Ethan's Daughter Page 15

  When two police officers approached the front door, Ethan moved to the side and lowered his head, a strange guilt sweeping through him as though he already harbored a fugitive without even laying eyes on Anna. God only knew what he’d feel when he came face-to-face with her.

  A woman in a black anorak, her head covered by its hood, caught his attention as she quickly walked across the parking lot toward the station. He immediately recognized his ex-wife.

  Coming to a stop in front of him, Anna pushed off her hood.

  Shock mixed with sympathy. Her face was pale beneath her clearly fake tan, her dark eyes were sunken and she had faded bruises on her cheeks and brow. She was a ghost of the woman he’d once loved and married.

  He shook his head as any anger or resentment he felt toward her vanished. “My God, Anna. What have they done to you?”

  She flitted her focus to a spot over his shoulder, her eyes glassy with tears. “I’m fine.”

  “You are not fine. What are you doing, getting yourself involved with these people?”

  “I’m okay.” Her gaze met his. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

  “I’m not talking about the bruises.”

  She closed her eyes and a single tear rolled over her cheek.

  His sympathy escalated as Leah’s musings about Anna’s mental state years before lingered in his mind. He dropped his shoulders. “Come here.” He put his arms around her and her cheek fell heavily to his shoulder. “We’ll sort everything out, okay?”

  Her body shuddered in his embrace before she pulled back and swiped at her cheeks. “I agreed to meet you here, but I really don’t want the police involved. They will only make things worse. I’ll figure a way out of this on my own.”

  “You’re wrong. I originally thought the same thing, but someone has made me realize just how wrong I was not to involve the police the moment you left my house.”

  She glared. “I’ve apologized for that.”

  “And? You think that makes everything okay? Daisy lives with me, Anna. I should’ve let the police know the sort of danger her mother was in...the sort of danger you had put me and Daisy in.” He shook his head. “I should’ve ensured she was safe and so should you. We’re going into that station and you’re going to speak to the police. Enough is enough.”

  Trying to suppress his annoyance, he pushed his hands into his trouser pockets. Didn’t she understand she’d lost the right to work things out her own way the moment she’d turned up at his door? “I wasn’t giving you a choice when I told you to meet me here. We have to let the police know what’s happening. If you won’t speak to them, I will. This has gone too far. Look at you. Why would you risk these people coming near Daisy?”

  She held his stare before glancing toward the station’s double doors. “The police will want me to press charges. I don’t want to do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’ve seen what Harry and his friends do to people who threaten them. I was stupid to say anything to Harry about the drugs. I should’ve just left. Ran away without a word, but me being me, I had to say something. Had to act as though the whole world should play by my rules and give me something for my silence. Now look at me. Look at you and Daisy. I’ve messed things up for all of us and I really didn’t mean to, so I’ll fix this.”

  “You can’t do that alone. You’ve already admitted how dangerous these people are. You need the police’s protection or you’re going to end up dead.” He clenched his jaw. “I’m not prepared to have that on my conscience.”

  She shook her head, her gaze pleading. “Harry won’t kill me. He loves me.”

  Ethan stared at her in disbelief, pointed at the bruising on her face. “That’s love, is it?”

  “In a way.”

  “Can you hear yourself? Would you have stayed with me if I’d knocked you around from time to time?”

  Her eyes glazed with tears. “Don’t talk that way.”

  “How else can I talk when you say this guy loves you?”

  She dropped her gaze to the floor.

  Ethan blew out a breath, his frustration cooling. “The police will find somewhere to keep you safe. If you don’t want to press charges, I can’t force you, but I won’t stand by and see you being threatened or beaten up. Who knows what they could do to you next time? Just let the police take care of you until the threat passes, or we’re sure this Harry or one of his cronies aren’t going to turn up here. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for Daisy.”

  “Daisy, Daisy, Daisy...” Her tone was icy. “Everything isn’t about Daisy all the time, you know. Look at me.”

  He fought to get hold of his temper. “For me, everything is about Daisy. Every thought, action and word revolves around our daughter. Not once have you asked how she is or asked to see her.”

  Anna glared. “And you think I want her to see me like this? God, Ethan, I’m not that bad a mother.”

  He stared at her, the way he truly wanted to respond to that statement burning his tongue. One of them had to be rational and realistic or the situation would further escalate. He took a deep breath. “If that’s true, you’ll come inside the station with me and listen to what the police have to say.”

  Her indecision showed before finally she closed her eyes, her shoulders slumping. “Fine. I’ll talk to them, but what happens after that is up to me.” She opened her eyes, and he saw they stormed with anger. “Not you.”

  Nodding, he held on to his minuscule victory. He had to bide his time in getting Anna to press charges, or risk her fleeing and ending up dead. “Okay.”

  She lifted her chin. “Then let’s do this.”

  He followed her up the station steps and into the lobby. She stepped back as he approached the desk sergeant. “Good afternoon. Is it possible to speak with Inspector Garrett?”

  The duty sergeant glanced over Ethan’s shoulder toward Anna. “Is she expecting you?”

