Chapter Twenty-Two
Lachlan and Ben left about an hour after Marie went to school the next morning. April pretended not to notice the embrace Ben gave Marie before she left. And had restrained herself from asking what he’d whispered in her ear despite her maternal instincts screaming at her to rip them apart and confront him. She drew comfort from the slight increase in pressure of the restraining hand Lachlan had on her shoulder and instead turned to lay her head on his chest.
It was shocking just how quickly she had come to rely on his presence, or how much strength she gained from a shared look or a simple touch or merely being in the same room with him. For the first time in her life she understood the phrase a problem shared is a problem halved because simply having Lachlan around eased the burdens she hadn’t realised she was carrying.
When it came time for Lachlan and Ben to head to the airport, April embraced Ben warmly. Despite his affection for Marie, she had come to like him immensely. “You take care,” she murmured in his ear. “And thank you.”
He nodded his acknowledgement and pressed a friendly kiss on her cheek.
Lachlan cleared his throat in mock jealousy. “I’d prefer you didn’t spend too long in the arms of my brother.” He had a wicked glint in his eyes. “I’d hate to have to fight him off.” Then he wrapped his arms firmly around her waist and pulled her into his chest. “I’ll be back soon,” he whispered before dropping his head and kissing her until they were both breathless and Ben was tapping his foot impatiently. Grinning, he released her and walked out the door, blowing her a kiss as he shut it.
“I’m coming,” April called half an hour later as she towelled her hair dry and raced to answer the knock at the front door. She yanked the door open and stopped dead in her tracks, her stomach dropping to her toes as it did every time she saw him.
“Grant! What can I do for you?” Senior Sergeant Grant Shorten of the Peters Junction Police Station stared back at her, his bushy salt and pepper eyebrows pulled taught in concern. The tall, brawny policeman had been a staple in Peters Junction for as long as April had been around and they had worked together on the Blue Light Disco committee a number of times, back when Marie was still interested in such events.
“Morning April. Is Marie home?” His no-nonsense tone put her immediately on edge.
“Marie? No, she’s at school. Is something wrong?” Her heart rapidly increased its pace.
“I heard you had house guests recently, are they still here?”
“No, they left earlier and won’t be back for a while. Grant, what’s this about?” Panic gripped her around the throat and she found it hard to breath.
“So you’re alone?” April nodded. “Then I think we’d better have this conversation inside,” he said gruffly.
“Has something happened? Is Marie okay?” April demanded, not budging from her spot.
Grant reached out and gently patted her shoulder. “This isn’t about Marie, April. As far as I’m aware she’s fine. But I think you know what this is about and I think you’d prefer this conversation to be held in private.”
“Oh God,” she whispered, her eyes wide with fear. “Someone saw the Samantha video.”
It suddenly occurred to her just how naïve she’d been to think that slapping on a thick layer of makeup would be enough to stop her from being recognised. Oh sure, it certainly made her look completely different from how she normally looked, but the authorities looking for had been doing so for the past decade. Those people would have expected her to change and, for all they knew, how she looked in the Samantha video was her normal appearance. The fact that she’d been identified as April, coupled with a resemblance to the teenager she’d been when she went missing, would have been enough to warrant an investigation.
April stepped back to allow Grant inside. She’d been waiting for this visit for ten years, dreading it in fact. The thought crossed her mind that he hadn’t asked her to accompany him to the station and he didn’t appear to want to arrest her. In fact, he was here in plain clothes and without a constable to back him up.
“Coffee?” She needed something to do with her hands.
“Thanks.” Grant cleared his throat awkwardly and sat himself at the dining table, his large frame dwarfing the furniture. He scratched his beard absently and looked around as if trying to work out what he wanted to say. With every gesture, every movement, April’s chest constricted and her heart galloped. She took a couple of deep breaths to calm her nerves.
“Grant. Why are you here?”
“All right.” He propped his elbows up on the table and steepled his fingers. “I should probably start at the beginning. At least what was the beginning for me. You, of course, had already been through a nightmare.” He smiled sympathetically and April passed him his coffee. She sat down and waited for him to continue.
“Ten years ago, some concerned community members came to me to tell me of this young woman with a six-year-old sister who had just moved into town.”
“I bet they did.” April chuckled wryly and Grant had the good grace to look sheepish.
“They were concerned that the child looked neglected and the woman was too young to take care of her. So I investigated a little bit, plugged your names and descriptions into the missing person’s database, but neither of you showed up and you didn’t appear to have any criminal record. Still, for a while, I kept an eye on you. But Marie was going to school and began looking healthier, nobody complained about you not paying bills and I noticed how well you kept your house and garden, so I decided Marie had a good home and I should butt out.” April felt a wave of affection for the older man but resisted the urge to thank him. If he was here now, talking about this, then her secret was out.
“Admittedly, at the time,” he continued, “I didn’t realise how young you were or I might have handled things differently. A sixteen-year-old taking care of a six-year-old is a bit unusual. But as it was, I thought maybe you were in your late teens or early twenties, so when I looked into the situation, I didn’t see any cause for concern.
“It wasn’t until two years later that your names came across my desk again on a missing persons bulletin. Only the details weren’t correct because the paperwork from Queensland Police indicated you’d only been missing for two weeks, and I knew you’d been living here for two years. I checked with the primary school and they said Marie hadn’t missed a day of school all year, so I knew you couldn’t have been in Queensland on the day you were reported missing.”
