Page 30 of The Boathouse by the Loch (The Scottish Highlands #4)

Jake opened the door, trying to think what he should do next.

When he’d spoken with Faye, as soon as he’d landed at London City Airport, she’d asked him to make his way straight to her flat, in case Natty turned up.

Although she had a friend there, Faye must have realised that it would be him who Natty wanted, after her mother, if she were to suddenly reappear.

Jake suddenly realised where he needed to be. Where Faye needed him to be. ‘I’ve got to go.’

‘I’m coming with you,’ said Patrick.

‘No, you can’t.’ Jake’s voice was insistent. What would Faye think if she returned home to find Patrick there? And worse, that Jake had gone to see him and brought him back to her flat.

Jake opened the apartment door, about to leave, when Patrick said, ‘I made a mistake! I didn’t believe her about Yousaf.’

You still don’t. Jake was thinking of that word he’d used – alleged .

‘She won’t give me a second chance.’

Jake turned around and looked at the old man. ‘Maybe you need to earn her trust.’

Patrick walked over to the kitchen table.

He stood fingering a playing card. He looked across the room at Jake.

‘You’re right. After what she said Yousaf tried to do, she didn’t trust me because of my friendship with Yousaf.

’ Patrick bent down and picked up an overturned chair.

‘At the time, her reaction was completely understandable.’ He picked up the cards and shuffled them into a pile.

‘It coincided with her addiction problem.’

‘Addiction problem?’

‘She was afraid of losing her job, her only means of support. And afraid that social services would step in and take her daughter away.’

Jake thought back to something Faye had said about Marcus. Let’s just say we have something in common.

‘Drugs?’ whispered Jake, not quite believing it. Even so, he involuntarily closed the door to the apartment, as though a neighbour might overhear.

Patrick shook his head. ‘Thank god, no – alcohol.’

Jake knew Faye didn’t keep alcohol in the house – not even wine vinegar for cooking. It made sense.

‘She got over the addiction, but she never got over her fear that someone would come and take her daughter away.’

Jake stared at Patrick. Was it possible that Faye had got it wrong, and that Yousaf wasn’t trying to take her daughter away from her?

Had Patrick had been right all along, and she was just being paranoid?

Jake didn’t want to believe him, but everything he’d said so far made sense; although she’d sworn she’d seen two one-way tickets back to Yousaf’s home country – one for him, and one for Natty .

Patrick stopped shuffling cards. He looked up at Jake. ‘Have you ever said something, done something in the heat of the moment that …’ He shook his head. ‘Oh never mind, you’d wouldn’t understand.’

Jake understood perfectly. ‘That you wish you could take back?’

Patrick regarded him thoughtfully. ‘I don’t think Faye will ever forgive me for telling her she was just paranoid, and for taking Yousaf’s side. She’s my daughter. I should have listened.’ He cast the playing cards aside. ‘I miss them like you couldn’t even begin to imagine.’

You wanna bet , Jake felt like saying, but he kept his mouth shut. Instead he walked over to the table and looked the old man in the eye. ‘Can you assure me that you have had no contact with Natty’s father since he left the country?’

Patrick studied the pack of cards in his hands intently.

Jake raised his eyebrows when he realised why Patrick wasn’t responding to his question. ‘You have got to be kidding me! After all you’ve just said …’

Patrick shot him a look. ‘It’s not what you think. He owes Faye money – child support for his first-born.’

‘First-born?’

‘He married. His new family knows nothing about Natasha’s existence, and he wants to keep it that way.’

‘How do you know all this?’ said Jake, surprised by this revelation.

‘I told you – child support. We were coming to an arrangement of sorts; he pays up and …’

‘… and you don’t let his new family into his past,’ Jake concluded. ‘What does Faye think about this arrangement?’

Patrick hesitated. ‘I have the cheques right here.’ He pointed at a kitchen drawer. ‘I’ve left her messages. She won’t take the money, even though I’m sure she could do with it.’ He lowered his head. ‘I think I’ve made things worse between us, if that’s possible.’

‘Because you’ve been in contact with him.’

‘Yes.’

Jake could understand that. ‘How did it come about that you got in contact with him after all these years?’

‘I saw him in London.’

‘He’s here?’ Jake said in alarm.

‘No, he’s not. He was on holiday with his family.

I spotted a familiar face at a museum on a Sunday afternoon.

Of course I wanted to talk to him, find out why he was back.

Was he in London to see my granddaughter?

That’s when I found out the truth, and asked him for child support, backdated too, for Natty. ’

‘I thought I was doing the right thing. All I want to do is help my daughter out. I’ve seen the cheques. They are very, very generous.’

Jake bet they were. Yousaf was from a wealthy family.

‘After I messaged her about it, she actually phoned me.’

Jake wasn’t surprised.

‘She thinks he is just doing it to make her feel guilty about not letting him see his child. But she didn’t give me a chance to explain the situation.

She didn’t question why, after all these years, he’d suddenly offered to pay child support.

Unfortunately, it’s not what she thinks. ’ His voice faltered.

‘You’re telling me she doesn’t know he married?’

Patrick started to pace. ‘She believed the money was just the start; she was expecting him to walk back into Natasha’s life and demand his parental rights, afraid he might even attempt to take her away. I think that’s why she wouldn’t have me come round with those cheques, let alone cash them.’

Jake knew why Natty’s father couldn’t send the cheques direct to Faye. She’d moved house and put Natty in a different school.

‘You didn’t tell Yousaf when he got back in contact with you where Faye was – did you?’

‘Of course not. But she was still in London, so I suppose if he’d really wanted to track her and Natty down, he could have. But that’s the point. He’s got a new life now. I told you. He doesn’t want his wife to find out about Faye and Natty.’

Jake stared at him. He suddenly felt lightheaded and grabbed onto a chair back. This meant only one thing. ‘It wasn’t Yousaf that took her.’

‘Of course it wasn’t.’

Jake’s mobile phone rang. He didn’t know how to tell Faye that he had been wrong; her daughter wasn’t at her father’s, and he had no bloody idea where she was.

He breathed in heavily when she told him there was still no news. ‘No, sorry, I haven’t arrived at your flat yet. But I’ll be there very soon.’ Jake closed his eyes. He could tell by the tremor in her voice that she was afraid and close to tears. ‘I’m coming home too,’ said Faye.

Jake guessed she was exhausted.

‘The police said I need to go home, get some rest. But how can I rest, Jake?’

‘Is it my daughter? Let me speak to her.’

Jake turned his back on Patrick and walked to the door, praying that Faye hadn’t heard her father’s voice.

‘I’m never going to see her again, am I?’

‘No, don’t say that. We’ll find her, Faye, I swear it. I’m coming right now and …’ Jake opened the door to the apartment, ‘I’ve en listed some help … who? Somebody who can be trusted.’

Jake signed off and turned around to find Patrick staring at him, wide-eyed. Jake hoped to god he was doing the right thing. ‘Well get your coat, man, if you’re going to help me find Natty.’

Patrick grabbed his car keys off the sideboard. He didn’t bother with a coat.