Don't Let Me Go (37 page)

Chloe was kicking her and writhing so wildly that Tracy had to put her down. Immediately snatching Boots from the floor, Chloe ran to the front door. She couldn’t reach the handle, so she spun round to watch Tracy coming after her, her eyes so distraught and beseeching that Tracy could hardly bear to look at her.

‘Go now,’ Chloe said, grabbing Tracy’s hand.

‘Oh Chloe, you know you have to stay here,’ Tracy murmured, stooping down to her height.

Chloe started shaking her head again, and afraid she might make herself sick, Tracy caught it between her hands.

‘Listen to me,’ she said softly, ‘I know it’s hard right now, but I promise everything’s going to be fine. You’ll have a lovely birthday. I’ll come too and bring you a surprise present, will that be nice?’

Chloe was still trying to shake her head.

‘I wonder what the surprise will be,’ Carrie said from behind them.

Chloe mumbled something Tracy couldn’t hear.

‘What was that?’ she asked.

‘Make a wish,’ Chloe gasped.

Tracy might have smiled if she hadn’t already had an idea what the wish would be. ‘Of course you can make a wish,’ she replied. ‘But you know, don’t you, that wishes don’t always come true straight away?’

Chloe looked at her with such desperate eyes that Tracy would have done anything to be able to give this dear little girl what she wanted, but she couldn’t, so she might as well put it out of her mind now.

Heather Hancock’s insides gave a twist of unease as the restaurant door opened and Charlotte Nicholls came in, accompanied by a middle-aged couple and a bloke who looked a bit like an ageing hippy.

‘Blimey, I wasn’t expecting to see her out in public,’ she commented to her lunch companion. ‘At least not this soon, or somewhere like this.’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Jason Carmichael demanded, though he too was looking decidedly awkward as he watched Charlotte and her party being shown to a centre island table.

‘Well, it’s pretty high profile, for Kesterly anyway, and she never struck me as the type to do posh.’

Jason’s handsome face turned sour. ‘You so don’t know her,’ he muttered derisively.

Heather looked at him in surprise. ‘I know her a bit better now, thanks to you,’ she reminded him, her eyes glinting with a malicious sort of humour.

They were in a window booth of the Crustacean Brasserie, a sprawling clifftop eatery with live lobsters and crabs in the fish tank, and impressive views down over the metal-grey sweep of the bay. As it had recently earned itself a Michelin star it wasn’t easy to get a table these days, especially in the evenings. However, in the middle of the day, as it was now, there was usually less demand, which was how Heather had managed to acquire one of the premium tables. Of course, being who she was had helped; the management were understandably keen for good write-ups in the local press, and with the way things were Heather could see no reason not to oblige.

‘You’ll never guess who’s here,’ she hissed to Gina, her supposed best friend and Jason’s wife, as Gina came back from the loo. ‘You are going to be sooo thrilled.’

Gina, who took her style tips from
The Only Way Is Essex,
lit up with intrigue. ‘Is it someone famous?’ she asked, casting an eager eye around the room.

Heather laughed. ‘You could say that,’ she replied. ‘It’s only our old mate the child-snatcher.’

As Gina’s expression dulled Jason said, ‘For God’s sake, Heather, give her a break, will you? This is serious what’s going on, and the way you’re treating it, like you’ve got some exciting new toy to play with . . .’

‘Hang on, hang on,’ Heather interrupted imperiously. ‘First, don’t make out like I’m not clued into how serious this is, because believe me, I know. And second, since when did you become her defender?’

‘Good bloody question,’ Gina muttered, straining to locate her husband’s ex-girlfriend amongst the crowded tables. ‘Where is she?’ she demanded.

‘Did you ever learn to do discretion?’ Heather asked tartly.

Gina’s eyes flashed. ‘That’s rich coming from you, who posted all the stuff about her having a mass killer’s blood in her veins – and got it wrong.’

Heather’s nostrils flared. ‘I only repeated what I was told,’ she retorted, ‘because I believed my source was reliable.’ The look she gave Jason was as withering as the put-down itself. How she’d ever fancied him, when nothing about him seemed remotely appealing now, she’d never know. OK, he was good-looking and kind and great with his kids, but when it came right down to it he wasn’t her type at all.

‘I told you in confidence,’ he said sharply, ‘and you swore to me it wouldn’t go any further, so as far as I’m concerned it serves you damned well right that Albescu turns out not to be her real father. In fact, I reckon you ought to print an apology.’