  “No, but it concerns a matter I spoke with her about on Sunday. My name’s Ethan James and this is Anna Holt.”

  “I know who you are. Those books of yours can be pretty addictive.” The officer flashed a half smile before standing. “Wait here. I’ll go see if Inspector Garrett is available.”

  As the desk sergeant disappeared into the back office, Ethan took a seat beside Anna in one of the plastic chairs lining the wall. She stared ahead. His ex-wife looked so thin and desperate, the vivaciousness she’d held when he met her all but disappeared.

  He leaned back. “Do you have any money? Any plans for what you’ll do when you get away from this Harry thug?”

  “I have a little money.” She fell back in her seat. “As for plans, I just want to start over somewhere else.”

  “Somewhere else as in where?” Guilt pressed down on him that he didn’t want her settling in the Cove. He might want to help her, but he was nowhere near ready to reintroduce her into Daisy’s life. Any reunion would have to come slowly. Very slowly.

  She faced him, her gaze dark with the same cold determination that had lingered in her eyes the night she’d turned a knife on him. “I know what you’re thinking, and you have no need to worry. Believe me, I don’t want to be here any more than I want to be in Bristol.”

  Her snappishness, her self-pity, hitched his irritation. “So you don’t want to try to reconnect with Daisy? You have no wish to see her?”

  Her eyes welled with tears and she blinked, snapping her focus ahead once more. “No. I have nothing to say to her. No excuse for the way I left.”

  Surprise swept through him. Anna had said over and over that it was his neglect of her that had forced her to leave. Never her fault or failure, only his. “But it doesn’t mean Daisy won’t want to see you one day.”

  She closed her eyes. “I’ll face that day when I have to, not before.”


  The door opened and the desk sergeant waved toward the offices behind him. “I’ll take you to Inspector Garrett now.”

  Ethan rose and looked at Anna as she stared wide-eyed at the sergeant. Fearing she might bolt, Ethan held out his hand. “Trust me, Anna. Everything will be all right.”

  She lifted her gaze to his and stood. Ignoring his hand, she walked past him, and Ethan followed her and the sergeant on into the station, a whole mixture of feelings storming inside.

  As they entered the corner office, Inspector Garrett rose from behind her desk and came forward with her hand outstretched. “Miss Holt, it’s nice to meet you.” She nodded at Ethan. “Mr. James.”

  Ethan nodded back, surprise flitting through him as Anna took the inspector’s hand with a wide smile, her eyes suddenly bright and seemingly hopeful. He frowned. What was she up to now?

  The inspector withdrew her hand and waved toward the visitors’ chairs. “Take a seat.” Once they were all settled, DI Garrett laced her fingers on the desk and looked at Anna. “I assume the bruising on your face has something to do with the situation Mr. James spoke with me about a few days ago?”

  Anna turned to look at him, clearly annoyed. She faced the inspector. “I didn’t realize Ethan had already spoken to you. He had no right to do that.”

  “He’s concerned for you, Miss Holt.”

  “Well, I’m no longer his concern.”

  The soft sympathy in the inspector’s eyes was replaced with caution. “I see. Yet here you are in the Cove. I assume you came to see Mr. James again?”

  Anna at least had the decency to blush. She nodded. “Yes.”

  “And Mr. James asked you to come and speak with me?”

  Anna nodded again.

  “Well then...” DI Garrett leaned back. “Why don’t you tell me what has been happening?”

  As Anna’s silence stretched, Ethan pressed his lips together to stop himself from speaking.

  Inspector Garrett cleared her throat. “Miss Holt?”

  Ethan turned to Anna. Her suddenly frightened eyes met his before she faced the inspector. “I came here because Ethan is the only person I trust to help me. I’ve gotten involved in a situation I no longer have control over, and have no idea what to do next. All I know is I couldn’t stay in Bristol just waiting to see what Harry would do.”

  The inspector frowned. “And Harry gave you the bruises on your face?”

  Anna shook her head. “No. I was attacked on the street. It was staged as a mugging, but I know Harry well enough to know the warning came on his say-so.”

  “And what is Harry’s surname?”

  “What?”

  Inspector Garrett drew a pen from a pot on her desk and stared expectantly at Anna. “I need his full name, Miss Holt. Also his employment status, maybe a home address?”

  “But I don’t want to press charges against him. I can’t be sure he had anything to do with the mugging.”

  “Still, I’d like his name.”

  Ethan stiffened, his eyes and ears wide-open.

  Anna coughed. “Harry Wyatt.”

  DI Garrett nodded and jotted down his name. “His employment?”

  “He owns the Passions nightclub in Bristol city center. That’s all I’m saying. There’s no need for you to know his home address. He’s at the club more than he’s anywhere else. Having said that, I don’t want the police there. It will only make things worse for me.”

  The inspector laid down her pen and leaned forward. “So, tell me why you trust Mr. James to help you even though you and he haven’t seen in each other in five years?” She looked at Ethan. “I assume you told me the truth when we spoke before?”

  Ethan nodded, unsure where the inspector’s questions were headed. “Yes. Anna left me and our daughter five years ago. We were divorced two years after the separation. There was no need to see each other, as everything was done via our lawyers. When Anna turned up on my doorstep, that was the first time I’d seen her since she left.”

