The Celibate Mouse (12 page)

CHAPTER 18

Dinner with Daddy

Marli

Wednesday: evening.

M
arli could hardly keep from pinching herself. ‘I can’t believe it. I’m actually in the car with my real dad!’ She longed to reach out and touch him, just for him to look at her and maybe smile. Vague feelings of guilt for disobeying her sister twittered here and there, but quelled before they had a chance to take hold. Over the past couple of months, their stepdad, Harry, had slowly ostracised her only speaking directly to Marli when mum was within earshot. Hurt and bewildered, she had clung to her mother, withdrawing even from her sister.

‘But now I’ve got our real father to myself. So suck it up, Brit!’ No sister to scream at her, no mum to divert his attention, though she felt awful when she remembered her mother standing alone on the verandah watching them drive away. ‘It’ll be mum’s turn next time. Tonight’s my time.’ She wriggled excitedly, stealing shy glances at his profile as they drove to the restaurant. It cost so much to eat at the Dale, but her father hadn’t so much as blinked an eye when she suggested it. Perhaps he didn’t know how much it would cost?

‘Er, it’s a very expensive place. If you wanted, we could go somewhere else?’ she offered.
Please say we’ll still go.

He raised an eyebrow and glanced at her. ‘You mean you want to go into town and eat at McDonalds?’

‘If you think so.’ A wave of disappointment swept through her.

David grinned. ‘And deprive me of a decent meal? No way. You’ll just have to force yourself to eat whatever rubbish they’re serving here!’

He was rewarded by her brilliant smile, as he swung the car into the forecourt.

She cast him a coquette’s glance. ‘You’re going to deprive me of a Big Mac? My heart is broken!’ She burst out laughing and when he joined in, she realised with some surprise, that it was the first time she’d shared a joke with her
father.

David glanced around, surprised by the modern ambience of the restaurant, softened with original paintings on the walls. It was not the sort of establishment he expected to find in a country town. Their plates of grilled seafood glistened in the sparkling lights. Marli was beside herself with excitement. She ate a few mouthfuls and washed them down with a Squashed Frog. ‘Are you going to be in town for long?’

David finished his mouthful. ‘Depends on what happens with this case. It’s early days yet. We’ve interviewed the main cast, but there’s lots more to go and so many times, Marli, enquiries come to nothing and you need to start over again. With any enquiry, you sift through a lot of facts, until one leaps out at you and this is either the one you want or it leads you to the one which will solve your case. We’ve talked to all the people who were at the dog trials, the judges, the announcers and the sheep handlers. A lot of people left before an announcement could be made telling them they had to remain.’

Marli ducked her head, letting her hair fall forward to hide her flushed face. “Lots of people” included her mother and herself. She exhaled slowly, trying not to let her breath out with a whoosh. She would be mortified if David knew they’d sneaked away from the trials. How would she explain that mum had rushed her away? She’d get Susan into trouble for sure.

‘Did your mother have a good time with Mrs Wins-low yesterday?’

Marli looked up and smiled. ‘Oh yes, and she came back with Fat Albert, Mrs Robinson’s cat. She said he needed a home and he slept with her last night. I went in and he was lying on mum.’ She giggled. Her father laughed, and muttered something under his breath which sounded like,
‘Lucky Albert,’
but she must have been mistaken. That didn’t make sense.

Her father went on to ask her about what she was going to do now that she’d finished school.

‘I want to be a vet. I’m hoping to get an OP1 so I can apply for a place at Queensland Uni, Gatton Campus. Brit wants to do medicine, but she has to get another degree first, so I think she’s going to do Biology.’ She chattered on, painting a word-picture of herself and her sister. David leaned back in his chair, bitterly hurt by what he’d missed.

‘Is Brittany like you?’ he asked, when she paused for breath.

‘No, I’m a wimp. Brit’s a Rottweiler. She told me not to ...’ she stopped, clapping a hand over her mouth. A lifetime of loyalty held her tongue.

David’s eyes twinkled. ‘Not to speak to me? Don’t worry, Marli. I’ll deal with it when the time comes.’

‘So why
didn’t
you want to see us when we were growing up?’ Marli couldn’t restrain herself a minute longer. ‘Mum told me what happened between you, but now I want your side of it. The truth and nothing but the truth!’ she parroted, trying to make light of the tension she could feel rising between them.