‘Yeah, like I’m really going to do that,’ she sneered. Why was she here having lunch with them today? Oh, that was right, they’d invited her as a thank you for driving them to the airport later. A second honeymoon in Tenerife. Lovely.

‘What I’d like to know is who her real father is,’ she muttered, almost to herself.

‘Why don’t you just leave it?’ Jason advised.

Having caught sight of Charlotte now, Gina said, ‘Blimey, she’s not looking her best, is she. Who’s that with her? Do you know?’

‘Never seen them before,’ Heather replied. ‘Actually, what’s really interesting me is whether she’s got something going with that lawyer, you know, the one who showed up in court the other day. It only turns out he’s the same one as got all hot under the collar about the review I gave her play back in the autumn, do you remember?’

‘That was a spiteful review and completely unjustified,’ Jason told her bluntly.

Gina and Heather both drew back to look at him.

‘Will you listen to him,’ Heather jeered.

‘Well, it was,’ he insisted.

‘You know what,’ Heather said to Gina, ‘I don’t reckon he’s over her.’

‘Oh, for God’s sake,’ Jason snapped. ‘It’s got nothing to do with that.’

‘Well, you do seem a bit keen to take her side,’ Gina pointed out. ‘She stole a kid, for God’s sake. I suppose the next thing we know, you’re going to be telling us she ought to get away with it.’

Not wanting to enter into an argument that was going to end him up nowhere he’d want to be, he merely grunted and picked up his wine. If the truth were told he’d never have left Alex – or Charlotte as she now was – were it not for his kids, and seeing her walk in a few minutes ago had brought it all rushing back. He’d been happy with her; he missed her; he still wanted to be with her.

‘Oh my God, she’s only coming over here,’ Gina suddenly hissed.

Heather’s heart skipped a beat, but she quickly mounted the moral high ground. There was only one person here who had a charge of child abduction hanging over her, and Alex Lake had had the last word between them once too often for her liking. Heather’s day had surely arrived.

As Charlotte came to a stop in front of the table, looking shaky and yet oddly steely, Heather and Gina regarded her with disdain while Jason kept his eyes averted. ‘Hello Jason,’ she said, her greeting cutting straight past the other two.

Flicking her a glance, he grunted, ‘Hi, how are you?’

The challenge in her eyes didn’t falter. ‘I’m wondering why you felt it necessary to break my confidence over what happened to my family when I was a child,’ she said, her voice as steady as the rocks outside. Only her hands, clenched tightly at her sides, betrayed how tense she was.

‘The nerve of her,’ Gina sneered to Heather.

Charlotte’s eyes were still boring into Jason.

‘And I’m wondering,’ Heather piped up, ‘what makes you feel you’ve got the right to steal a child.’

Managing to ignore her, Charlotte said to Jason, ‘It was a pity you didn’t know the whole story, or you could have saved your friend here from making a fool of herself with yet more lies. I can only wonder how many more she’s going to publish before the police find out who’s behind the contempt of court. I believe the sentence for that is anything up to two years,’ and turning on her heel she walked back to her table, leaving them as dumbstruck by her thinly veiled threat as she’d intended.

Ron Fenn refilled her glass with wine as she sat down again.

‘Are you OK?’ Tommy asked gently.

In spite of how shaken she was, she said, ‘Yes, I’m fine. I’m sorry, I just had to say something.’

‘Don’t be sorry,’ Maggie told her. ‘You were extremely brave to go over there. I’m not sure I could have done it.’

With an ironic smile, Tommy said, ‘This one’s always had a bit of a gift for speaking her mind.’

‘And getting myself into trouble over it,’ Charlotte added. ‘But I just couldn’t let them sit there and think I’m afraid of them, or that I don’t know who posted my family history on that website.’

‘Well, I hope you gave it to Heather Hancock good and proper,’ Ron declared. ‘Personally, I’m amazed the local paper still employs her, with all the rubbish she comes out with.’

‘I don’t expect there are very rich pickings around these parts,’ Tommy commented, ‘so they probably can’t get anyone else. Anyway, pet, are you still feeling all right about being here?’

Charlotte forced a smile as she nodded. She wasn’t, though not because of Heather, or Jason, but because the only place in the world she really wanted to be was Te Puna, celebrating Chloe’s fourth birthday the way they’d intended.

