For the Sake of the Children: The first Chloe Webster thriller (Chloe Webster Thrillers Book 1) (9 page)

Thankfully, the rest of her first week passed without incident and Chloe was beginning to feel like she was part of the team. She assisted Drake with a few matters and he seemed to be quite impressed with her. She discovered that he had a daughter around the same age as her and that had at least given her something in common with him; they had shared the odd joke or two about ‘today’s youngsters’ and how he couldn’t keep up with them.

She’d also made more of an effort with Ray and became used to looking beyond his rather pitiful manners to the lawyer that Ben had claimed he was. And she had to agree, Ray was actually quite an impressive solicitor, often going out of his way to help his clients and ensure they were pleased with his work. Perhaps she had misjudged him, although she wondered if he knew where to draw the line in terms of carrying out his clients’ instructions to the letter.

She hadn’t seen a great deal of Ben. They met up for lunch towards the end of the week but it was a rushed affair as they were both so busy. He suggested that they might go out again the following week and they agreed to try to arrange something soon. Chloe didn’t mind. If they were actually dating, and she wasn’t sure that they were, then she was happy to take things slowly. She had appreciated his invitation to the theatre the other night, and although the play was mediocre, they had both enjoyed each other’s company.

Now, after a restful weekend spent doing very little she was ready for the challenges of a new week. She was in early and the office was still quite empty, although she noticed Ray was already at his desk and having an animated conversation with someone. The computer screen in front of her said it was twenty to eight. She assumed he must be speaking to a friend at this time on a Monday morning.

As she had hoped, a quiet couple of hours allowed her to catch up with some outstanding matters. Letters and file notes were all dispatched into the Dictaphone with efficiency and by ten o’clock Chloe was ready for a coffee. Then her mobile phone rang and the screen told her it was Chelsie Swanson.

‘Hello Chelsie. What can I do for you?’ She hoped everything was okay. It soon became apparent that it wasn’t.

‘Mark’s been round again, Chloe, last night, kicking the door and threatening all kinds of things. Why doesn’t he just leave me alone, the bastard?’ Chloe wasn’t sure if it was anger or fear she could hear, maybe a bit of both.

‘Because he knows he’s scaring you. He’s a bully and he should still be locked up for what he did to George. I assume you called the police?’

‘I did, yes, but he’d gone by the time they arrived. Of course, the neighbours saw nothing; they’re all too scared to speak against him.’

‘All right Chelsie, I’ll talk to the police myself but there’s probably not much I can do. George is still at your mum’s isn’t he?’

‘Yeah, he’s safe. I wish I could go and stay with him for a while.’ She sounded beyond miserable.

‘I know, but for now it’s better that you stay at home and leave George at your mum’s. We need to convince the authorities that he’s safe, and they’re likely to agree that he is safe as long as he’s being looked after by his grandmother. Listen Chelsie, thanks for the call, you did the right thing. Call the police if he comes back, and don’t let him in.’

‘I won’t. Thanks Chloe.’

‘I’ll speak to you soon Chelsie.’

Chloe hung up and thought about recent events. She really didn’t like the sound of it, but there was little she could do to speed things along. She reassured herself that George was safe, because he was the most important, the most vulnerable, and the most innocent person in all of this.

‘I spy with my little eye something beginning with C.’

‘Car.’

‘Clouds.’

‘You’re both wrong.’ The Timer turned round from the passenger seat and looked at his girls. He winked and they grinned back at him.

‘Crowd.’

‘Clown.’ Both girls broke into fits of laughter.

‘Clown? Where is there a clown Molly? Remember you must be able to see it.’ He slowly held up two Mars Bars in a V shape.

‘Chocolate!’ came the excited reply from the two girls and they each grabbed one of the bars. ‘Thanks daddy!’

‘You both be good for mummy today, okay? Daddy has some work to do, but I’ll see you later.’ He turned to his wife sat in the driver’s seat next to him. ‘Thanks for the lift darling. I won’t be late. Drive carefully.’

