Helping Sarah

Chapter 21

Sarah

A small, warm body dressed in a dinosaur pyjamas woke me the next morning by attempting to climb me like a hill.

Sneaking one arm out from under the fluffy duvet, I encircled Charlie's waist and drew him back down onto the mattress beside me and found the exact spot in his side that sent him into a frenzy of giggles.

My son was no longer a baby and it wasn't many nights he snuck into my bed, but there were few things better than to wake with him beside me, warm from sleep, soft and happy.

Judging by the faint sunlight sneaking under the heavy curtains it was still quite early, but Charlie had never been much of a late sleeper, preferring to get up and experience life.

"Mummy!" Charlie laughed as he squirmed, then tried to tickle me back, with limited success, but I still laughed. I couldn't not.

Despite sleeping only for a few hours after our late arrival and in a strange bed, I hadn't slept this good in weeks. I'd been asleep the moment my head had touched the pillow, and I had no idea if I had dreamt or not. I couldn't remember a single thought from the night.

Michael had offered me the room beside this one where Charlie was to sleep, but I hadn't been ready to let my son out of my sight yet. And I didn't want him to wake alone in the middle of the night in a strange place and not know where I was.

I brushed his hair off his forehead and looked into his dark eyes; they were open and clear, and the sight settled a big part of the residual anxiety that was still squeezing my gut.

I made sure to keep my voice light when I asked, "Charlie, do you remember what happened last night?"

On his knees beside me, he stilled as he considered, his father's thinking frown creasing his forehead. Then nodded eagerly. "We saw fire endjin. And fireman. Mummy talk to pleeceman." His excitement bubbled over and he started bouncing on the bed.

"Yes, that's right, I talked to a policeman." I chuckled with sheer relief at the lack of fear or shock in his features, but I still had to quell a wave of nausea at the thought of Lenny deliberately setting our building on fire. With Charlie inside it.

Shifting on to my back, I stared up at the ceiling. My own shock from the day before was still weighing on my shoulders, still wrenching my gut, and the idea of having to leave this bed, burrow out from under the soft duvet, get up and face the world, made me want to groan and pull the duvet up over my head.

"Mummy, I need pee."

Well, if there was one thing that could get me out of bed, that was it. Aside from the promise of coffee, obviously.

Charlie had only recently stopped wearing nappies and the occasional accident still happened. I would much prefer one didn't happen in the pristine white sheets on Michael's guest bed.

With a sigh, I swung my legs over the side of the bed. "All right, let's go find a toilet."

Charlie scrambled off the bed and ran to the door ahead of me. Standing on tip-toes he could just pull on the door handle and open it.

Michael's house didn't just have plenty of space. It was enormous. Though it had been full dark by the time we'd arrived last night there had been enough lights illuminating the outside of the house that I'd been able to make out the two stories in grey brick with white windows and white trim, and garbled windows in the dark roof.

It would be beautiful in daylight, but the best part of the place, the part that had helped me sleep so soundly, was the tall, iron gate that had opened when Michael's car had approached and closed immediately after he'd driven through, as well as the CCTV cameras positioned to film anyone approaching the gate and the thick wall starting by the gate and disappearing around the house. It was built in the same grey brick as the house and tall enough that no one could peek over the top.