A Chance Encounter Rae Shaw (ebook reader with built in dictionary .txt) 📖

The back of the car in a state of anguish was not a better place.

‘Opportunitas needs somebody like you.’ Jackson made the offer, the one she had wanted. It felt like an anti-climax. The price had almost been too high, and the big baddie was still out there, but at least Ellen wasn't with him.

‘I would love to work for the foundation.’ She injected a large dose of enthusiasm into her tired voice.

‘Good. It will be piecework for now, a bit of casework to help you appreciate the technicalities. But it's a starting place. You'll still do your usual job alongside, but there’ll be a pay rise. Understood?’

Her time would be in greater demand, but it would be worth it. After Ellen's close encounter, Julianna was keener than ever to hit back at the shady underworld she’d witnessed close up, and she guessed that the limitations of a charity was what Jackson meant by “technicalities”.

Jackson told her somebody would swing by Mark's flat early in the morning to collect Ellen's things and take them to Fasleigh. She wondered why he was telling her. There wasn't much else to say. He said goodbye in his usual curt manner; he was still the boss. She wondered if Jackson would lose interest in Mark now that he had unravelled the mystery of Bill Clewer.

The report writing faltered and she drank more coffee. The mobile rang again. It wasn't Mark, but she wasn't expecting him to ring, unless he had made it a priority to go out and buy a new phone.

‘Gary?’ she said tentatively.

‘Julianna, I wanted to apologise for sounding off in the car,’ Gary said.

‘What?’

‘You know ranting. You three had obviously had some sort of horrendous misadventure and me being selfish and—’

‘Christ, Gary, forget it. You missed out on family time.’

‘You’re alright?’

‘Sure. Mark and I just need to have some down time.’

‘Looked to me like Clewer has company for the afternoon.’

‘What do you mean?’ Julianna's stomach pinched. Freddie was still at large and Mark had gone back to his flat. How stupid of her! What had she been thinking when she left him in the back of the car in a dazed state – herself, and nothing else. Haynes assumed Mark had stayed with her, hence the request for access to Ellen's stuff.

‘Well, four blokes in leathers were talking with him in the entrance to his flat.’

‘Leathers?’ Bikers. A bad sign. Julianna slammed down the lid of her laptop.

‘Yeah, one with spiky blond hair.’

‘Shit, oh shit!’ Julianna hung up without saying goodbye, grabbed her handbag and dashed to the front door.

~ * ~

Julianna drove precariously fast to Mark's, the car complained noisily, chugging and spewing fumes along the streets. Abandoning it on double yellow lines, she dug out his spare key from her handbag and took a deep breath.

‘Please be there, Mark.’

Like last time, the apartment door was ajar. She shifted her heavy handbag off her shoulder, ready to swing it like a pole-axe. The defensive stance wasn’t necessary: Mark was face down on the settee. He was extremely pale, sweating and trembling, and the collar of his shirt was nearly torn off.

‘What did they do to you?’ She crept towards him. ‘Oh Christ, Mark, I’m taking you to my place. He doesn’t know where I live. You're not safe here. I’m going to take care of you. And don’t fucking argue.’

‘Nicky won’t come back,’ he said feebly.

‘I didn’t mean Nicky. Zustaller lost money and you ruined his revenge. I should never have left you alone here.’ She took charge, rummaged through the bedroom drawers and located plenty of clothes, toiletries, and anything else he might need for the coming days. ‘Do you have a friendly neighbour?’ she asked. He muttered a response.

The neighbours were in and happy to take her key. ‘He’s coming later this evening to collect a few boxes. He’s called Tom Draper. Nice bloke,’ she reassured the elderly neighbours.

She left a message at the Fasleigh gatehouse to tell Tom to contact Mark’s neighbours for access.

‘Come on.’ She dragged Mark off the settee. He moved stiffly. As they passed Ellen’s boxes, he rummaged in one and placed her running shoes on top.

‘Running will help her. She finds it therapeutic,’ he said.

Julianna wished he had shown such thoughtfulness on Friday. There was no point in regretting things. She would have to teach him how things should be done. She would ring her parents and tell them she was happy, safe and in love with somebody, even if he didn't know it yet.

~ * ~

Sitting cross-legged on the floor of her sitting room, Julianna held a spoonful of stew to Mark’s lips.

‘The odd thing is, Nicky said nothing once he got me down there. Probably because no words were necessary, and I couldn't think of a single thing to say to him.’

Mark hadn't read the letter Ellen had written. Jackson had confiscated it from Julianna and kept it. Given the anger in Nicky's eyes, it wouldn't have made much difference if Mark had pleaded that it was a terrible misunderstanding between the siblings, accusing each other of hiding the truth when neither of them understood a thing about their father. Mark was slowly realising his father was multi-faceted beyond duplicity.

She let him talk.

‘I don’t blame Nicky for hating me. I understand hatred and what it can do to dignity. Ellen is drawn to men who offer her a paternal shield. Zustaller might be the worst kind of con artist; Nicky, however, is a loyal friend. A decent one, too. When he raised his fist, I closed my eyes and accepted I deserved the beating. Ellen's face has bruises.’

‘But yours doesn’t.’

‘No. But there is a hole in the basement wall. My headache is down to this bloody migraine. I passed