CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
I laughed, thinking I must have misheard.
‘I’m sorry, Dad, what did you say? Because I could have sworn you just admitted to taking part in a jewellery shop raid!’
He looked me straight in the eye and raised his eyebrows a fraction, his lips clamped together.
Anxiety rose in my chest as I walked towards him and put my hands protectively on his shoulders.
‘Dad, you’re worrying me. Are you okay? Maybe you should have a lie down.
’ Was the head injury making him hallucinate now?
This was a really worrying development. I’d have to try and get him seen by the GP.
But what were the chances of that happening today?
He caught my hand and squeezed it. ‘I don’t need a lie down, love. But there’s something I need to tell you.’ He gave a heavy sigh. ‘You might want to sit down.’
I glanced out of the window, just in time to see Clara walking up the path to the front door. ‘I think this might have to wait, Dad. My boss gave me a lift and I’ve kept her too long already.’
I ran to the door and opened it before the bell rang. ‘I’m so sorry, Clara. I’ll just say a quick goodbye and I’ll be out, okay?’
‘Is your dad all right? Because if you need more time...?’
The sympathy in her eyes made my throat suddenly clog up with tears.
‘I don’t think he is okay,’ I confessed. ‘I think he’s started imagining things and I’m terrified for him.’
‘Oh, gosh.’ She looked alarmed. ‘Well, look, you go and see to him now. And don’t worry about this afternoon. Merry will cope fine in the café during my class, and I can join her when I’m free.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘I’m absolutely sure. I remember when my dad was ill, it was such a traumatic time. Go and do what you need to do, Anika.’
‘Thank you.’ I smiled gratefully at her. I couldn’t possibly have left Dad the way he was behaving just now...
‘I really hope he’s okay. Let me know!’ she called as she got back in the car and drove away.
I went back inside and Dad was still sitting at the table, his head in his hands.
‘So what’s all this about confessing to the police?’ I asked gently, pulling a chair closer and slipping my arm around his shoulders. ‘What’s going on, Dad? You’re scaring me.’
He gave a great sigh. Then he looked up at me, misery in his eyes.
‘It was such a stupid thing to do, Anika. I realised that almost as soon as I agreed to do it. But I’d had a few pints in the pub that night – well, a lot more than a few – and Shane’s friend Josh seemed to be offering a solution to all my financial problems.’
My heart lurched with fear. I recalled all too well him coming back drunk from the pub that night.
He didn’t sound delusional. He sounded like a man who’d been hiding a secret.
‘What did you agree to do, Dad?’ I asked softly.
‘Drive the van.’
‘Which van?’ My heart was beating fast now. ‘You mean the guys who robbed the jeweller’s?’
He nodded. ‘The jeweller’s shop is right on the corner so I was to wait in the side street for them to come out and then drive them away.’
I stared at him, speechless. My law-abiding dad had actually taken part in the robbery ?
Dad was looking at me, waiting for my reaction – dreading it, probably – but I was finding it really hard to get my head around his confession. I felt like I was in the middle of a dream. Or rather, a nightmare.
And then I realised something. ‘You weren’t meeting a woman that day, were you?’
He shook his head wearily. ‘It was you who put the idea of a date in my mind and I just went along with it.’
‘Because you couldn’t tell me the truth... that you were actually going out to... to drive the getaway van.’ I shook my head in bewilderment. It sounded so farcical when I said it.
The getaway van.
This was something that happened in movies – and definitely not in real life on Sunnybrook High Street, with your formerly very responsible dad behind the wheel!
Except that obviously it did.
‘So you were actually still parked round the corner in the side street when the robbers came out.’ I frowned, trying to picture what had happened with Minnie. ‘But one of them crashed into Minnie and knocked her into the road. So did you see the speeding van coming towards her?’
He nodded. ‘I could see it racing down the high street really fast. And Minnie was getting up and wandering into the middle of the road. I had to do something.’
I swallowed hard. ‘Of course you did. So you jumped out of the van and managed to run over and drag her back from the road just in time,’ I murmured.
He nodded. ‘Apparently. At least, that’s what people have told me.
I remember the guys diving into the van and yelling at me to just drive.
But I obviously couldn’t, not with Minnie in the road and the other van bearing down on her.
’ He shrugged. ‘I had to save her, whatever the consequences. That’s my last memory.
The guys in my ear, turning the air blue with their threats if I didn’t drive the bloody van. ’
‘Oh, God.’ I stared at him, barely able to believe the things he was telling me.
‘I actually don’t remember a thing after that. Everything else is a complete blank until I woke up in hospital.’
‘In one sense you were a hero, Dad,’ I said in a small voice.
‘No. No, I wasn’t, love. I was engaged in criminal activity that could have turned out a hell of a lot worse than it did.
When I ran over to pull Minnie back, I wasn’t acting heroically.
It was purely instinctive. It didn’t even cross my mind that I wouldn’t be keeping my end of the bargain and I’d be messing up the robbery. It was just something I had to do.’
‘Yes. Because at heart, you’re a decent man. Not like those jewellery robber thugs.’
‘I don’t know about that, love. I hate myself now.’