‘Bye love.’ She kissed him and watched him get out and walk off into the crowded Monday morning streets of Sheffield city centre. She didn’t really know what he did for a living and was happy to keep it that way. He’d told her right from the start that he would never have an ordinary job, and that she would never know the details of what he did, but also that it would never affect her or the children in any way. And to be fair, in the ten years they’d been married it never had. She told herself that he was probably some bigwig with a sensitive role in the city, or something to do with the security forces, a spy perhaps. But in her heart she knew that wasn’t the case. Whatever it was, it paid well; she and the girls had never wanted for anything. The house, the cars, the holidays, they had it all. And most importantly, he was a great father to his daughters, not just in terms of materialistic things, but because he gave them the most important thing that any father can give to their children. His time.

The car pulled away and she looked around at all the people going about their daily routines - ordinary, plain, boring people with ordinary plain boring lives.

How she envied them.

‘Chloe Webster speaking.’

‘Hello Miss Webster, it’s Gloria. I have Mr Crawford down here. I’ve put him in meeting room two.’

‘Thank you Gloria, I’ll be right down.’

Although she hung up without another word, progress was slowly being made. Chloe had been making an effort to stop and say hello to Gloria now and again and it seemed that the ice was melting. She was at least civil to her now, and she knew that was more than some people had achieved despite having been at the firm for much longer than Chloe.

She gathered her papers on the Crawford file and began to make her way across the office to the stairs.

‘Mr Crawford is it?’ It was Ray, standing by the coffee machine with a smug grin on his face. ‘Be good to him please.’

I’d love to slap that stupid face of yours
, she thought.
She just couldn’t help it. He still wound her up so easily and she hated herself for letting him do it. She took a breath and controlled her irritation.

‘I will, don’t worry, Ray. I know he’s important to you.’ Chloe continued off through the door before she said anything she regretted.

‘Good girl.’

She heard it and almost snapped back a riposte but thought better of it. She headed off down the stairs and approached meeting room two, smiling across to Gloria as she went. She was sure she saw a half-smile before the receptionist looked away.

‘Ah Miss Webster, how nice to see you again.’ The Timer knew he had won this battle before it even started. Chloe knew it too. She had made her point, presented her case to everyone she could think of, and yet no one seemed to agree that there was anything wrong with what was happening here. Or at least, no one was prepared to take a stance. The bag was already on the table, glaring at her, taunting her with its presence. She was in no mood for pleasantries, and made sure that her client was aware of the fact.

‘One hundred thousand pounds wasn’t it?’ she said abruptly.

‘Yes, that’s correct. If you could just pop that into your firm’s client account and I’ll get further instructions to you as soon as I can. Everything is going smoothly I take it?’

Chloe had received a sale contract for the warehouse from the seller’s solicitor together with relevant information about the property. She was in the process of checking it all through, still a little disappointed to be doing property work when she was now a qualified family lawyer. Still, work was work and it kept her hand in at least.

‘Yes, so far so good.’ Polite, but not at all friendly.

‘Good, good. And I’m glad we’ve resolved our little differences about how to proceed in this matter. It’s important for me to have a lawyer who understands how I work.’

Chloe looked at him. The Timer still liked her. She had a determination and a fight in her that he hoped his own daughters would have. The feeling wasn’t mutual and Chloe ignored his comments.

‘Well if there’s nothing else?’ asked Chloe.

‘No, just the money.’

‘Right, in that case, I’ll say goodbye. Can you find your own way out?’ She couldn’t believe she’d just said that to a client. The Timer grinned back at her, impressed.

‘I can find anything if I put my mind to it.’

He got up and left the room. Chloe peeked inside the bag. Her heart began to race again at the sight of the banknotes bundled into neat blocks. For a moment she imagined herself taking the bag and walking out of the office, straight to the nearest airport and away on an aeroplane to who knows where? How different life could be with a little money in the bank.