  Inspector Garrett looked from Ethan to Anna. “So why are you both here now?”

  Ethan held out the envelope containing the latest batch of photographs. “I understand Leah Dixon called the station about these being delivered to her home. In light of these new pictures, this new threat, I’d like it if you could arrange somewhere safe for Anna to stay in case the people she’s mixed up with decide to come after her.”

  The inspector took the photographs and studied them before turning her scrutiny on Ethan. “You’re in a relationship with Leah Dixon?”

  He stilled. The care the inspector clearly felt for Leah was written in every inch of DI Garrett’s stony expression. He swiped his hand over his face. “We’ve gotten close over the last week or so.”

  “Close?” She raised her eyebrows. “So close that she’s now receiving what can only be perceived as a threat?” The inspector tossed the photographs onto her desk. “I don’t like anyone being threatened, Mr. James, but when someone in Templeton is threatened, I take it personally. Why did Miss Dixon not bring these to me herself?”

  “She was going to come with me...” Ethan hesitated. He really didn’t want Anna to know Leah was reluctant to meet her. Whether she was offended or triumphant, the notion would only serve to inflate Anna’s ego.

  The inspector flicked her focus to Anna and back again. “And she didn’t because Miss Holt arrived. Am I right?”

  He met Anna’s inquisitive gaze. “Yes.”

  Inquisitiveness changed to triumph and Ethan turned to face the inspector.

  She carefully watched Anna. “I see. Well, I suggest you contact the Bristol police and let them know everything that is happening to you, Miss Holt. I can find somewhere for you to stay nearby for a few days, if that’s what you want and Mr. James is comfortable with the situation. But it would be better for you and everyone involved if the people hurting you were arrested sooner rather than later. Can you identify the person, or persons, who attacked you?”

  She shook her head. “Not absolutely. I have my suspicions, that’s all.”

  “Which isn’t enough for the Bristol police to investigate.”

  “No. And even if I did know, I told you I’m not sure I want to press charges. At least not yet.”

  DI Garrett frowned, appearing frustrated. “I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that you have a daughter. Albeit one you have not had contact with for some time. Why come to the Cove and put her under undue risk if you have no intention of ensuring these people can’t come near her?”

  “I panicked, okay?”

  “Don’t use that tone with me or raise your voice, Miss Holt.” The inspector’s jaw tightened. “To do either will mean I’ll ask you to leave my office. Something that I’m sure will not be good for either of us.”

  Ethan curled his hands around the arms of his chair as anger rippled through him. Didn’t Anna understand the main concern through all this was for Daisy? “Anna, for crying out loud.”

  She snapped her head toward Ethan. “What?”

  “You’re not helping yourself or Daisy. Now, apologize to the inspector.”

  She continued to glare at him before turning to DI Garrett. “Fine. I’m sorry. For all Ethan’s faults, he can be trusted. I didn’t know where else to go.”

  For all his faults. The same derision rang in her voice that had been there once their marriage turned sour. The difference was he was no longer the same man he’d been then.

  He shook his head. “After everything you’ve said to me in the past, all the swipes at my character, I’m still the only person you can rely on? The only person you can trust? That says a whole lot more about you than me.”

  She looked at him. “Maybe I don’t want to trust anyone else. You might not have been the best husband, but you never hurt me. That’s quite s
omething in my world.”

  “Yet this is the sort of world you bring to your daughter’s hometown.” Anger rose, choking his words. “What is wrong with you?”

  The inspector stood. “Okay, that’s enough. This is what I’m going to do. Miss Holt, you can spend a few nights in a halfway house in Marchenton. It is a safe place for battered women. The staff there will look after you and they have immediate access to police officers, twenty-four/seven.” She turned to Ethan. “Where is your daughter at the moment, Mr. James?”

  He shifted back in his seat. “She’s staying with my mum for a few days.”

  “Good. I’d like it kept that way until we’re sure Miss Holt is in no further physical danger.” She looked at Anna. “I want you to take this time to think about your next course of action. I recommend you return to Bristol and contact the police there. If you prefer, I can contact them for you.”

  “No.” Anna shook her head. “I will think about what to do and contact them myself if need be.”

  “Fine. Then you have three days to come to a decision. I am prepared to help you, but not house you indefinitely. Do you understand?”

  Anna slumped, the fight apparently leaving her. “Yes.”

  “Good.” The inspector turned to Ethan. “In the meantime, I’d like you to ask Miss Dixon to come and see me as soon as she’s able.”

  Ethan nodded. “I will.”

  “Right. Then if you’d like to follow me, Miss Holt, I will make the arrangements for your ride to the halfway house. Mr. James, I’ll say goodbye for now, but if anything else happens or you have cause for concern, don’t hesitate to call me.”

  Standing, Ethan looked at Anna a final time. He couldn’t think of what to say to the woman who, once again, had thought only of her own welfare rather than her daughter’s.

  He walked from the office, desperate to be outside and to breathe fresh air.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN