A Dark Shadow Falls (26 page)

     Phil visibly shuddered. ‘It doesn’t bear thinking about.’

    ‘If he gets himself an expensive enough lawyer, you can bet your life they’ll claim mental incapacity at the trial,’ Andy declared.

    Dani looked suddenly awkward. Her DC shot his boss a suspicious glance.

    ‘Don’t tell me that Sally Irving-Bryant is going to represent the bastard?’ Andy was aghast.

    ‘I believe they’ve already met a couple of times, since Gordon’s been on remand. It is Sally’s job.’

    ‘You’d have thought Ms Irving Bryant would have learnt her lesson after her brush with Eric Fisher. Now, Gordon Alexander really
is
evil.’

    ‘Do you truly believe that, Andy?’ Phil asked his colleague, genuinely interested to know. ‘Hasn’t Gordon simply been sent mad by the misfortunes that life has thrown at him?’

    Andy shook his head solemnly. ‘No Phil, we’ve all had misfortunes thrown at us in life, some of us become depressed or hit the bottle, some sods might even hit their wives, but no one does what he did. The guy’s evil, no question about it.’

    Phil fell silent, obviously not willing to enter into an argument over the point.

    Dani had been a policewoman for a long while and had seen many awful things in her career, but in this case she couldn’t find the compassion that she might normally had done, for victim and perpetrator alike. In her heart of hearts, Dani knew that Calder was absolutely right.

Chapter 49

F
ergus Keene unwrapped the bunch of flowers he’d brought home and carefully trimmed the stems, placing them into a vase of water before his wife came downstairs.

    ‘They’re lovely,’ she said quietly. ‘Thanks.’

    Fergus moved across the room towards her, holding Louise’s hands in his. ‘What if I promise to work fewer hours? I’ll be home more often, I promise. I’ll make sure I’m back to help with bedtime. I know how difficult the boys can be at that time of day.’

   ‘I just can’t stay in this house,’ she said flatly. ‘And actually, Ben and Jamie are fine at going to bed now. That particular phase is over. I want to take them to Mum and Dad’s for a bit. They’ll be overjoyed to have us.’

   ‘Okay, I can perfectly understand that. But don’t cut me off Lou. Please don’t tell me you’re leaving to be with
him
.’

   ‘I’ll always be grateful to Davy, but I’m not going to continue my relationship with him.’ Louise reached up to touch Fergus’ cheek. ‘I’ve been given a second chance. I want to spend some time considering what that means.’

   The man felt tears spring to his eyes. ‘I didn’t protect you. I took you for granted.’

   ‘Just let me take the boys to Mum’s. You can come and see us whenever you like. Then, let’s see what happens.’

   ‘Can I hold you?’

   ‘Of course.’ Louise stepped forward into her husband’s embrace, feeling his body shudder with sobs. While Fergus wept, she looked over his shoulder at the extension they’d had built. It was shrouded in darkness. But Louise felt as if she could see the outline of that monstrous figure standing absolutely still, barely contained within its walls. It was a shadow that would always hang over this house. As far as Louise Hutchison was concerned, the sooner she and the boys were out of it, the better.

Chapter 50

T
he party was in full swing back at the main house. Dani and James had brought their drinks out into the garden and were sitting on the bench inside the summer house. The detective was leaning her weight against her companion.

   
‘Have you thought any more about Nicholson’s suggestion?’ James stared into his glass of champagne, avoiding Dani’s gaze.

     ‘I’ve thought about little else.’

     ‘You realise that if you were to move over this way, I’d have an excuse to buy that big rambling pile by the sea. There might actually be someone who could come and stay in it with me.’

     Dani smiled, overwhelmed by an unexpected longing to live such an idyllic life with James. But following that was a wave of fear - the same terror which surged through her being like an electric shock whenever she considered the prospect of settling down and possibly having to provide her husband with children. ‘Do you recall what happened to my mum?’

     ‘Of course I do.’ James slipped his free arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze.

     ‘I’ve always been frightened of the same thing happening to me. It’s why I’ve never sought out a long term relationship.’

     ‘I don’t want children from you, Dani. I just want you.’

     She felt the tears prickling her eyes. ‘But look at Grant and Sally in there, both of them celebrating the triumphs of their brilliant careers, but with no family.
Surely
, your parents must want grandchildren. I couldn’t possibly take that chance away from them.’

     James put his hand up to Dani’s cheek and turned her face towards his. ‘Don’t I get a say in this? I’m not some prize stallion at a stud farm. I’ve never been all that certain I ever wanted kids. Come on, I’m nearly forty and I haven’t settled down yet either. You aren’t the only one here with baggage.’

    Dani chuckled. ‘I suppose that’s true.’

    ‘Look, I’m not entering into this relationship expecting you to provide me with offspring. But I could actually envisage
you
being the one who decides they want children in a few years from now. I happen to think you’d be a great mum. You do know there’s no reason why you should have the same illness as your mother did. The treatment of depression has come on an incredible amount since then anyway. I really don’t believe you should have to live in fear. It seems crazy in this day and age.’

     Dani leant her head against his shoulder and took a sip of bubbly. ‘Somebody else said that to me recently too.’

    ‘Who was that?’

    ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter.’ She shifted up. ‘All that matters is that you both made a lot of sense.’

    James bent down to place a soft kiss on her lips. ‘Well, I hope that I made
more
sense.’

     ‘Don’t worry about that,’ Dani giggled, pulling him closer, so he could kiss her again. ‘There’s really no contest on that score.’

*

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Katherine.

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© Katherine Pathak, 2015 

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