She gulped down the last of her coffee. “Two conditions.”
“Name them.”
“We take turns to call Daisy for regular updates throughout the day.” He nodded. “And, if the anxiety gets too much, I’ll leave work early and collect the boys.”
“As long as I can impose a condition of my own,” Leon said. Flora raised her brows in surprise. “It’s the same as yours.” He looked at the twins with a slight smile. “If the nerves get to me, I may be the one who needs to leave early to make sure they’re okay.”
Chapter 17
“I can’t believe that we are having this conversation.” Flora looked stunned. “After the hopes we had for the Ryerson Center, how can we possibly be sitting here discussing its closure?” Only half an hour had passed since the last check-in with the daycare center but it felt like a lifetime.
Cameron’s expression was somber. “The last thing I want to do is shut these doors, but I’ve said all along that safety must come first. We now have two members of staff and two patients who are dead, as well as the attack on Rajiv. In addition, you have been the subject of repeated harassment. That has now spilled over and your son has also been targeted. I have to question whether we can stay open.”
“Reputation is everything, especially in the early days of establishing a new business.” Leon couldn’t believe how far he’d come. Was he actually advocating for the Ryerson Center? He’d been opposed to this place from the start. Alan Grayson had been right in his prediction that this new facility would be the end of the Main Street Clinic. Although the reasons were not those Alan had been shouting about, the end result was the same. But so much had changed since the days when Alan had been voicing his hostility to anyone who would listen. “That isn’t different for a medical practice. Even if your intention is to close temporarily, I doubt you’ll sustain enough public confidence to reopen again.”
“You are echoing the opinion of the Mountain States Health Group,” Cameron said. “Having invested heavily in this center, management is reluctant to see it close.”
“Maybe you should wait for Laurie’s return before you make a decision?” Leon said. “This is tied into the police investigation, and she may have more information.”
He looked at Flora and Raj, who both nodded their agreement. When Flora didn’t mention her plan to leave Stillwater, Leon wondered if she might be having second thoughts. Her comment earlier about not knowing what to do implied that was the case, but he hardly dared let himself hope. All he wanted to do was get to a point where he could put things right between them. He could only trust it wasn’t too late.
“What about the pie that was given to Frankie? Is it being analyzed?” Cameron asked.
“The police agreed to allow the laboratory here to do the tests,” Flora said. “I spoke to James Barrett, the senior technician, and he will expedite the results. He may even have something by the end of the day.”
“That’s good news,” Raj said. He was clearly struggling to come to terms with Vivien’s death. His eyes were swollen and bloodshot, and his normally neat black hair stood up at awkward angles.
“Not necessarily,” Flora sighed. “James said the information he can get from a sample of food is likely to be limited.”
They had already delivered the news of Vivien’s murder to the rest of the staff. Early morning meetings were becoming commonplace at the Ryerson Center, and they never spelled good news. Although word had filtered out that the police had found a body, and most people had already made the connection, the mood throughout the center was one of shock and sadness. Leon could also see a healthy dose of fear on most faces. The sense of “who next?” was almost tangible.
The rest of the day passed in a timeless bubble. Leon and Flora had devised a schedule for calling the daycare center, working around their appointments. Leon found himself looking at the clock to check if it was time to call, only to find the hands hadn’t moved. Then, when he thought minutes had passed, he’d realize it had actually been an hour. Each time he spoke to Daisy, she assured him that the twins were fine.
“You spoke to Daisy?” Flora said, when he managed to grab a few minutes to speak to her. “I’ve only managed to get Tegan. Daisy has been too busy to take my calls.”
Leon frowned. “That’s not good. Daisy must know how important this is.”
“Tegan has kept me up-to-date with how the boys are doing. That’s all I want. Besides...” Flora gave him a side-long glance. “It doesn’t surprise me that Daisy would rather speak to you.”
Leon frowned. “Why?”
“Oh, it’s occurred to me once or twice from things she’s said that she may have taken a liking to you.”
The words stirred something inside him. A discomfort he didn’t understand. It would certainly explain that strange conversation the other day when Daisy had come to see him with that almost certainly fake tendon problem. The look on her face when she’d talked about things returning to normal had troubled him. Maybe Flora’s explanation was the reason why.
Unsure how to respond, Leon managed an embarrassed smile. “Must be my magnetic personality.”
Flora brushed her fingertips lightly over the back of his hand, and the contact thrilled through him. “Among other things.”
After his last appointment, Leon went with Flora to the laboratory to meet with James Barrett, the lab tech. He beckoned them over to his desk and pointed to his laptop screen.
“I’m typing up my report now. I don’t know how much use it will be when it comes to helping the police catch the killer.” James gave a helpless shrug. “The pie filling wasn’t made with fresh cherries. Most over-the-counter pie fillings come in a can, but this was from a jar.
