Sam phoned the Portway personnel department to say that Sophie was suffering severe stress following yesterday’s incident and would not be in until after New Year, which, given her total lack of severe stress, made her feel a little like she was playing truant. It felt good. So, free for the build-up to Christmas, the penthouse contingent joined Jesse and the boys for breakfast. Sophie made scrambled eggs, aware that her acceptability as a family member might depend upon not sticking it to the bottom of the pan. She ladled it onto the plates and waited as the various brothers sampled it.
‘Almost perfect,’ said Sam.
‘Almost?’
‘Yes. You’ve given Jesse more than me.’
‘They were my eggs,’ said Jesse.
Sophie frowned and moved a small dollop from her plate to Sam’s.
‘I was only joking,’ he said.
‘One joke too many, Mr Barnes.’
‘Well said,’ exclaimed Jesse, helping himself to smoked salmon. ‘Soph?’
Sophie looked up, fully expecting some culinary criticism. ‘Yeh?’
‘Why don’t you quit your job and come and work for me?’
‘She’s not that good a bricklayer,’ said Sam.
‘You’ve never seen me lay bricks.’
Jesse persisted. ‘I could do with a garden designer. I usually bring one in from outside.’
‘But, Jesse, I’ve never done anything properly professional.’
‘Don’t worry, Soph, he’s not thinking of paying you.’
‘Sam, will you shut up for once!’ Jesse rolled his eyes. ‘We could give you a try with Sam’s place. Then, if everything dies, we’ll pretend we never had this conversation, OK?’ He glanced at his brother. ‘If you interrupt, I’ll kill you.’ Sam smirked and said nothing.
‘But I don’t drive,’ said Sophie. ‘I’d need to be able to do that, wouldn’t I?’
Sam held up his hand. ‘I’ve picked up an application for a provisional licence.’
‘What? For me?’
‘Well, I already have a licence, Soph. And Laura’s far too young. And…’
‘Shut up, Sam!’ said Jesse. He smiled at Sophie. ‘So, done deal?’
For several weeks now, Sam’s study had been established as Laura’s room. His books and papers were in boxes on the landing, and the floor, once his open-plan library, was now covered in Laura’s toys. Sophie wandered through into the lounge. ‘Sam, I can’t find Blue Bear.’
Sam looked up from his book. ‘Did she take it in the car this morning?’
‘I don’t think so. I usually make sure it stays home in case it’s lost and she never sleeps again.’
‘Have you looked down the back of the cot? She’s always stuffing things down there.’ He started to search under cushions. ‘I’ll go ask Jesse if he’s seen it.’
Sophie listened to him hurrying downstairs, tried to remember whether Blue Bear had accompanied Laura into bed with them that morning. She decided to recheck their bedroom. Laura tumbled in after her. Sophie pulled back the duvet, checked under the pillows then climbed up onto the bed to look down behind the carved wooden headboard. And there it was: way down and to one side. She tried to reach down but her arm wasn’t long enough. Indeed, it would have been a very strange human whose arm had been long enough. She stood a better chance of reaching it from Sam’s side of the bed, so she climbed down, removed the lamp and books from Sam’s bedside cabinet and started to ease it away. It was heavy, full of more books no doubt, but at last it started to slide, providing her with enough space to squeeze in beside the bed and reach Blue Bear. Easier said than done. She sat down and edged herself in until her back was against the wall. Laura was looking at her in disbelief. Blue Bear was tantalisingly close. She needed to move the cabinet further away so she pushed as hard as she was able in her sitting position, levered herself against the cabinet and reached behind the bed, caught hold of a blue ear and yanked the wretched creature to freedom, tossed it at Laura and collapsed back against the wall exhausted.
She was just about to edge herself back out, when she caught sight of something taped to the back of the cabinet. She twisted herself round to take a look. It was a package of some kind, wrapped in plastic and duct-taped to the cabinet’s recessed back panel. With renewed effort, she reached round and eased it away then managed to successfully escape from the furniture. She sat on the bed and turned the package over in her hands. It was quite heavy, wrapped in layers of thick grey plastic. Was it something Sam had hidden there and forgotten about? She listened but she couldn’t hear him coming back so she decided to take a peek, started to unwrap the layers, but as they unfurled she became prematurely aware of what she was holding. She threw it down onto the bed and as it landed the final folds fell away to reveal what she had already guessed was inside: a very convincing matt-black gun.
Sophie understood very little about guns, just enough to know that they were dangerous, illegal and they killed people. She hurried over to pick up Laura and carried her a safe distance, right away from the direction towards which the gun seemed to be pointing. After a few moments of watching it to confirm that it wasn’t going to spontaneously leap into action, she carried Laura and Blue Bear over to the little sofa, sat down and waited. Eventually she heard Sam clumping back up the stairs. He called from the main room then stepped into the bedroom. ‘Jesse’s not seen it but he said would we nip down and try his mince pies… Oh, you found bashed-up bear. What’s up?’
Sophie inclined her head towards the bed. He followed her eyes and froze as he caught sight of what was lying in the mass of grey plastic. He went to speak. But she pre-empted him. ‘It was taped behind your bedside cabinet. If I’m not very much mistaken, it’s a gun.’
Sam ran his hands through his hair. ‘Yes… it’s a handgun. I forgot it was there.’
