A tremble went through Ryder and Jake couldn’t tell if it was mirth or horror that make her shake.
Milo barked and Jake jumped. “Damn, forgot he could talk like that. Guess he must want cake. Fancy a ride in a police car, Milo?”
He barked again.
“I’ll take that as a yes then. Well, Eb. Looks like you’ll have to come too so he doesn’t get lonely. We can come back and get your mum’s truck later. What do you say?”
Ryder pulled away from him, a shaky smile on her pale face. He could see she was being brave under such traumatic conditions, but it was wisest when dealing with a child to be upbeat rather than in a panic. He couldn’t interview Eb on the footpath of the garden centre and they had to talk about how to approach Eric. He knew that Ryder would want a piece of that.
“Okay.” Eb still had her arms around Milo but she sat up straighter now. “You don’t have a safety seat in your car.”
“Easy enough to take yours with us.” He looked into Ryder’s face. “You ready for this?” She bit her bottom lip and nodded her head, making his stomach go into a flight of cartwheels. He held her hand and pulled her up to her feet, keeping close in case she wobbled. Ebony climbed off the trolley and with one arm around Milo’s neck, took her mothers hand, and together they walked out of the garden centre.
Back at the police station, Jake produced the caramel cake he’d lured them in with and they sat around the staff room table casually eating and drinking as though there wasn’t a care in the world. Mick had joined them and he stood to one side with a coffee mug in his hand, keeping an eye on Milo who refused to leave Ebony’s side. Having her feed him small scraps of cake kept his attention away from everyone else as well.
All the while, Jake’s phone sat on the table between them recording the conversation. The discussion started casually as if they were friends merely talking about their day. “Gardening, eh. Sounds like fun. About time you put something pretty colour along the side of the house, Ryder. I remember when there were flowers there, but that was before the last tenants I think.”
“Since I had time off, it seemed like a great idea. And we need flowers for cutting, don’t we, Eb?” He watched her, counting the nervous swallows as she looked between him and her mother.
“Yes, but not rainbow roses. They hurt.” She frowned and looked at her palm.
“Can you tell me when the rainbow roses did that to you Ebony? It looks like it stings. You must have been very brave.”
“I don’t remember. Maybe I was asleep, I dunno.” She shrugged her shoulders and fed Milo another piece of cake. “But when I cried Uncle Eric got mad and said a bad word.”
Ryder dropped her coffee mug with a thud. Her breathing ramped up and Mick quickly stepped over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She closed her eyes and her lips trembled, but Ebony didn’t notice. She was busy talking to Milo, which Jake thought, was the best thing that could have happened. No stress, a memory that they could work with.
A low moan rose in Ryder’s throat. Jake caught Micks eye and gave a nod of his head. Mick understood. “Hey, Ebony. Bring Milo out and meet Lillian. She loves dogs and she’s going to get so excited to meet him.”
“Really? She won’t be scared cause he’s so big?”
“Nah. It’ll be cool. She keeps treats in her drawer for kids too. I know because I sneak one every now and then when she’s not looking, but don’t you go telling her or you’ll get me into trouble.” Mick kept up the chatter as he led Eb and her dog from the room.
Jake reached over and gripped Ryder’s hand. “What is it? You’ve gone grey.”
She looked at him, despair in her eyes. “It was him. Uncle Eric. The reason we moved away. I remember it now. He was only Mick’s age or close to it, but he used to take me away from my parents whenever we went to Granddad’s house. Try to get me outside. I was only three or four, but he scared me then.” She swallowed a sob, took a deep breath, and continued. “I remember Dad looking for us one day and punching Eric in the nose. Grandad came running and they all had a terrible fight.” She sniffed and wiped a hand over her eyes. “It wasn’t Grandad telling me I was pretty at all. It was Eric.”
Jake held her hand while she let it all out. Then he made plans to bring Eric in.
Chapter 21
“Thanks for coming in, Eric. Thought it might be a good idea to have an informal chat about what’s happened in the last couple of days.” Jake pushed a notepad in front of him and picked up a pen.
“You have no concrete evidence against my father. Admit it, Jake, you’re clutching at straws locking an old man up.” He sneered and tapped his fingernails against the table, his gaze flickering to Mick standing in the corner of the room. “If you try to make a case of this, I’ll destroy you in court.”
“And how are you going to do that, Eric?”
“You don’t have enough evidence to convict him and we both know it. He’s old, probably incapable of doing what you’re so delicately suggesting. Anyone could have used that old barn of his. Half the town knows he never goes in there anymore.”
“Kind of makes it a perfect place to hide a child until you can organize getting them away, wouldn’t you say, Eric?”
Eric crossed his arms and dropped his eyelids, half closing his eyes. He looked down at the table and sighed. “If you have something to add
