Page 38 of Sharing Forever in Hope Creek (Hope Creek #2)

A guard walked past the table and it reminded Callie that her time with her mother was brief.

Conscious also that they were in a very public place, she entreated her mother as quietly as possible, ‘I have nobody else to turn to. If you have any information at all, any connections you can tap into that will help clear Jack from this murder investigation, I beg you to help.’

‘Allowing you to visit today was risky, but I knew you needed help so I let it happen,’ her mother replied in the same quiet undertones. ‘I just hope Jack Marshall is worth it.’

Callie let out a breath as she blinked quickly—still shocked to discover that her mother had kept such close tabs on her and knew about Jack.

‘Will you please try to find out something about Andrew Thompson’s murder? I know Jack didn’t kill him.’

Julie raised one hand and partially covered her mouth as she said quietly, ‘Marcus Covington.’

‘Marcus Covington?’ Callie whispered back.

‘Yes.’ Her mother sent a casual glance around the room then looked down at her hands before she whispered, ‘Covington served time. He had a vendetta against Marshall and vowed he’d get revenge on him.’

‘Revenge?’ Callie pressed a hand against her forehead and although her discomfort about being here and seeing her mother had already made her stomach churn, bile was now swirling in her gut like a whirlpool. ‘What—?’

‘Quiet and listen.’ Her mother’s stern command cut across Callie’s questions.

‘Marshall knows all this. What he doesn’t know—what you need to tell him if you want to help him—is that Covington made friends with Thompson’s brother in prison.

Once he got out of jail, Covington approached Thompson for a loan to start up a development company.

It was a big loan and Covington was up to his ears in debt to Thompson.

Those in the know say Covington killed Thompson to stop Thompson from foreclosing on the loans he’d given him.

Killing Thompson was the perfect way for Covington to exact his revenge on Marshall as well. It’s up to you to get the proof.’

‘Five minutes,’ a disembodied voice announced through a speaker.

Callie panicked. Five minutes wasn’t enough time. ‘Where do we start?’ They were hardly going to be able to march up to this Covington character and expect him to confess to the murder.

Julie shifted uncomfortably in her chair, her gaze darting around the room before she uttered a name that was barely audible.

‘Fiona Harris?’ Callie clarified urgently.

‘Quiet!’ her mother grated out, her lips barely moving as she spoke.

‘Did I hear you properly?’

The slight nod of Julie’s head was almost imperceptible.

‘But what—?’

‘She’s the girlfriend,’ came the explanation. ‘If the police lean on her, she’ll squeal about all her boyfriend’s been up to.’

Although Callie wished she could leave here with something more concrete, her mother had at least given her a lead, which they hadn’t had up until now.

Her mother.

She looked at Julie and bit her lip as her chest hollowed out.

For a moment, she thought she saw a softening in her mother’s features and Callie was seized by a flashback so powerful, she felt like a five-year-old again.

Look, Sweetpea! Daddy went back to the park and found your teddy.

Callie closed her eyes, remembering the motley teddy bear her father had given her.

Ted had gone everywhere with Callie, but one day she’d been at the park playing on the swings with her parents and it had pelted down with rain.

In their quick dash to the car, Ted had been left behind.

Callie had been inconsolable when she’d arrived home and realised he was still at the park getting soaked in the storm.

Mike hadn’t had time to get him straight away as he’d been called ‘to work’ unexpectedly.

Callie tried to stop her brain from wondering who he’d killed that night. Whoever it was, it must’ve been quick because Mike had arrived home while Callie was still awake fretting over Ted’s fate when Julie had presented the sopping wet teddy to her.

Her mother had allowed her to get out of bed, give Ted a nice warm bath and a pretend hot chocolate before he’d ended up going round and round in the tumble dryer.

Clamping down on the emotion that made tears well in her eyes, Callie looked at Julie and said simply, ‘Thank you.’

‘Guess it’s bad enough having a grandfather who’s in jail for murder and a grandmother who has quite a resume of crimes. Don’t want your kid to grow up having a father serving jail time as well—especially when he didn’t do the crime.’

‘Thank you, Mum,’ Callie said shakily. ‘I really mean it.’

Julie bent her head and stared at the top of the table, covering her mouth with one hand as she said quietly, ‘If there’s anything else your father learns that will help Jack Marshall, he’ll find a way of getting the information to you.

’ Then her mother looked up. Julie’s eyes glistened but her actions became brisk as she straightened the top of her prison shirt that had slipped off her shoulder.

‘Don’t come back here, Callie, and—whatever you do—don’t go to visit your father.

The gang keep a closer eye on him than they do on me and we don’t want them to remember you exist.’

She didn’t look at Callie as she spoke and Callie couldn’t help but wonder if she was making the directive because that way she didn’t have to live from day to day wondering if Callie would ever return.

‘Hang on!’ Callie said sharply when she sensed that her mother was going to get up and walk away. ‘I agree not to come here again but you need to agree to something for me, too.’

Her mother raised an eyebrow in question. ‘What more can I possibly do for you?’

‘Let me go. I don’t want to live knowing that you’re monitoring every single thing that’s happening in my life.’

‘You want me to shut down my sources.’

Gosh. How many sources does she have? ‘Yes.’

Julie’s jaw moved back and forth sideways as though she was gnashing her teeth together as she considered the request. Finally she agreed. ‘Okay, but on two conditions.’

Callie groaned her frustration. ‘Go on.’

‘I want to know when this baby is born and when any other kids are born.’

‘I don’t think—’

‘Second, promise me you’ll come to me if you ever get into another jam I can help you with.’

Were they really such hard promises to make?

If Callie didn’t agree, Julie would know about her child anyway. And as for condition two …

‘Okay,’ she said at last.

‘Then I’ll honour my side of the deal,’ Julie told her.

Thank God!

Almost as soon as Callie breathed out in relief, a huge tidal wave of sadness and loss washed over her.

‘Live your life, Callie.’ She stood up and the chair scraped against the floor. ‘Look forward. Don’t look backwards.’ To the guard she called out, ‘We’re done here.’

Callie couldn’t help the single sob that burst forth from her lips before she pressed her fist against her mouth.

Her breaths were short and shallow—pain between every rib making it impossible to breathe deeply.

All the pain from the first separation—when her mother had been removed from her life so unexpectedly and so shamefully—welled up again, but this time was different.

This time she understood what was happening and now she knew this really was goodbye.

It was a different goodbye because now it was goodbye by mutual choice.

This time Callie knew she would never see her mother again.