Relieved she’d brought the issue into the open, he looked back at her, staring defiantly at him, biting her lip to keep control. Anger against Susan roiled in his stomach. She’d not dodge the issue again; he’d make time to corner her and demand some answers. He wiped his mouth with his napkin, wondering what Susan had said about him. He suspected he hadn’t come out of it too well, but she’d been less than helpful all those years ago. Playing for time, he invited Marli to choose dessert, which he ordered along with coffee.

Then his phone rang. Signalling he’d only be a moment, he turned aside. Marli’s heart sank. She just knew her perfect evening and her chance to really talk to her father was going to be disrupted. It had happened too many times with her mum when she was growing up. In fact, she realised with wonder, the last two weeks were the only time she’d enjoyed her mother’s sole attention. ‘Thank you, God, Brit’s in Sydney and can’t mess this up for me as well.’

David snapped his mobile shut and turned back to his daughter.

‘W–what’s happened? Do you have to go?’ she asked through stiff lips.
Don’t cry, just don’t cry.

‘No, I don’t, Marli.’ He was silent for a moment and then made up his mind. She’d hear it all anyway with him living at the house. ‘I asked for an update on Senior Constable John Glenwood and I’ve just been advised he’s still in a coma. The doctors don’t expect him to come out of it any time soon. In fact, he may not make it.’

His thoughts shot back to the rest of the information which Senior Sergeant Harris had imparted. John Glenwood’s wife, Nola, remembered that her husband was going to town to follow up a lead into the Harlow shooting, but hadn’t told her who or what it was about. Ultimately, they might be dealing with a cop killer.

‘Poor Mrs Glenwood. Do they have children?’

The arrival of their dessert interrupted, but it didn’t look as enticing as she had expected. David picked up his spoon and gestured to her plate. ‘His kids are all adults, thank goodness. You not eating your tiramisu won’t help Senior Constable Glenwood. Come on, chin up!’

He thrust thoughts of the investigation aside. That would come tomorrow; his daughter had priority.

Marli smiled reluctantly picked up her spoon and dug into the cake. At least there weren’t little children waiting at home for their dad, like she was sure they must have missed him when they were little. He mustn’t be allowed to get away with not answering her question.

‘Please, can we return to you not coming to see us? I really need to know why!’

Tears shimmered in her eyes, turning his insides to mush. He would give anything not to have caused his child the pain of bad-mouthing her mother. Twisting the truth would do to save her reputation. ‘Harry, your mother and I thought you’d become confused by having me popping in and out of your lives, and I needed to go away and work. I was in the UK police force and only came back a couple of years ago to Cairns. I’ve been down here for two weeks. Marli, you and Brittany were always in my heart. I never missed sending you both birthday and Christmas presents.’

He didn’t mention the child support payments which he’d never reneged on and which Susan said she’d banked for the girls.

She wiped her eyes with her napkin and glared at him. ‘That’s not what Mum said. She couldn’t understand why you didn’t come, and we didn’t get birthday or Christmas presents from you after we turned six.’

David gaped at her. ‘What? I don’t understand.’ He cast through his mind, trying to remember where he’d been when his daughters were six. He couldn’t remember, so latched onto a present he’d sent for a recent birthday. ‘I sent two hand-painted mugs to you for your last birthday. Do you remember?’

‘No. We never got any mugs. What was painted on them?’

‘Er, rats actually.’ It seemed such a childish present now he was looking at a young woman, not the little girl he’d pictured her as.

‘I’ve had pet rats since I was eight! I have two of them now, back at the farm!’ Her dad liked rats? She gazed at him, momentarily diverted from her purpose.

David frowned. ‘Perhaps they got broken in the mail and your mother didn’t tell you?’ He was trying hard to find a reason for the non-appearance of that particular parcel, and deep down, relieved that she didn’t appear to think the present was childish.

‘No. I overheard dad–Harry–saying to mum that the bas–you’d forgotten us again.’ She caught her breath, hoping he’d not realised what she’d almost repeated.

‘Marli, I sent those mugs by registered mail. I’d have been notified if they hadn’t arrived and the parcels would have been sent back to me.’ His expression hardened; his eyes were like ice. ‘Tell me something,’ he paused for a moment, ‘how well did you get on with Harry, your stepfather?’

