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“In case this becomes a longer-term thing,” Jill replies.
“I’ve been busy this morning,” says Hadley, opening her bag and pulling out some documents. “And I managed to do a check on Dougie Harrison. I assume you ran a thorough check on him?” she asks Jill, who looks flustered for a second before bridging her fingers and leaning forward.
“We’re very stretched at the moment. The check was requested, but I haven’t had a chance to look through my emails to see if it’s been returned.”
Hadley opens the envelope and pulls out some paperwork. “Let me save you the job. Dougie used to go by the name Lee Harrison. He went to prison for assault on his ex-wife. That was thirty years ago. He served five years and, upon his release, he tracked her down and beat her to death.” I inhale sharply, my head beginning to swim with panic. “He was sent back to prison for fifteen years for that. He served twelve and was released for good behaviour. Can you believe that?” She looks up, then smiles coldly at Jill.
Maverick scoffs. “Not the first time we’ve seen men like him released early.”
“Anyway, he changed his name to Darren Harrison and spent the next few years off-radar. Another name change to Dougie and he came to London six years ago, where he became a youth worker.”
“We don’t discriminate against people who have turned their life around,” Jill mutters.
“Youth worker is his disguise,” Hadley continues. “He’s a big-time dealer on the estate where he lives, using kids to run his drugs around to dealers.”
“Have you got any proof?” Jill asks.
“Are you shitting me?” I snap. “Get my kid out of there right now. Proof or not, he’s got a criminal record.”
“Your mother is ultimately the one who decided to provide temporary custody,” she tells me.
“He’s living there.”
“She told me he has his own place. It’s a one-bedroom flat and Ollie is in the bedroom. There’s no room for Dougie.”
“You’d rather my son be around a murderer than me? I love my son. Whatever you saw when you came by to visit was because of him and my mother. You know she used to sell herself to men when I was little? She left me alone all the time to fuck men for money.”
Hadley pats my hand, and I press my lips together. “We’d like to offer a suggestion,” she says.
“I’m listening.”
“We won’t file a complaint about this little mess if Ollie is placed with a better option temporarily.”
“Such as?”
“Me or Kilian. We’re half-related—our father is Ollie’s father. I’m a solicitor for a top law firm in London, and Kilian is an upstanding member of the community, providing safe houses and support to women leaving abusive situations. I can offer you full background checks on us both to save you messing this up further.”
“But you live with Rosey. Ollie can’t have unsupervised access,” Jill points out.
“I’ll move out,” I jump in quickly. “I’ll stay somewhere else.”
Jill looks to Lucy, who shrugs. “I’m not sure a judge could approve this before the weekend. It might have to wait until Monday.”
“I can get that sorted too,” says Hadley, looking smug. “I can put a call in to Judge Earl Morris. He’s sitting today until six p.m. Let me put the call in, and we can have the paperwork emailed by the end of the day.”
Maverick leans forward. “I don’t see you have a choice. If the press heard about this charade of you not doing background checks for a child you already consider to be vulnerable,” he shakes his head, “they’d eat you alive. Aren’t you already in special measures?”
Jill sighs. “Fine, let me run it past my boss.” She stands, pulling out her phone and stepping out the office.
Lucy smiles warmly. “Where will you go, Rosey?”
“Albert will arrange it,” Maverick cuts in.
“You know social services may do drop-ins to check you’re not there.”
I nod. “I won’t be there. I’ll know he’s safe with these two, so I can relax.”
Jill returns. “If you can get a judge to sign it off, go ahead. We’ll need the full address of where Ollie will be staying too.”