‘You forgot it was there? You forgot that a gun was taped to the back of your bedside cabinet, right next to where we sleep?’
Sam grappled for an explanation. ‘It’s something I brought back from Hong Kong. A kind of souvenir.’
‘Oh, I see, a souvenir. Like some people bring cardboard lanterns and plastic shit… and you bring a gun? Why was it taped to the back of a piece of furniture?’
‘It’s illegal to own it in the UK.’
‘Sam, Laura could have found it and shot herself.’
‘It’s not loaded, Soph.’
‘Oh, well, that’s all right then.’
Sam picked up the offending weapon and flicked it open. ‘See, there’s no ammo inside. It’s just a lump of metal. But it’s still illegal, even when it’s not loaded.’
‘Why did you have a gun in Hong Kong?’
‘Because… loads of people have guns in Hong Kong. I mean, you have to have licences, but I used to belong to a Shooting Club. It’s a Glock 19 semi-automatic. Essential hardware for the modern-day cattle rustler.’ He sighed. ‘Soph, I’m sorry. I really did forget it was there. I’ll put it somewhere else. I’ll get rid of it if you want. Chuck it down a well, lob it into the Thames, like in the movies. The bed of the Thames must be covered in weaponry. Really, Soph, it could never have hurt Laura. Let’s go and have a mince pie.’
‘Are you lying to me?’
‘Of course not. I’ll get Jesse to lock it in his gun cupboard.’
‘What gun cupboard?’
‘He keeps the shotguns in a metal cupboard bolted to the wall… well, you’re obliged by law to do that.’
‘Jesse has shotguns?’
‘Yes, several. And a couple of air rifles.’
‘Does he shoot things?’
‘Only clays. We both do. Jesse’s won prizes.’ He wrapped the gun back in its plastic and carried it into the kitchen. ‘I’ll put it in the top cupboard for now, I don’t think Jesse knows I’ve got it up here. He’ll probably go mad when he finds out.’
Sophie sighed and believed him. Who wouldn’t?
As Christmas approached, Sophie began to experience unreasonable waves of regret. She waited for what she considered an appropriate moment to express her concerns. ‘Sam, I don’t like to think of anyone being on their own at Christmas. I know Jonah’s vile but…’
‘Would you like me to go and spend the day with him?’
‘No! But I could send him a hamper. Anonymously. Just for old times’ sake.’
‘Sophie, that’s absolute insanity! There’s no old times’ sake with Jonah. And it’s Christmas Eve tomorrow. How exactly are you thinking of sending this hamper? Shall we drive over and leave it on the step with a message from Father Christmas?’
‘I could ask Mrs Davies to give it to him. She could say it was delivered to the wrong address.’
Sam tugged at his hair. ‘Sophie, the poor old girl is terrified of him!’
‘You’re angry.’
‘Yes, I’m bloody furious! I don’t want to hear any more about Jonah, right! I’m going down to watch the boys. Jesse’s having lunch with a client.’ He picked up his book and left.
Sophie sagged into a chair, wishing she could erase that whole conversation. It was so short-sighted of her not to realise that, despite Sam’s long tolerance of the worries Jonah had imposed upon his life, and his indulgence of her occasional crazy ideas, there had to come a breaking point. And he had just reached it – two days before Christmas. She sat berating herself for a full five minutes before going to remove Laura from her playpen. Laura screamed her disapproval but, eventually, stopped thrashing around sufficiently for Sophie to be able to carry her downstairs, where she found Sam and Jesse huddled over an opened package. She put Laura on the floor with the boys. ‘I thought you were going to lunch, Jesse,’ she said.
‘I’m leaving in ten minutes to pick up Katie. I’m about to risk introducing her to a client.’ He smiled but his expression was one of concern.
Sophie looked at Sam. His brow was furrowed with anger. ‘Is something wrong, Sam?’ she asked.
‘Yes. This just arrived. Special delivery. It’s addressed to Laura.’
‘And you’ve opened it?’
‘The sender is J.C. Royston. We opened it in case it contained something unpleasant. It’s a jigsaw puzzle.’ He handed it to her along with a card, already opened.
Sophie looked at the puzzle. ‘It says 3+. So, he nearly got it right.’ She read out the card: ‘“To Laura, Merry Christmas from Daddy xxx.” That’s nice,’ she said.
‘He’s toying with you,’ said Sam.
‘Perhaps he’s just sending his daughter a Christmas present.’
‘After having not had the slightest interest in her since the day he walked out on you both? Anyway, that’s not the worst of it.’
Sophie could feel the stirrings of anger. ‘Well, Sam, what is the worst of it?’
It was Jesse who answered. ‘Sophie, the fact that it was delivered to Laura here indicates that Jonah, and quite possibly the people he’s dealing with, know exactly where you’re living. It’s likely that the sole reason this has been sent is to make it perfectly clear that he knows where you are.’
Jesse left, Sophie made lunch and Sam’s mood slowly mellowed. He herded the boys to their places, strapped Laura in her chair then helped Sophie with the pizza. ‘I’m sorry I lost my rag. We can phone and get something sent to him if that’s what you want.’ He turned his attention to the battle that was brewing over the grated mozzarella.
Sophie touched his arm. ‘Jesse’s security system is good, isn’t it?’