‘He did everything for us. He taught us to swim and went to school things. He even went clothes shopping with us sometimes and sat outside the dressing room while we tried on oodles of gear.’ Marli smiled, remembering the good times. She didn’t want to think about the last few months.

‘Do you know why your Mum and Harry never had any children of their own?’

‘Oh yes, we put in an order for a baby brother when we were about five, but then they told us Harry wasn’t able to have children. He always said he didn’t need any more because we were the lights of his life and he was happy with his girls.’

David forgot to breathe. The windows of his mind had been thrown open: Harry Prescott had deliberately stolen his children.
And he, a perfect idiot, had let him.
But Harry would have had help. Did Susan–? A snapshot of Susan’s incredulous expression when he’d faced her in the kitchen on Monday morning popped into his mind’s eye. No, not Susan, but someone had aided and abetted; someone who hated his guts. The perfect candidate came to mind.

‘Was your grandmother there very often?’ Susan would be working her backside off and they’d be conniving behind her back. .

‘Yes, but she usually came during the day when mum was working and if dad wasn’t home, she’d spend a lot of time with Mary. Sometimes she came over on the weekend and for our birthdays and Christmas. She usually only rang mum to tell her off.’

Marli’s face clouded as she remembered past slights: ‘Getting a little pud, aren’t you Marli? Perhaps you’d better give dessert a miss tonight ...’

‘Who’s Mary?’ Her father’s voice pulled her back to the present.

‘Mary Jellow, dad’s secretary.’

David’s eyes narrowed. ‘Tell me about her,’ he invited, signalling for more coffee and a coke for Marli.

‘She’s been dad’s secretary for years, ever since we were little. He built an office out the back of the house with its own entrance and she worked out there. She’s madly in love with dad. Mary used to stand in for him or for mum when neither of them was able to do things with us, like shopping and stuff. She’s a bit dippy, and she gave us things, like books and ornaments she’d picked up at op shops. She’d walk the dogs and answer the phone, take in our private mail, take messages. All those sorts of things–’

It clicked.

Marli’s face whitened; her eyes grew wide with shock.

David nodded slowly. ‘So damned easy. Every time I tried to contact you, Brittany or your mum, either Harry or some woman would answer the phone, with messages purporting to be from Susan. I tried writing too, but never received an answer. I even went to a solicitor once to see what could be done about getting access, but while I was living away from you there wasn’t any point in pushing for it. I admit that in recent years I didn’t phone or write at all because ... but I’ll go into that with you some other time, I promise.’

‘It’s all right.’ Marli’s heart felt as though it was curling up in a ball of pain. The father she’d known since she was a little girl and whom she thought loved them had betrayed their trust. Because he’d done it to Brit as well, though of course her twin wouldn’t care about it. Not like she, Marli, would.

David picked up her small, slender hand and continued. ‘I thought your mother blocked me from seeing you and Brit, that she didn’t want me anywhere near you. It had to be Harry and this Mary character, because there’s no other explanation.’ He thought for a moment. ‘Were Mary and your mum friends?’

Marli bit off a giggle. ‘Not like you’d notice. She hated mum. She’s supposed to be joining dad in his new office. What a doormat! Anyway, he’s got someone else now. Sharon in Sydney.’ Her mouth turned down at the corners with the scorn of the teenage and untried in life.

David almost laughed, as he thought about the prospects of future boyfriends who thought they might treat her carelessly. This brought him to good-looking Constable Winslow. Better tread carefully, not make an issue of it.

‘How well do you know Adam Winslow?’

‘I only met him when he came over Monday morning. Why?’

‘No reason. Just be careful. Are you ready to go?’ he asked, as he reached for his wallet.
And I’ll cut his balls off if he hurts her.

‘Did you ever think about us?’ Marli’s voice came out high and squeaky.

David looked at her anxious face. ‘Yes I thought about you often, Marli, and Brit, especially when I had to deal with girls your age in the course of my job. Those were the times that no matter what I wanted, I was glad you were safe with your mother and stepfather. In spite of everything we can now guess about Harry and Mary’s part in our separation, I am still grateful for that.’ They smiled at each.