‘What? No! You saved a woman’s life!’
He shook his head. ‘Ever since I got home from hospital, I’ve been going over and over it all in my head, wishing I could go back in time and do things differently.
.. put the house on the market instead of being so crazily desperate to save it that I thought I had no choice but to take part in a robbery so that you would be spared losing the home you’d grown up in!
You’d already lost your mum. I didn’t want to let you down.
’ He shook his head. ‘But as long as I live, I’ll never understand how I could possibly have agreed to it. ’
‘You were drunk and desperate.’
‘Yes, I was. But that’s no excuse. I tried to back out of it the following morning when I came to my senses.
I phoned Josh but he just laughed and said I was part of the plan now and if I tried to back out, they’d come for you.
.. make sure you suffered for my mistake.
’ He reached for my hand, tears in his eyes.
‘I couldn’t have that, could I? I’d no idea what depths these guys would go to for revenge if I reneged on the deal. ’
‘Oh, Dad.’ I dropped my head onto his shoulder and wrapped my arms around him.
‘You used to look up to me when you were a little girl, like I really was your hero. That’s what kills me most about all of this.
It’s why I kept up the pretence of not remembering who my “date” was.
I couldn’t face the shame and the disgust I knew you’d feel once you knew the truth about what I was really doing that day.
’ He shook his head. ‘So that makes me a coward as well as a liar and a criminal.’
I kissed his cheek and went to sit down beside him again.
‘I just wish you’d told me how badly in debt we were.
We could have talked about it and made some plans.
It wouldn’t be the end of the world if we have to sell the house.
It’s just bricks and mortar. All my precious memories of living here with you and Mum are in here.
’ I touched my heart. ‘You didn’t have to go to such lengths.
But Dad, you saved Minnie’s life by being so brave that day and doing the right thing.
And you gave yourself up to the police voluntarily.
They didn’t even know you were part of the robbery.
It was always reported on the news that there were three men involved, not four. ’
He nodded. ‘I can only assume no one spotted me diving out of the van to get to Minnie.’
‘Surely the police will take your bravery into consideration?’
Dad shrugged. ‘Who knows? They interviewed me for a very long time about what happened and who exactly was involved. And I gave them what they needed. Names and addresses.’
‘Good.’ I thought about Xander’s brother, Freddie. Presumably he was on the list Dad gave the police. ‘So you didn’t hold anything back? You were completely honest with them?’
‘I told them everything,’ he said flatly.
My heart was in my mouth. Would Dad be charged? Would he be convicted and have to serve a prison sentence? I couldn’t bear it if that were to happen to us – on top of everything else.
I felt a sudden fierce longing for Xander... to feel his comforting arms around me.
But I knew I had to put him out of my mind for the sake of my sanity.
‘So what’s going to happen now, Dad?’ I asked, already dreading his reply.
He sighed. ‘They said it would go in my favour if I told them everything, which I did. They know I don’t have a criminal record like the others and they’ve accepted that I put myself in danger in order to save someone else.’
‘That’s good,’ I murmured. ‘But will they be charging you with anything?’
He shrugged helplessly. ‘I don’t know. But in the meantime, I’m not to leave the area. I’ll still be helping them with their enquiries.’
I swallowed hard, feeling relief washing through me. It sounded as if the police realised Dad wasn’t a hardened criminal.
I sighed. ‘The fact that this is your first offence will surely stand you in good stead, Dad, even if you do end up in court.’
‘Yes, but if I have to serve a prison sentence, love, I’ll do it willingly,’ he said in a perfectly calm voice. ‘I deserve to be punished.’
*****
I was missing Xander so much.
My life was pretty full, what with working long shifts at the café and spending the evenings making sure Dad was all right.
I knew that eventually news would get out that he’d been involved in the robbery, and I needed to be there to protect him from the bad stuff that would no doubt follow.
I was just glad he didn’t have any social media accounts because the vitriol on there could be overwhelming. ..
I wanted to reach out to Xander and tell him the shocking news about dad.
I wasn’t entirely sure how he would react, but I had a feeling he would understand Dad’s motives when other people maybe wouldn’t.
Especially if he knew Dad had been threatened with harm coming to me if he didn’t do as he was told. ..
I couldn’t put Xander out of my mind.
I knew he must be hurt by my recent coolness towards him, and so many times I wanted to call him – especially when I was alone in my room late at night. But I just kept thinking of all the reasons why it wasn’t a good idea.
Xander had kept so much from me, which was lying by omission. And I’d suffered enough deception at the hands of Les to last me a whole lifetime. Also, I couldn’t rid myself of the thought that Xander’s kindness towards me had been because he felt guilty.
And what about the fact that Freddie was clearly a criminal?
Xander seemed to be the complete opposite of his brother, but as Freddie’s twin, wouldn’t he have similar genes? Could that mean that Xander, too, might be prone to shady behaviour, just like his brother? Would I be an idiot to trust him?
It was all such a mess. Every time I tried to sort it out in my head, I seemed to end up more confused than ever.
It was clear I needed to forget Xander and put all my energy into making sure Dad was okay. But sadly, that was easier said than done...