It couldn’t happen, so somehow she had to put it aside or she was going to ruin the lunch, and she really didn’t want to do that when everyone was being so kind.

As they gave the waiter their orders Charlotte watched Ron and Maggie fondly, wishing she could hug them, or at least tell them how grateful she was for these past two days. They’d put no pressure on her at all, asked no questions and made no demands. They’d simply got on with their lives, while allowing her to call her mother whenever she liked, to sleep at odd times of the day, eat or not eat; they’d even driven her to the police station in the middle of the day to meet the terms of her bail.

How on earth did she deserve such support, when she couldn’t even claim to have known them well before she’d left?

‘I sometimes think,’ her mother had said on the phone last night, ‘that angels are actually people who come into our lives when we need them, then go again when the crisis has passed.’

Though Charlotte had liked the thought, she hoped Maggie and Ron would always be a part of her life. Tommy too, with his brash affection and unswerving loyalty. She was going to miss him terribly when he went to join his wife, Jackie, up north. They’d stay in touch, of course, and Tommy would undoubtedly be back for the trial, but it wasn’t going to be the same as having him close by. Nor would she be able to seek the unspoken reassurances he was able to give her about Chloe.

Where was her darling, sweet little girl now? What was she doing today? Did the people she was with know it was her birthday? Were they arranging something special for her? As the questions crowded in on her, her heart ached with the thoughts of what should have been happening – the new bike Charlotte had promised; the cake bake at Aroha; the party at Nanna’s; the practice jump-off; the wishes she wanted to make; the puppy she didn’t know anything about.

Bob had told her last night that they’d decided to let the puppy go to another home, since they couldn’t be sure when Chloe would be back. ‘I don’t want you to think we’re giving up hope,’ he’d rushed on, ‘because we’re never going to do that. It’s just that if we bring it home now it’ll get used to being with us, and it’s important for it to bond with her.’

Though Charlotte could see the reasoning, it had upset her terribly at the time, and if she didn’t pull herself together quickly it was going to upset her again now.

‘Lovely, lovely,’ Ron declared, as Tommy topped up their glasses. ‘I think we ought to drink a toast to Charlotte’s new flat, and a trouble-free move tomorrow.’

‘We’ll all be there to help her,’ Maggie reminded him, ‘unless Anthony’s whisking you off on one of his fishing trips. Is he?’

‘Haven’t heard from him,’ Ron replied, and clinking his glass against Charlotte’s he said, ‘To you and to all your wishes coming true.’

Having to swallow hard as she thought of Chloe again, Charlotte forced a smile as she thanked him and took a sip of her drink.

‘Tell me, what news on your mother coming over?’ Tommy asked, putting his glass down.

Sighing, Charlotte said, ‘Apparently their lawyer’s still trying to get information out of the police here as to whether or not she’ll risk arrest if she does come. So until they get an answer she has to stay where she is.’

‘I imagine she’s finding it very frustrating,’ Maggie commented, ‘and I ask you, whose interests are going to be served if they do arrest her?’

As Charlotte started to reply a young woman, about her own age, came up to the table and said to her, ‘Excuse me, I don’t expect you remember me, but we went to the same school. I was in the year below you?’

Charlotte smiled politely. She didn’t remember her, but she wasn’t going to say so. ‘Were you in Abbots House?’ she asked, hazarding a guess.

‘No, Manfield,’ the woman replied. ‘Anyway, I just wanted to say that some of us have been going on to your Facebook page to add our support for what you did. We think saving the little girl from that monster was lovely, and that you shouldn’t be in the position you are now. That’s all – I’m sorry for interrupting your meal.’

As she walked away Charlotte almost went after her, but realised if she did she’d end up embarrassing them both.

‘How sweet of her,’ Maggie commented, teary-eyed.

‘Wasn’t it?’ Ron agreed.

‘I ought to go on to Facebook to find out what everyone’s saying,’ Charlotte mused. ‘It’s OK,’ she added quickly as Tommy scowled, ‘I realise it won’t all be like that, but I should probably keep up with what’s being said.’

‘I heard this morning,’ he told her, ‘that Dean Valley Council’s launching an internal inquiry into whether any of us helped you get Chloe out of the country.’

‘Oh God,’ Charlotte groaned. ‘Still, at least we know no one did, so there can’t be any comeback on anyone.’