All clear.
By the time the ladder was low enough to climb on, he had to reach above his head and haul himself up, huffing at the exertion of climbing up to the landing. Peering through a darkened window, he recognised the office from the directions he had been given.
However, the window was locked.
Using the benefit of body mass, he leaned on the top of the window and forced the catch to disengage. Once the window was opened, he lowered himself in and hurried to the floor below, carefully checking around in the dark and counting off recognisable landmarks that had been described to him.
This was it alright.
By the desk were two large filing cabinets. Locked, of course. He rifled through the top drawer of the office desk, looking for keys and using a small pencil flashlight to find his way. He tried the next drawer but it was locked, immediately drawing suspicion he’d found what he was looking for. Dropping to his knees and crawling under the desk, he pushed the drawer up and down three times, giving the final push a bit more oomph and the drawer slid open in his hands.
"Modern technology," he remarked sarcastically.
He searched the unlocked drawer and found keys, trying each one in the cabinets until they too, unlocked their contents. He searched through the files but he couldn't find anything like what had been described.
This office was like so many he had visited in his career and he had a sneaking suspicion that it was hiding something. He checked behind the paintings on the wall, one at a time, until he found one with a hinged attachment to the wall.
Bingo!
Carefully, he hinged the painting out of the way but was met by a steel safe behind. He searched the bundle of keys that he had extracted from the locked drawer and found the safe key.
What's the use of having a safe, if you leave the key in the same room?! He shook his head in disbelief... Amateurs!
Slowly, the safe door opened in his hands and staring him in the eye was a large file marked confidential. He placed the file on the desk and removed a tiny camera from his pocket and half an hour later, he had what he had come for.
Putting everything back the way he had found it, he sidled over to the window he’d unlocked and relatched it from the inside. The bottom drawer couldn't be locked again. He didn't have a key. "Can't be helped," he muttered. "Now to get out of here."
The dark figure wandered down the corridors until finally, he located the front door onto the street. Peering around for prying eyes, and satisfied he’d been undetected, the secretive form disappeared into the night, leaving the front door unlocked.
*~*~*~*
Feeling nauseous and thick-headed, Marlene Styles hadn't slept a wink all night since Greer had ruled against her. She was incensed that the little vagrant child had won again and the application had been cleared to go ahead. She kept thinking about the file and the more she thought about it, the more concerned she became. It was her delight, her favourite work; but it could also trap her, like an illicit lover fatally drawing her in until it finally destroyed her. She shivered and came to a decision. Things were getting too hot, realising her lusting relationship with history had to come to an end and she had to destroy it... before it destroyed her.
Marlene parked her car at the front of the building and quickly made her way to the door. It was dark and unsettling being at work at this hour, with no one else about. She reached up to the door lock to open the latch and the door moved under the weight of the key being inserted.
She stared at the door for a long moment.
Security had forgotten to lock up once before and she’d given them such a dressing down that she felt sure they would never do it again. Pushing the door open, she reached for the light switch and immediately, the building burst into light. She pondered the door again and then locked it from the inside. Someone was going to get a piece of her mind later in the day for their tardiness with securing the building.
Overly tall and fashionable high heels clacked along the polished corridors, echoing in the quiet as she made her way to her office. Coming up to a door with Marlene Styles Head of Department written across it, she hesitated before opening it, as if she was expecting to be caught in some desperate act.
Anxiously, she turned the handle and switched on the lights and peered around the familiar room, testing the air like some beast of prey. Nervously she entered the room, prompting a chilling shiver, but everything seemed to be where she’d left it, pulling on the filing cabinet drawers to make sure they were still locked and the safe behind the painting remained ambiguous.
With a trembling hand she hinged back the picture and stared at the safe, then tried the handle to make sure it was still locked and only relaxed when the handle resisted her efforts to open it. With her mind focused on destroying the file, she strode for the desk and the locked bottom drawer.
It had to be done and now, before anyone caught her in the act, she mused and then determinedly inserted her key into the drawer; but chillingly, it didn't turn.
It was open and a rising panic attacked her.
Did she lock the drawer or did she forget?!
Anxiously, Styles pulled the drawer open but everything seemed to be in place. Forcefully, she grabbed the key bundle from the drawer and headed for the safe; finding the correct key, she unlocked the safe and smirked... a relieved, contorted grin.
Her lover was still in its place and undisturbed.
With a manic tremble, she reached in and removed the file, tenderly caressing its cover. Twisting her arm, Marlene Styles peered at her watch: it was fast approaching 6 am and the dawn was beginning to shows signs in the eastern sky.
This had to be quick and it had to happen now.
Marlene picked through the pages, remembering the interludes she had set up for Gwendolyn to meet yet another round of torture. The photographs of wounds, burns and blackened eyes. The skinny, starved frame of ten year old Gwendolyn appeared and she hissed with delight. The reports, clearly signed off by her signature, brought a new round of delight.
She sighed and slammed the file closed. "I must destroy you, my love, before you can get your hooks into me," she lovingly spoke to the file.
