The Girl Who Came Back (41 page)

‘We haven’t seen Danny yet,’ Jules told her, ‘so how come the charges were dropped?’

Andee and Helen exchanged glances. ‘It’s a good question,’ Andee replied, ‘and it turns out that things have been going on behind the scenes for quite some time that we’re only just becoming aware of.’

Puzzled, Jules said, ‘What sort of things?’

Helen said, ‘Apparently the Chief Prosecutor for Dean Valley has never been happy with the way Dean’s and Amelia’s trial was handled. As a result he ordered a confidential investigation, and I’m told that he passed the findings to the Director of Public Prosecutions at the end of last year.’

Jules and Kian could only look at her.

‘I’ve now discovered,’ Helen continued, ‘that the Crown Prosecution Service is intending to return the case to the courts.’

Jules went very still as her insides turned rigid with shock.

Gruffly, Kian said, ‘Can they do that? Isn’t there something called double jeopardy?’

‘Indeed there is, but last time Amelia was tried for voluntary manslaughter. The new charge, I’m told, will be murder.’

Jules’s eyes closed as a dizzying relief was swamped by the horror of having to go through a trial again.

Helen said, ‘I’m not sure if you’re aware, but since Amelia’s trial a new Director of Public Prosecutions has been appointed and she’s made it abundantly clear from the start that she will not tolerate cronyism.’

Continuing, Andee said, ‘It almost goes without saying that Anton Quentin will know what’s going on. It’ll be why he hasn’t insisted on pressing charges against Danny and Gavin; he doesn’t want Amelia’s name in the press any more than it has to be, particularly when her actions are very likely to be viewed as the cause of Gavin Foggarty’s breakdown.’

Jules was still trying to take it in. If she and Kian had known the CPS was reviewing the case, that someone out there who mattered had seen the travesty of justice and reacted to it, would it have made a difference during the past two years? She thought it would have, but no one had told them, and maybe, on reflection, that was a good thing, because if it had ended up being buried it could have destroyed them.

‘What about Dean?’ Kian was asking. ‘Does this mean he could face a new trial too?’

Appalled by the thought, Jules looked at Helen as she said, ‘I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that, but I’ll be trying to find out, unless the CPS makes its announcement first, and that could happen at any time.’

‘He’s innocent,’ Jules told her. ‘He should never have been tried in the first place …’

‘It’ll break his father completely,’ Kian cut in, ‘if this ends up with his boy on a murder charge. It’ll break Dean too, and what good would that do anyone?’

Andee said, ‘If things go the way we hope it could end up clearing Dean’s name, but that’s all a long way down the road; a lot has to happen yet, and what you two have to think about is what it’s going to mean for you.’

Jules took a breath as she looked at Kian. ‘It’s not about us,’ she said shakily, ‘it’s about Daisy and the justice she deserves.’

Squeezing her hand, he turned back to the others as he said, ‘How long before we hear officially about a new trial?’

Helen said, ‘In the light of recent events I’d say it could be sooner rather than later. Obviously, if I hear anything before you do I’ll be sure to let you know.’

It was just over a week later, as Jules and Kian were driving over to see Misty and Marco at the Mermaid, that Helen Hall rang to let them know that they should be hearing from the CPS sometime in the next couple of days.

Jules’s heart twisted horribly. Life was moving beyond their control again, the ugliness of the past three years was on its way back and they had no way of stopping it. Yet did they really want to? That girl should pay for what she’d done to Daisy, and to Dean.

‘There won’t be an official announcement,’ Helen was telling them over the hands-free speaker phone, ‘until after the CPS have contacted you, which means you shouldn’t, for the moment, be bothered by any press attention, unless it leaks out, of course.’

Kian’s hands were gripping the steering wheel. ‘I take it she’s being charged with murder?’ he said.

‘Yes, she is.’

The relief that assailed Jules was unexpectedly overwhelming, but apprehension was quick to eclipse it.

‘What about Dean?’ Kian asked shortly.

Helen said, ‘I ought to speak to his parents first, but if you promise not to call them before I have a chance to, I can tell you that he won’t be facing charges.’