“It took two years to notice we were gone?”
“My thoughts exactly. I wondered what kind of situation you’d run from that warranted such a drastic move and I questioned the motives of your guardians in not reporting your disappearance.”
“It was the money,” April sighed, a clear picture emerging.
“I’m sorry?”
“Our foster parents. They were being paid to look after us, only they barely spent a cent of the money on us. Marie ate nothing but two-minute noodles and dry cereal for three straight weeks and only because that’s all I could afford to buy her from the last few dollars I had in my bank account.”
Grant cleared his throat in disapproval, a fierce expression on his face. “Did you make a complaint about your living situation?”
“Of course I complained!” April protested. “I rang the department numerous times and someone came out to do an inspection. Only they made an appointment first, which meant Rod and Penny had advanced warning of their arrival so they had time to clean up and stock the pantry. They even threatened Marie and told her what to tell the inspectors, they told her they’d send me away if she didn’t.” April stood up, her chair clattering to the floor as stalked across the room to the window.
“Marie had just lost her parents, for god’s sake.” Her voice rose hysterically and she spun around to face Grant. “She couldn’t stand to lose me too, so she told the inspectors everything they wanted to hear. Afterwards, the lady from the department had the ne
rve to tell me”—she slapped her chest with her palm—”I was being a spoiled princess and that I should just accept what I had because there were so many kids worse off than me.” She sucked in a breath, desperate to get some air into her lungs, which felt as if they had been wrung out like a sponge.
“Yes, well,” Grant said when she’d let off her tirade. “I was unable to investigate the matter further at the time because if I rang Queensland and started asking questions it would raise suspicions, and I didn’t want to attract any attention to Peters Junction.
“As far as I could tell, you had provided a good home for Marie. She was well fed and active in the school community. You were also well established and although you didn’t appear to have a job, you also gave no indication that your activities were illegal, so I didn’t press the issue.”
“I’m an author.” April took another deep breath and exhaled slowly. What did it matter anymore? Besides he’d gone out of his way to protect her secret for eight years, she may as well trust him with this.
“An author?” he asked, clearly surprised.
“A.D. Pope,” she said and he grinned in delight.
“I’ve read your books.” He had an excited edge to his voice and April couldn’t help smiling at him. He nodded his head slowly as if some pieces of the puzzle were falling into place. “It makes sense.”
April walked back to the table and picked up her chair before falling into it. “So why are you here now?” she asked softly. If what he’d said was true, he’d been aware of who she was for years, why was he now talking to her about it?
“Someone recognised you in that video with Samantha. I got an updated missing persons bulletin in my inbox late last night with your last-known whereabouts changed to Sydney and a new photo taken from the footage. It’s my guess there are investigators in Sydney right now and it won’t be long before someone sends them my way.”
April groaned her frustration, tears prickling the corners of her eyes. She dropped her head onto the table and Grant reached across and patted her shoulder in a fatherly gesture.
“Oh God, this is all happening so fast,” she whispered, raising her eyes to look at him.
“April, I don’t think you should run again.” The full authority of his police voice startled her.
“Then why are you telling me this?”
“Because I don’t want you to do anything stupid,” he said gently. “For the past ten years, everything you’ve done has been because you thought it would protect and provide for Marie. If you run now, it wouldn’t be because it’s best for her, but because you’re trying to protect yourself.”
“So what should I do?” she asked quietly, unable to look at him.
“Talk to Marie. I’m assuming she doesn’t know any of this.” April stared at him without confirming or denying his suspicions. “You only have a few days at best before they connect you to Peters Junction. Get your things in order, make arrangements for Marie, then turn yourself in.”
“Actually—” April began.
“I will do everything I can to help you,” he spoke over her. “And I’m not the only one…this town will support you if you let us.”
A sudden laugh escaped April, she couldn’t help herself.
“I don’t see what’s so amusing,” he said gruffly.
“You’re right, it’s not funny.” She sobered quickly. “I know you’re probably not going to believe this, but just last night Marie and I had a good long talk and I told her everything. Including the fact that I plan to turn myself in on Monday. In fact, I have a friend on his way to Adelaide at this very moment who plans to find a lawyer to advise me beforehand.”
“Is that right?” Grant asked, clearly wondering if she was telling the truth.
“I had always planned on turning myself in after Marie graduated high school, but lately I’ve come to realise I can’t keep living like this. All I ever wanted was for Marie to finish school.” Tears prickled in the back of her eyes, making them shine. “I never got to do that, but I really wanted her to.”
“She still can,” Grant murmured patting her hand. “I’ll make sure she’s looked after, even if I have to petition the courts for guardianship myself.”
April buried her face in her hands, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by what she would face over the next few days and weeks. Grant came around the table and rubbed her back awkwardly, reminding her of how much he’d put himself on the line for her. If anyone found out he’d known about her all along, he could lose his career. Or worse.
“Thank you,” she said softly when she could trust herself to speak again. Grant smiled reluctantly in acknowledgement, clumsily patting her shoulder. An insistent knock on the door broke the awkward moment and April went to open it.
“Lachlan!” She said surprised as she opened the door to see him and Ben on her front step. “Aren’t you meant to be at the airport?”
She stepped back and they both quickly crossed the threshold into her lounge room.
“Yeah.” He dragged his hand through his hair, clearly agitated about something. “Uh…”
His hesitation made her nervous and a lump of dread knotted her stomach. “What’s going on?”