Making her way down into the boiler room and carrying the file, she ignited the gas burner specially designed to destroy sensitive documents while the fiery impressions of the red flame danced like an contorted illusion of hell, reflecting on Marlene's face and giving her a sinister glow through the open furnace door. As she fed the file into the fire through the open incinerator access, her emotions conflicted; rabidly grieved at the loss but indelibly relieved at its demise.
Tortured by the blaze, the papers curled in an agonised death as the flames hungrily devoured the file and released its stranglehold from around the deviant’s neck, relinquishing her from any indictable guilt.
"Goodbye, old friend, till we meet again. Now, to find an opportunity to close Gwendolyn's big mouth... once and for all."
*~*~*~*
Chapter 42
"I love the way you have our best interests at heart, Ben." TJ laid her head across her husband's chest, listening to the rhythmic sounds of his large tender heart.
Ben suggested, "Maybe we can take it from where Bluey arrives home Friday?"
*~*~*~*
Casey hadn't been able to concentrate all day at school, thinking about Gwendolyn's story and she hadn't slept much the night before, either. Today was Friday and she was looking forward to cuddling up to Ben and Hannah-Jean in their armchair and listening to TJ tell more of the story. She was anxious to get home, get the dinner out of the way and get the story going again.
Finally, her long awaited moment came. The girls were settled in Ben's arms and TJ sat on the floor at their feet and giving Ben a glance, she began...
*~*~*~*
A small grey car rolled to a stop on the opposite side of the road to the Burns' house. The occupant sat watching the neatly manicured front yard, searching for any signs. Soon a large
sedan pulled into the driveway and a huge redheaded man unfolded himself from the driver seat. Trying to avoid suspicion, the small car’s occupant glanced quickly at their watch and then slumped down in their seat to avoid being noticed. It was 4 pm.
The occupant of the small car covertly watched the big man walk up to the door carrying a small army bag. The seconds ticked by and from within the house came the squeals of a girl and the unmistakable sounds of a delighted man's voice.
"I love you, baby!"
Revulsed, the occupant of the car reached for their keys, cranked the starter and took one last look at the parked vehicle in the driveway and then pulled away, disappearing up the street and out of view.
*~*~*~*
Bluey lifted his foot from the gas pedal and allowed the automatic vehicle to slow, then rested his foot on the brake pedal while reaching for the indicator lever to signify his intention to turn off the street and into his driveway. It was 4 pm and better still, it was Friday.
Work was over for another week.
This weekend Bluey and Hannah planned to tell Gwendolyn of their application for her adoption and that the matter was going before the court on Monday. Bluey, Hannah and Phelps were confident the court would grant them their request and the mounds of evidence they had collected, only bolstered their confidence. Phelps had plenty of ammunition to destroy any objections put forward by Marlene Styles and short of a catastrophe, this would be a cakewalk.
Bluey and Hannah had arranged to take the girls out for Saturday lunch, to break the surprise over a meal at Gwendolyn's favourite restaurant.
But he didn't notice the small grey car parked down the road from his house as he turned in. The occupant slumped down in their seat, watching over the dashboard and once Bluey was inside, the small car started its engine, pulled away from the kerb and accelerated swiftly up the street and out of view.
*~*~*~*
"Why are we going to the Pasta Place?" Gwendolyn asked suspiciously, eyeing Hannah.
"You’ll see, sweetheart. Have patience."
"Do you know?" Gwendolyn turned to TJ.
"Don't you want to go, Gwendolyn?" TJ teased.
"Yeah, but why the secrecy?"
TJ shrugged.
"Come on, troops, let's get in the car. If we get to the door as they open at noon, we can get our usual seat by the window." Bluey was keen to get moving because Saturdays were busy at the fine pasta restaurant.
The family sedan reversed out of the driveway and headed smoothly along the street for the twenty minute ride across town.
Bluey suddenly slapped his pocket and remembered, in his haste to get moving he had forgotten his wallet. "Blast!"
Hannah glanced across to Bluey with a concerned look on her face. "What's up, honey?"
"Forgot my wallet," he said, swinging the car around into a driveway and reversing out. "Now we will be late."
"It doesn't matter, honey. We’ll get good seats anyway."
Bluey turned the car into the driveway and placed the transmission lever into park; the car rocked on the transmission parking pawl in Bluey's haste to enter the house and retrieve his wallet. He pushed the car door open, leaving the car running and ran for the door. Hannah decided to make a comfort call to the bathroom while Bluey retrieved his wallet and pushed her door open and followed him into the house.
Just as Bluey grabbed his wallet, the phone rang. His frustration did a leap and his thermometer took an upward turn, rising steadily, considering leaving it to ring out; but his conscience troubled him and he grabbed the jangling device and answered it.
Unobtrusively, the door opened on a small grey car parked just down the road and the figure of a woman, dressed in a jacket and pants suit, silently stole along the footpath toward the sedan.
Gwendolyn was absentmindedly staring out the window when the woman's face appeared in her view and frightened her speechless.
TJ saw the face and gawked in shock too, but Gwendolyn panicked in an attempt to escape the nightmare scene. A horrified expression flashed across Gwendolyn’s features as she pushed the car door open in a bid to flee, desperately trying to escape her nemesis, but the woman grabbed her arm.