She closed the bag and hurried off back to her desk.

‘PC Hutchings,’ said a female voice, a little wearily.

‘Yes, hello, my name’s Chloe Webster. I’m a solicitor at Anderson Gormley and Drake and I’m acting for a Miss Chelsie Swanson. Her son George has been abused by Chelsie’s ex-boyfriend and I understand that you let him out on bail last week…’

‘Well, the court did actually,’ interrupted the policewoman, ‘but yes, you’re right. Has there been a problem?’ She was very matter of fact, no doubt angered by the not-very-well-hidden accusation.

‘Yes, there has. He’s still bothering my client. Is there really nothing you can do about him or do I have to get a court order? I’m really concerned that he’ll hurt her if he gets the chance. You know he’s been round there don’t you, kicking off in the middle of the night?’ Chloe was already speaking louder than she had meant to.

‘Oh I think Miss Swanson can look after herself. You must have met her, she’s no shrinking violet. She might be small, but I wouldn’t want to come face to face with her in a dark alley.’ PC Hutchings was calm, almost jovial, and to Chloe that translated as uncaring. She knew she was being unfair but she had seen this situation many times before and it rarely ended well.

‘Can someone at least go round and have a word with him. One of his bail conditions is to stay away from my client.’

‘Our problem is that it’s her word against his.’

‘And you believe him…’ Chloe was trying hard to control her anger.

‘The trouble is, no one is prepared to speak against him. None of Miss Swanson’s neighbours will talk to us. It’s the same old story. Miss Webster, you know how these domestic situations are. It doesn’t take much to ignite things and before you know it accusations are flying everywhere. It’s always difficult to determine who is telling the truth. My understanding is that the child is safe. As I say, I’m sure Miss Swanson can take good care of herself.’

Chloe knew she wasn’t going to get anywhere here. She had some sympathy with the police; domestic disputes were always problematic and evidence was hard to come by. She was about to end the call but changed her mind.

‘Whilst you’re on…’ Chloe paused. She thought about Crawford and the money. ‘Forget it, it’s nothing.’

‘Is there something else you want to say Miss Webster?’

‘No, it’s fine. Thanks for your time.’ She hung up and breathed a sigh. Things were getting a little on top of her and she felt like she had nowhere to turn. Drake, Ray, Crawford, Chelsie, the police, the local authority. Perhaps she could talk to Ben and see what he thought, at least in relation to Chelsie’s case. She already knew what he thought about Crawford – he didn’t seem to think there was a problem, as long as Ray approved it, which he did. She went to find Ben, who was seemingly busy dictating a letter at his desk.

‘Hi Ben, can I talk to you at some point about a case I’m working on?’ She spoke quietly, not really wanting the whole office to know that she was seeking his advice.

‘Sure, fire away,’ he said loudly, and sat back in his chair, locking his hands behind his head.

‘Not here. I mean perhaps we could go for a drink after work sometime so I can run it past you?’

‘Now that’s not a very romantic way of asking me out is it?’ He looked around as he said it, clearly impressed with himself. She blushed as one or two other people in the office turned to listen.

‘Yeah sure,’ he continued, ‘later in the week if that’s okay? I’ve got plans tonight. And tomorrow in fact.’ She was sure he flashed a wink over the privacy partition to the girl sitting opposite him.

‘Yes, well, whenever. Thanks Ben.’ She walked away a little too quickly, puzzled and hurt by his response, catching her thigh on the corner of a desk and then pretending not to have noticed. She returned to her own desk and stared at the computer screen whose screensaver displayed a colourful set of interlocking pipes. She rubbed her thigh which would no doubt erupt into a very attractive bruise before too long. She hadn’t felt so humiliated since she was at school.

Yeah, later in the week would be lovely, as long as I don’t have any sodding plans. Bastard.