Jules felt tears stinging her eyes. Though this was the news they wanted for Dean, considering everything he’d been through it hardly felt like a victory. ‘I guess you don’t know where Amelia Quentin is?’ she asked, picturing the girl’s shock, fear, fury – heaven only knew how she was reacting.

‘I don’t,’ Helen answered, ‘but I imagine she’ll be brought back to Kesterly any day now to be charged.’

‘And remanded in custody?’ Kian put in.

‘I should hope so, considering the seriousness of the offence and how badly things were handled before. Listen, I’m afraid I have to ring off now, I’m due in court, but I’ll be back at my desk after four if you have any more questions. Oh, and do let me know once the CPS has been in touch.’

Assuring her they would, Jules disconnected the call and stared at the glittering expanse of sea as they continued down the hill towards it. Though they’d discussed the possibility of a new trial endlessly since learning there might be one, now they knew it was going to happen they’d fallen completely silent. Dealing with the hypothetical was nothing like facing reality. She knew that only too well, for there had been a time when she and Kian would have vowed to kill anyone who harmed Daisy, and they’d have meant it, but what had they done when it had actually happened? Kian had tried to kill himself, and she had lost all sense of who she was or what her life meant. They’d hardly even protested when the murder charge had been reduced to Voluntary Manslaughter –
With Provocation
, as if to add insult to injury – nor had they fought for a retrial when they’d known proper justice hadn’t been done.

And yet here was fate, circumstance, God Almighty for all she knew, about to right the wrongs they’d suffered and see their daughter’s killer face the judgement she deserved.

‘It seems odd,’ she said as they turned into Hope Cove, ‘that we should be coming here now after finding this out.’

Kian didn’t disagree. ‘I feel a bit shell-shocked by it,’ he confessed.

‘Do you mean being here, or hearing the news?’

‘Both, I guess.’

As they pulled up in their old space at the side of the pub’s garden, Jules’s mind was starting to spin. Too many memories were coming at her at once, as though every day of their time here, every happy occasion and special moment was trying to be remembered and cherished in one go. She was finding it hard to take a full breath as she registered the bed of vibrant daisies that Misty had created at the front of the pub, where friends and family still left candles or mermaid figures as they came and went. Her daughter’s face seemed a ghostly reflection at the windows; her laughter was music on the breeze. There were no strange or familiar faces at the picnic tables or down on the beach, just Daisy and her friends playing, planning or putting on a show. She could see her blonde curls as she and Joe strolled hand in hand towards the moor, throwing each other into the surf, or picnicking in the moonlight. Kian was no longer beside her; he was building scenery, cooking up a new deal, striding over the weir to the sailing school.

‘This is even harder than I expected it to be,’ he murmured.

Turning to him, she took his hand. ‘We have to make this about Misty and Marco,’ she reminded him, and felt surprisingly bolstered by her own words.

‘Of course,’ he agreed, and pushing open the driver’s door he waited for her to join him and held her hand as they walked across the garden to the open front door. It took a while with so many wanting to greet them, but eventually they were stepping from the dazzling brilliance of the outside sunshine into the comparative gloom of the bar.

The familiarity of the place, the sounds, the smell, the sheer feel of it, almost took Jules’s breath away. She hadn’t really expected anything to be different, but the fact that nothing had changed was making her heart tighten with longing and painful joy.

Forced to let go of each other’s hands as old friends and regulars surrounded them, they rose gamely to the warmth of their welcome, sharing laughter, cries of surprise and plenty of hugs. Everyone wanted to buy them a drink, know how they were and hear all about what they were up to now. As the spirit of the moment carried them to the bar where Misty, grinning from ear to ear, was already sorting the drinks, Jules could only feel thankful that no one knew about the new trial yet. It would be the talk of Kesterly once the news was out, and they definitely weren’t ready to discuss it with anyone else at this stage.

The next half-hour passed in a chaos of fun, more drinks and lots of promises to get together soon, until finally they were in the library with Misty and Marco, the door closed to offer some privacy, and a tray of coffee with home-made biscotti between them.

As Kian outlined the offer they were there to make Jules watched Misty’s expression moving from wary interest, to surprise, to outright amazement as tears filled her beautiful eyes.

‘It feels as much your place as ours,’ Kian told her, as she threw her arms around them, ‘so we thought you should have some ownership of it.’

