Helping Sarah

Chapter 17

Michael

This time I did swear out loud, and I had to let go of Sarah's hand to not crush it in mine. My gut wrenched, and I wanted nothing more than to go forth and find Lenny, explain exactly what I would do to him if he so much as laid a finger on Sarah, and that I'd hold him accountable should any of his friends ever even glance at her.

I shoved my hair back, all but clutched at it. Neither James nor I had taken Charlie into account when we'd discussed what to do to help and protect Sarah; the spray and the alarm, but of course she only had two hands and – even more of course – she would always use them to protect her son before herself.

"Then what?" I asked grimly. Every word I heard about Lenny made me want to tear him limb from limb, but I had to hear this if I wanted to help Sarah. And I did. More than ever.

She swallowed tightly, her gaze flickering out the window again. "My neighbour, Mrs Boyce, interrupted, and Lenny left when she approached us."

"She saw him? She saw him threaten you?"

"I think so. She saw that something wasn't right, but if you're thinking she's a witness, she didn't hear Lenny's words, and he walked away before she reached us. And she's eighty-four."

I inclined my head, but the gesture was stiff. I'd been off my sofa and out the door the moment I had heard Sarah's voice on the phone, forcedly calm but with panic clear in her words.

Someone had held a protective hand over me on the way here and kept me from being pulled over by the police for speeding, but I had just wanted to get to Sarah and Charlie.

Who, by the way, was adorable. His mother's dark eyes had stared curiously at me, and he'd inherited her pert nose too, but his lighter hair must come from his father. Thankfully, he didn't seem to have been affected by Lenny's performance.

I, on the other hand, had never felt so helpless in my life.

Clasping Sarah's hand again, I squeezed it. "Let me call James. I'll tell him what's happened, and we'll think about what to do next."

She nodded, and I pulled my phone from my pocket as I left the flat so Charlie wouldn't hear me. And so I could talk freely with James.

I wanted more than ever to tell Sarah the truth about who I was, I had planned to do so the next time I saw her, but I couldn't do it now. She was still scared, still shocked, and I had no idea how she would react to my real name.

If she threw me out of her flat, I would have no way of knowing if Lenny returned, if he contacted her again. I wouldn't be able to keep my promise of protecting them if I wasn't nearby.

James received the news about Lenny's visit and his threats with as grim a voice and as ugly an expletive as I had. "I don't think they should stay there," he said when I'd finished telling him what had happened.

"I agree, but I'm not sure I can get Sarah to agree to move somewhere else." I glanced at my watch; it was late Saturday afternoon, almost dinnertime. "Not today at least."

He sighed his agreement over the line. "It's unlikely Lenny will come back today. That's not his MO. He's made his point for now. See if you can introduce the idea of Mrs Graves and her son temporarily relocating, and let her consider the idea for a day or two. Then we'll bring it up again."

"All right," I reluctantly agreed. James' assessment about Lenny not coming back today didn't sit entirely well with me, but my friend had a lot more experience in this than I did, so I didn't argue it.

I had reached the end of the car park while we spoke and turned back. The stretch of asphalt was surrounded by buildings on two adjacent sides, the road on one, and bushes and trees on the last. With my back to the trees, I stared at the building directly across, at the flat to the right of the front door. The ground floor was raised above ground level, high enough that a full grown man would find it difficult to look through the window, but from where I was standing I had a direct line of sight to Sarah moving about in her kitchen.