifting her top and using both hands to cradle the area underneath her stomach where there was a small bump, noticeable now it wasn’t concealed by the
loose-fitting piece of clothing.

She thought her mother would be pleased but didn’t expect the shriek of enjoyment coupled with the beaming grin. ‘You’re . . .’

Jessica couldn’t stop herself from smiling, running her fingers across the taut skin. ‘Yes.’

Her mother crossed the room, kissing them both on the head, beaming. ‘How long?’

‘Not very. I’m still figuring things out. I climbed over your gate at the back, forgetting I’m supposed to be looking after myself. I’m so used to simply doing things
that it’s going to take a bit of getting used to.’

‘You’re still working?’

‘For now. They want to promote me.’

Lydia returned to her rocking chair. ‘They don’t know yet?’

‘My friend Izzy does. Other than her it’s just us.’

Jessica’s mother breathed out deeply, looking from her daughter to Adam and back again. ‘I’m so pleased for you both, after everything that happened to you in America. What are
you going to do about that?’

Jessica exchanged a glance with Adam, having predicted this would be one of her mother’s first questions. They had flown to Las Vegas to get married but the chapel they had used did not
have the correct licence, meaning the ceremony was invalid. Jessica still wore the wedding band she had been given that day but there was nothing official.

‘We’re not going to rush into getting married, not after last time. We’re happy.’

There was a flicker of disapproval but Jessica knew her mum would keep her feelings quiet. Trying to talk her into or out of something over the years had rarely got either of her parents
anywhere.

Her mother’s eyes narrowed. ‘Are you happy with this too?’

Jessica nodded. ‘I think so. It wasn’t planned but if we’d left it at that, it never would have happened because I would never have given myself time away from work. I
didn’t think I’d ever want children. Now, it feels right. I can’t wait.’

Lydia smiled knowingly. ‘You won’t be saying that when you’re flat on your back, legs splayed, screaming in agony.’

Jessica shook her head, determined to keep hold of the picture she had painted for herself of what childbirth would be like. ‘Thanks for sharing,’ she said sarcastically.

‘Adam?’ her mum asked.

He sat up a little straighter, squeezing Jessica’s hand. ‘I’ve never been happier. It wasn’t that long ago I found out I’ve got a sister. Now I’m going to
have a son too.’

Jessica pulled her hand free. ‘How do you know it’s going to be a boy?’

‘I just do. Perhaps he’ll be an inventor and you’ll get your blue plaque by default.’

He didn’t say it but Jessica knew what he was thinking. For the first time in a long time, he was going to have a proper family. Both of his parents had died when he was a baby. His
grandmother had brought him up but she had passed away a few years ago. His sister, Georgia, was the product of an affair between their mother and a man Adam had never met. Despite that, they
shared a bond and spoke regularly on the phone. There was even talk she might move back to Manchester. With Georgia, the baby and her, he had something he had craved his entire life.

Lydia set her chair rocking again. ‘I’m really pleased for you both. Have you told your father?’

Jessica stood. ‘No, we were going to wait for him to come in. I’ll go and see how he is.’

She walked through to the kitchen, listening for the hum of the lawnmower. Instead, she could hear nothing but the chirping of birds. Jessica could feel her heart beating quicker, knowing
instinctively something wasn’t right.

As she reached the door, it was as if the birds realised, their cheeps rising to a deafening peak. Jessica pulled down the handle and stepped onto the patio, ice breezing through her unrelated
to the temperature. At the far end of the garden, the lawnmower was collapsed on its side, next to the face-down unmoving body of her father.

MONDAY

Jessica had never been to Colne before and from the initial impression leaving the train station, she didn’t think she would be back any time soon. There was nothing
particularly wrong with the place, rolling lush hills in the background and tidy sandstone buildings along the side of the road, but there was a dread in her stomach that she had yet again made the
wrong decision. Her life seemed to be peppered with them. Now she found herself on her own again, leaping head-first into something she wasn’t sure about.

As Jessica stood on the side of the road outside the train station looking both ways, she rubbed the area below her stomach absent-mindedly before realising what she was doing and snatching the
hand away. At least once a day she found herself doing it, seemingly unable to control her subconscious.

‘You looking for a taxi, love?’ Jessica turned to see a man leaning against a cab eating a chocolate bar. ‘You look a little lost,’ he added, smiling.

Jessica usually bristled at the use of the word ‘love’ but wasn’t in the mood to argue with anyone. She told him the address of the house, which made him choke on the final
piece of his snack.

‘Are you sure?’ he asked.

‘Why?’

‘That place has a reputation.’

‘What reputation?’

He looked both ways, as if worried someone would overhear him, and lowered his voice. ‘Just that there’s lots of people there. Hardly anyone ever sees them but there’s this
bloke who runs everything. He’s called Noah or something like that.’

‘Do you think he’s building an ark?’

‘A what?’

Jessica shook her head. ‘Never mind. Can you take me anyway?’

In all the taxis she had been in, Jessica had never known a driver be so quiet. Usually they talked about everything and anything. She’d once been in a cab taking her from one side of
Manchester to the other where the driver listed everyone famous he’d ever had in the back. By the time he named a Hollywood film star, she suspected there was a slight distortion of the truth
going on. One other driver had practically been in tears, telling her how he was a law graduate struggling to find a job and that this was the worst thing he had ever done. The night before he had
been called out to a notorious estate and mugged. She’d felt so sorry for him, she’d given him twenty quid for a five-pound fare, telling him to call her personally if he ever got
assaulted again. She’d never heard from him since but it had given her a new appreciation of what drivers actually did. Either that, or he told the same story to everyone, cleaning up in tips
along the way.

She guessed this driver’s silence was because he was wary of anyone going to the house. He even seemed reluctant to take her money after dropping her off outside a set of wide metal gates.
Jessica had brought just enough to pay for a train and taxi fare, knowing Zipporah had told her nothing else was permitted in the house. She presumed that included money.