Emotion burned in the back of my nose and eyes, almost choking me, and I had to pull the phone away so Kelly couldn’t hear my harsh exhale.
London suddenly reached out, wrapping her small hand around my arm and squeezing.
I gave her a grateful nod and put the phone back to my ear. “No, Kelly, they won’t think it’s stupid. Please, m’eudail. Call the police. I’m going to do the same, so they’ll come right away because we’re both calling, all right?”
She sniffled, her voice high-pitched with emotion. “Okay. Will you come g-get me?” she sobbed.
I squeezed my eyes closed, my fear and anger almost taking me out at my knees. “I am already on my way.”
Hanging up on her was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do.
“Murray, what is going on?” London asked as soon as I disconnected.
“Kelly’s locked in her bathroom. The woman who doesn’t even deserve to be called her mother threw a party last night, and some strange guy tried to get to Kelly. She’s scared to leave.” I dialed 999 as fury flashed across London’s face.
As soon as I connected and the man on the other end of the line asked what the emergency was, I talked as I made my way downstairs to the mudroom and heard London following me.
I explained to the operator what had happened and he assured me he’d send the police to do a welfare check.
“I have to go get her,” I told London as soon as I hung up.
“I’m coming with you.”
“The B and B?”
“This is more important.”
“You don’t have?—”
“Murray, I want to be there for you, for this, as your friend,” London insisted, but then she winced. “And if I don’t go with you and people find out, questions will be asked. Questions that might lead to us being investigated for perjury.”
I nodded, unable to deal with thinking too much about our fake marriage. As soon as we were both strapped into the Discovery and my phone connected to the car, I tried Kelly again, but the line was engaged.
“The operator probably told her to stay on the line until the police arrive,” London reassured.
“Right, right. You’re right. Fuck!” I hit a palm off my wheel, my whole body vibrating with anxiety and rage. “Why did I let Jill take her all the way to Edinburgh?”
“Because you were trying to keep the peace for Kelly’s sake,” London surmised.
“Maybe it shouldn’t have been about keeping the fucking peace,” I hissed. “I never wanted to behim,but what have I become instead? A peacekeeper who has put his own daughter in jeopardy.”
“You did not. Murray, you can’t blame yourself for this. You tried to get sole custody, but you didn’t have the evidence you needed to prove Jill’s negligence.”
“If I’d threatened Jill … I could have put the fear of God in her more …”
“That’s not you.” London touched my arm tentatively. “I wouldn’t want that to be you, and neither would Kelly.”
I couldn’t hear her. All I could hear was my own self-loathing over having let this happen to my child. “What kind of man can’t protect his own daughter?”
“Murray—”
“Stop. Please. Just stop.” There was nothing anyone could say to make me feel better about this situation.
We were around thirty minutes from Edinburgh when London finally spoke again. There had been silence between us since we’d boarded the ferry to the mainland. London had called Tierney to explain her absence at the B and B and had suggested Tierney buy pastries from the bakery to do a continental breakfast. I’d heard Tierney tell her not to worry about it and to give me her best. I didn’t deserve her best.
Even when I reluctantly stopped to get diesel while London used the restroom at the services, neither of us spoke a word. The only other thing that broke our silence was Fraser calling me multiple times (I didn’t answer because I didn’t want to deal with work right now), and then the police calling me to let me know they had Kelly in their care. It settled my nerves a bit but not a lot. Especially when they relayed that they’d arrested Jill. They’d explain everything when I arrived.
I’d had the phone on speaker through the car’s Bluetooth. London heard this update, but she waited patiently for me to respond once I hung up.