‘Are you sure?’ Marco gasped, eagerly shaking their hands. ‘I mean, everyone thinks of it as yours, and what you’re asking for it, it’s worth so much more.’

‘It doesn’t matter what people think,’ Jules smiled, ‘it’s what’s right that matters to us, and because the Mermaid wouldn’t be the success it is without you two, and means as much to you as it does to us, we couldn’t feel happier about including you in the ownership.’

As Misty clasped her hands to her face and danced up and down, Marco and Kian grinned and Jules said, ‘Obviously we’ll have to talk to lawyers and the business people, we just wanted to make sure you were up for it before we did that.’

‘I feel so proud and emotional and overwhelmed,’ Misty wept and laughed. ‘I can hardly believe it’s happening. I thought you were coming to tell us you wanted to sell up, or move back in …’

‘We’d have been all right with that, I promise,’ Marco assured them, ‘we’ve even started packing …’

‘Then stop,’ Jules said gently. ‘We won’t be selling or living here again. It’s your home now.’ As she spoke she was looking at Ruby’s shoe on the mantelpiece, and feeling her heart swelling with unbearable loss.

Following her eyes, Misty said, ‘It’s always there, where you left it.’

‘Do you ever get a sense of her now?’ Jules wondered.

Misty shook her head. ‘Not the way we used to, but sometimes I feel like she might have been around: doors or windows are open that shouldn’t be, a light goes on and off for no reason. I always think she’s come back to look for you and when you’re not here she just goes again.’

Realising how sad that was making her, Jules took a tissue from her bag as Kian said, ‘We should go now, but we’ll be in touch tomorrow or the next day to sort out when to see the lawyers.’

As they shook hands on their deal and hugged again, Misty said, ‘So what’s next for you two? Will you stay in Kesterly?’ Her eyes were merry as she looked at Kian. ‘Knowing you as I do, I expect you’ve got some amazing scheme waiting to burst out of that sleeve.’

Kian smiled and winked, and taking Jules’s hand he led her out through a side door to avoid any protracted goodbyes, and left Misty and Marco to go and celebrate their good news in any way they chose.

‘Well, that seemed to go well,’ he commented as he and Jules wandered across the weir to settle, side by side, on the rocks at the far side. The cliffs were like old friends rising up steeply, protectively, behind them, while the cerulean sky seemed to be putting on its best display of dazzling brightness.

‘I knew they’d be happy,’ Jules smiled, gazing absently at the waves as they swelled gently towards her and she struggled to overcome a deepening sense of nostalgia. Leaving this place had been a terrible wrench the first time they’d done it; it clearly wasn’t going to be any easier now.

‘Do you remember how we used to sit on the beach when we were kids, planning what we’d do with the pub if we could ever own it?’ Kian said dreamily.

Letting her head fall against his shoulder, she said, ‘How could I forget? We used to come practically every weekend, although we never really believed it would happen, until one day it did.’

‘It took us a while to believe it even then.’

Jules sighed. ‘Do you think we should have been more careful of what we wished for? I mean, considering where we are now.’

After a moment he said, ‘I was just asking myself the same question, but even the way it’s turned out can’t take away from how happy we were. And we’d never have wanted to be without her.’

‘No, we could never wish for that.’

They sat quietly, their hands entwined, their memories rising and falling with the tide as over on the beach children shouted and laughed and threw themselves wildly into the surf.

In the end Jules was the first to break the silence. ‘I think we should go to Ireland,’ she said softly.

Kian became very still, as though not sure he’d heard her correctly.

‘I think we should go soon,’ she continued, ‘before the new trial gets under way. We don’t want it to hold us back, or become what our lives are about for the next however many months. Of course we’ll be here if we have to be when it happens, but we ought to make plans so we have something to move on to when it’s over. Something good.’

When he didn’t answer she turned to look at him, and seeing tears on his cheeks she slid her arms around him. ‘What matters is that we’re together,’ she whispered, weeping herself, ‘and there are just too many memories here for us to be able to cope with.’

Pulling back so he could look into her eyes, he sobbed as he said, ‘Do you have any idea how much it means to me to hear you say that? I was afraid for so long … I thought you’d fallen out of love with me, or wanted something more than I could give you …’