"Get away! Leave me alone! What do you want?!" Gwendolyn tried to fight and break the woman’s grip, but she held on tighter. Her panic was rising and a tortured expression turned to abject fear, like a rabbit caught in a hunter’s snare.
TJ was frozen in shock as she witnessed the unprovoked attack.
"Do you know that these people are going to court on Monday to ask the judge to get rid of you out of their lives? You think they care for you, you little piece of trash? No one cares for you!... So, they haven't told you, eh?" she pounced, reading perfectly the dark, affronted look on Gwendolyn's face.
Gwendolyn thrashed and then broke free, heated tears of confusion running down her face. Instinctively she ran toward the car, jumped into the driver's seat and threw the transmission into reverse, clipping the kerb heavily on the opposite side of the road. Finding a forward gear, she smashed the gas pedal to the floor and the vehicle raced off down the street, swerving dangerously with TJ screaming from the back seat.
Satisfied with her handiwork, the woman ran back to her own car and hastily cranked the small vehicle into life and disappeared before anyone saw her.
Bluey heard his car race away and TJ's screams; dropping the phone in panic, he raced for the door and ran outside just in time to see the car hit the kerb down the street and smash heavily into a tree.
Stunned, he stood frozen, watching in the direction of the destruction.
Feeling nausea rising in his throat, he took off at high gait, running toward the car and calling out to a neighbour as he ran past, "Call an ambulance! Quick!"
As he approached the scene, he could see TJ lying motionless next to the car and her knee was at an incredible angle. But Gwendolyn had disappeared, nowhere to be seen.
Bluey dropped to his knees next to TJ.
Her blood mingling with the ground.
He felt a painful scream well up in his throat and spew out of his mouth like a steam boiler relief valve.
"NOOO! PLEASE GOD, NOOO!"
Bluey leaned over her motionless body and broke, rocking on his haunches and weeping bitter tears.
*~*~*~*
Chapter 43
Casey stared at TJ, frozen in shock. A thousand questions raced across her mind and then realisation hit her like a speeding locomotive.
The cane and the limp!
Her beautiful mum had been a victim of Gwendolyn's journey and she carried the living proof in her awkward walk. Casey slipped down off Ben's lap and engulfed TJ in a huge hug and then burst into unrestrained sobs. She wanted to take away the suffering from her mum, to make it right.
Her unselfish and loving TJ.
The woman that Tabbie had assured her was worthy of her trust and had mountains of love to offer her. The Brekmans surrounded Casey and TJ on the floor and wept together.
Gwendolyn's story was still powerful, even after all these years.
Casey's sobs subsided and she lay with her head in TJ's lap, while TJ played with her daughter's hair, whispering calming love into her heart.
Casey's mind was replaying the story. "That woman, Marlene Styles, wrecked my family!" Casey spat angrily.
"No, Casey!" TJ gently corrected. "She was the tool that Father used to build the family into the strong generations that we are now. Because Bluey and Hannah looked to Father to sort out the mess that Marlene Styles created, He brought great good out of it. He wasn't finished."
"How can you say that, TJ? She wrecked your life and Gwendolyn's, too," Casey replied.
TJ cuddled her daughter and gently remedied Casey’s interpretation. "Hannah and Bluey set an example for their family; and their acts of love and forgiveness have rippled out through the generations. We are who we are today, because of it. Remember how, when Tabbie first started the story, she won your trust. Then, her unselfish lo
ve broke through your walls. Remember how, once you trusted her and trusted what she said that you could trust us. That opened up to you becoming our beloved daughter and trusting us to look after your best interests."
"How could I forget? I didn't believe that there was love like this in this world," Casey responded.
"Do you remember what it felt like, to not trust anyone? How it made you feel inside?" TJ probed gently.
"It was awful. I hated everybody and was angry with everyone. I just wanted to lash out and hurt whoever got in my way."
"Then the final part of Gwendolyn's story is all about forgiveness. If we hold onto bitterness and blame, it stifles our ability to love. Trust.. love... and forgiveness, Casey, go hand in hand. You can't receive–or give–Father's redeeming love when you carry bitterness and blame. And without Father's love you are doomed, in a world of hatred and violence."
Casey pondered the wise woman's words in her heart. She knew TJ's words were true.
She’d experienced them first hand.
"So what happened to Gwendolyn? Did she ever come back, or was that it?" Casey pondered, not knowing how she was feeling about Gwendolyn now.
TJ sighed and glanced across at Ben. He nodded and she continued.
"By the time Hannah ran down to the scene, the ambulance had arrived and they had a blanket over my broken knee. I was still unconscious and they were getting ready to lift me onboard. Hannah broke down and was wailing as she took in the mess but fortunately, it looked worse than it actually was. Bluey was trying to calm Hannah and talk to the police who had just arrived, and watch after me. Finally, he and Hannah jumped into the ambulance and went with me to hospital. Both Hannah and Bluey had no idea what had happened until I woke a few hours later..."