Two For Mirth

Chapter One

I sat and waited; waited like I had done every night so far this week, just to make sure I knew her routine. See, most people are creatures of habit, and that was fine by me, it made what I did so much easier.

I always did it this way, making sure that I got to know them for a week, chatting and flirting with them every day I possibly could.

I say got to know them, but I already knew them to an extent, I mean, I did see them twice a day on a daily basis, but I used this week to get closer to them and make sure they grew to trust me. Trust is an integral part of my planning, it wouldn’t work if I didn’t hold their trust.

For the second week, I would follow them; first on foot, just to know the route they like to take and make sure I would be in the right place when I swooped in, and then I would follow them in my van, making sure I would beep and wave as I went past so they knew it was me. This helped me with the trust barrier. It is all part of my well-laid-out plan, it had worked exquisitely so far. Okay, the first two were found, but that was an error in my judgment, now I was better, the plan had been tweaked and now I am on a roll.

All I needed now was a rainy day, today was that day; it had been so cold this month, and I was surprised that it wasn’t snowing, that would have worked just as well, if not better. This was the coldest March I had seen in a while.

         Sitting up in my seat I suddenly noticed her coming out of the entrance. Starting the van I drove down the road a little, making sure I was where I could stop easy enough. I waited and watched from my out-of-the-way parking spot and saw her coming over the hill. Waiting for a little while, I let her walk ahead of me, before quickly pulling the van up next to her. The beeping of my horn caused her to jump. She turned to see who it was and when she saw me, she smiled. It was one of those brilliant smiles which lit up her entire face; I felt my heart melt at the sight of it, she was gorgeous. I motioned for her to come over before opening the window so she could lean in. I grinned.

         “Jump in, you will catch your death in this cold wet weather. I will give you a lift.” I said to her warmly.

         “Oh, no, I’m fine.” She said with a slightly nervous smile.

         “Come on Charity, it will take me only a few minutes so you won’t be putting me out. I can’t have you being ill, or else who would I have to chat to so that my day wouldn't be so boring?” She giggles and gets in, taking her hood off after she shuts the door. “There is a flask of tea there, have some. It will warm you up.”

         “Thank you for this, I appreciate it.” She giggled, helping herself to the tea. I grinned, it works every time.

***

         He knocked on the door, the house wasn’t anything special, but it was out of the way. The door opened and a man with a beard appeared. He looked cautiously around before standing back and letting the other man in.

         “It’s good to see you again.” He said, in a tired tone.

         “I would have been here sooner, but with the end of the last couple of cases to clear up I haven’t had the chance to get away.”

         “I know Dave, I have been watching the news. She is safe now right?”

         “She is, he is in prison. I don’t see him coming out any time soon.”

         “I have never wanted to kill someone as much as I have wanted to kill him. When I saw her on the news outside her house, I nearly blew my cover completely. If only I had been there for her, this would never have happened.”

         “Look, Marty, I will do everything I can to keep her safe.” The man said. “And you don’t know if this would have happened or not if you had been around, it’s not your fault.”

         “I know you will. But she is my little girl, Dave, I still have that need to protect her even though I know I can’t” He replied rubbing his hands over his face. “The state of her when I saw her, and I could tell she had hidden more than what you could see, I know my daughter and I know when people are trying to hide bruising. I felt sick to the stomach to think someone could take that spark away from her in such a way.”

         “She is in safe hands, not just with me.” The man responded. “And that spark is slowly returning back to her.”

         “I am so glad you brought him back. Does he know?”

         “No, he knows nothing, no one other than the normal people involved know, and that is how it will stay Marty.” The man said. “I brought him back, but it wasn’t me who brought him back into her life.

         “What about…?”

         “She is still with her mother, but I don’t think she knows her mother as her sister does; I think she is still blissfully unaware.” The man told him. “But she stays with her sister a lot, and I don’t think it will be long before she just moves in there to be honest.”

         “Good, I need that to happen, make sure it happens. The woman is vile and I don’t want my daughters to suffer from it any more than they already have.”

         “I will do everything I can.” The man reiterated. This was how the conversations always went, there was little else the pair of them could really talk about.

         “I know it was her who did this, it was her who forced me into hiding, I am only too glad I changed my will that morning and left most of it to the girls.”

         “Changing it to make her only receive an allowance was the best thing you could do.” The man reassured.

         “There is a flaw in it though. If anything happens to the girls, their money will revert straight to her, unless they are married. Then she will get none of it.”

         “Well, one is very close to it. They have set a date.”

         “Oh, that is brilliant news, I bet her mother isn’t all too happy about it though.”

         “I couldn’t tell you I am afraid, she hasn’t said anything to me, and neither has he. You said the girls had suffered enough, what did you mean by that?”

         “It's better you don’t know for now, she will only wonder how you found out, and as I know she tells no one about it, she was always a private young thing. Didn’t like to share her worries, which is why it took till she was sixteen years old for me to pick up on it all. Ask her the right questions, and you will get the answers you want, she’s like me, cryptic.”

         “Neither of you likes to make life easy for me; she is definitely your daughter.”

         He chuckled. “I need you to promise me something, Dave.”

         “Anything Marty.”

         “Get me to their wedding, I want to be able to watch my daughter get married. I really want to be able to walk her down the aisle, but I know that will never happen.” He said with a sigh. “But at least let me watch it.

         “I will do what I can,” Dave said with a smile to his friend before standing and making ready to leave. The man had been in hiding for fifteen years, it was time they sorted this once and for all so he could come home to his girls again. It broke the man’s heart to see the pain he was in having to miss his two pride and joys growing up.