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“Wow, okay,” I say.
“We met after I left. Janet has been with me from the beginning.”
“Awesome, I’ve gone from having no mum, to two mums in a couple of hours,” I joke because I don’t know what else to do. Everyone looks awkward, which makes me laugh out loud. Oh, boy, this is going to be a long night.
Chapter 28
Daisy
Having your dead mum turn up is a tad much, don’t you think? I’m starting to believe we’ve been dropped into a bloody soap opera. Surprisingly enough, Callie seems to be doing okay. I worried a bit when she took herself off to the bedroom for alone time, but I can understand. I wouldn’t want to be trying to deal with that kind of emotional bomb with other people watching either.
Even though what I’m feeling in no way can compare to Callie right now, I’m still trying to wrap my head around Janet and her lies. As I’ve mentioned several times, I didn’t have a great deal of support growing up. Apart from Callie, Penny was the only person to show me that kind of love and support until Janet came along.
How can I explain what she means to me without divulging what I do? I know, I know, I hear you. It’s getting old all this cloak and dagger malarky but seriously, I can’t tell you. It destroys me that I have to keep it from Callie. Anyway, I’ll try my best. At the end of my degree, I was approached by Janet. Obviously, I was super aware that she was being really cagey when she offered me the opportunity to work for her. It took several meetings before she disclosed what she did.
Remember, I was young. Okay, so only six years younger than I am now, but hey, that time makes all the difference. All I wanted to do was help make the world a more just place. I was so tired of watching arseholes prevail. Janet offered me the opportunity to do that.
Over many months of mentoring, I came to rely on Janet. She treated me like a capable adult, but also gave me that maternal figure I so sorely lacked. I felt I could tell her everything. Janet was the one person I could go to about anything. It’s true that I didn’t tell her about Callie, but that was different. That situation was complex and honestly, I was scared that if I told Janet she would make me stop looking for her.
Penny only knew a certain amount of detail, and that was because she practically lived with me at one point. There was no way I could hide what I was doing from her.
As I sit in Janet’s den now, I don’t feel that trust and comfort towards her that I once did, I just feel used. Every time she encouraged me was false, she was only saying it to make sure I stayed close. My whole career has been orchestrated, and I hate it.
Marie has taken herself into the kitchen. That’s Callie’s mum, by the way. I’m still in shock that she’s here. I remember her fondly, although she was often absent. I always remember her being kind. She adored Callie. There were often times I wished she was my mum too. Anyway, Marie has left the room, meaning I’m alone with Janet. I suspect Marie is giving us space.
“Daisy, I am sorry.” I’m sure she is, but what does sorry do? Nothing, it doesn’t change the fact that she’s been lying to me from the day we met.
“You didn’t have to lie, Janet. You could’ve told me and I would have understood. Hell, I would have come to you sooner for help.”
“It wasn’t my call. In the beginning we had to be careful; yes, we looked into you, but that wasn’t a guarantee that you were someone we could trust.”
“What about after all the months of mentoring? Surely that told you I was trustworthy. Fuck, Janet, the work I’ve done for this company demands I’m trustworthy. You chose to lie about this.”
“Marie didn’t want you to know. Daisy, please, believe me when I say I wish it could have been different, but we are here now. All of us in the know. It’s almost over.”
“True, but I’m not sure I can work with you after this. I confided in you, I thought of you like a mum, which I see now was a mistake. All along, you were just doing your job. I was just another employee.”
“That’s not true. Never say that. Daisy, I will spend the rest of my life being sorry for deceiving you, but sometimes we have to make those hard calls. Marie asked me to keep you in the dark and I had to respect that.”
We’re not really getting anywhere. My rational brain understands what she’s saying, but so far my emotions are winning out and they are pissed off and hurt. I need some time, too. Callie still hasn’t come down from the room, and so I think I’ll join her.
“We’ll speak later,” I sign as I leave the room. I jog up the stairs. This isn’t the first time I’ve been in the house. I guess Janet has put us in the spare room with the balcony. She likes her guests to be impressed. I enter the room and immediately smell Janet’s apple bath bomb.
Walking into the ensuite, my shoulders relax at the sight of Callie relaxing in the clawfoot tub. I don’t wait for an invitation before stripping off and climbing in. All I want is to feel safe in Callie’s arms again. We lay cuddled in the warm bath for ages. Only when the temperature drops, do we decide it’s time to get out.
The last thing I want to do is go back downstairs, but we have to. There are still things to be discussed and I wouldn’t dream of keeping Callie away from her mum, even for a second. Callie hasn’t said anything about how she’s feeling. I have no clue how to handle it. How would I react if my mum waltzed into the room after twenty years of thinking she was dead? Honestly, I probably would have passed out. I’ll wait for Callie to come to me. Pushing her to open up won’t help.
Witnessing Janet with her tongue down Marie’s throat is a shock. Well, what about today isn’t a shock. So Janet is a big ol’ lez. Something else she didn’t share. That isn’t a legitimate reason for me to be upset. It’s entirely up to Janet who she comes out to, but I want to be petulant. It’s been a rough few hours.
Once everyone has got over the awkwardness of the situation, we head to the den where we find a tray of sandwiches. Not going to lie, I want to demolish the whole stack. Callie dives in without a care. I see Marie smile at her daughter and my heart breaks.
I know Callie is hurting, but I can’t imagine how Marie is feeling either. Giving up a life with your child must have been soul destroying. I hope Callie will see that. They deserve the chance to get to know each other again.
Janet hands me a laptop. I give her a curt nod. That’s all I can manage right now. There’s no time like the present to verify those accounts. I send up silent prayers to the universe that I got the letter to numbers code correct. With half a cucumber sandwich hanging out of my mouth, I get to work.
Zoning out is something that I do when I’m working. I can literally forget there is anyone else around when I get into it, and that’s what I do now. Pulling up the software I need, I start adding the first account number and sort code. I root through my bag for the book pieces. When the laptop pings with a name, I cross reference it with the names in the book. If that account is linked to one of these people, we have her.
We have a match. I breathe out a huge sigh of relief. I enter a second account and let the software do its thing. Another ping reveals a second match. Now, not only can I crack codes, but I’m quite good at hacking too. Hacking into these accounts will allow me to see incoming and outgoing transactions. We need to link Betty’s account to these.
