Chenford Story ✔️

56

Tim's POV

I sat down on the barstools next to Tamara.
Lucy hadn't really rated that much in the last few days.
I had been trying to encourage her to eat but clearly I wasn't doing well enough.
"She didn't want to eat?"
I shook my head at Tamara who was greedily eating her own bowl of carbonara.

"Well I think it's great. Thanks Tim"
I nodded in a halfhearted agreement.
I was just constantly thinking about Lucy.
Even while I cut up Juniper's small plate of the pasta for her to eat I couldn't help but wonder what was wrong.

I understood the basics principles of being absolutely traumatised after something like that.
Was she mad that I didn't tell her Emmet broke out?
Because she clearly knew now.
Why did she send Juniper and me away in the first place?
She knew somehow that she was in danger.
How did she know?

I texted Angela.
'hey, did Lucy tell you the reason she thought we needed to go somewhere safe. Clearly she knew she was in danger but I don't get how she knew"
Angela texted me back after a few seconds
'not sure, maybe check her apartment?"
'good idea, I'm going over now'

I looked over at a happy toddler and content Tamara.
"Hey, I'm going over to Lucy's to get some more of her stuff. Will you guys be ok without me?"
I posed the question to both Tamara and Juniper, knowing only one of them would answer or care.
"Yeah Dadford, we'll be fine on our own."
Tamara raised her hand for a high five from Juniper, a skill which my daughter has only just leant and was proud to show off.
"See even Juni agrees"
If that high five could be counted as an agreement than sure.
I chuckled at Tamara before putting on my boots and getting in the car to drive to Lucy's old apartment.

I opened the door hesitantly, knowing something was on the other side that meant Lucy knew she was in danger.

I started with the living room, riffling through draws and under cushions.
I then moved onto the bedroom, under more cushions, between layers of bedding (which I later put back), and in nightstand draws.
The wardrobe was another challenge.
But a worthy one given the locked safe hidden under a pile of clothes at the bottom of it.
Bingo.

I tried a fair amount of different codes
Her birthday, Juniper's birthday, her first day in the academy and LAPD, the day Caleb kidnapped her.
Even my birthday at one point.
I texted Angela for help.
'hey Ange, I found a safe but I don't know the code, I've tried all the obvious ones. Help please'
I always eventually regretted asking my best friend for help. This tine would be no different.

'the day she disappeared?"
'day she killed Mr Foxly?'
'day she found Tamara?'
'have you tried everyone's birthdays?'

'wait your tried the day you guys got together and broke up right?'
And that was where I felt stupid.
I tried the code 101521
The 15th of October, the day I asked Lucy out on a date.
The safe door swung open.

'that was it. Thanks for your help'

'which one Timothy? The day you asked her out?!'

'yeah.'

'you didn't try that first?!'

And that was when I regretted asking Angela Lopez for help. I would definitely being hearing about this whenever I returned to work. Angela didn't drop anything.

I put my phone down on Lucy's bed and inspected the contents of the safe.

A gun and her badge, expected.
Important documents for her, Juniper and Tamara.
A picture of me, Tamara, Juniper and her that we took on Lucy's first day back at the station. Cute but irrelevant.
A burner phone.

I opened the phone, 0 messages calls or anything.
Probably just for emergencies.

A notebook.
That was slightly more interesting.
Each page was filled with different symbols and characters.
Most likely a cypher.

I sighed.
This was never my area of expertise.
Because apparently putting her notes behind a locked safe wasn't safe enough, they had to be encrypted notes as well.

I started trying to come up with a method to the madness that was this notebook.
Maybe the baby was a 'J'.
That would make sense because Juniper was our baby.
And maybe the heart was 'T'?
That was hopeful but maybe she started writing this when we were still together? Or maybe the T stood for Tamara.

I spent hours sat on Lucy's bed, slowly coming up with combinations to decipher the book of notes that would hopefully lead to some answers about why Lucy felt so sure she would be targeted.

Eventually I came up with a working code and I started reading the notebook.

'Emmet has broken out of prison. Tim knew. I heard his phone call with Grey a few nights ago. He doesn't know that I know and I want to keep it that way. I just don't know why he doesn't feel that I have a right to know. Why Tim doesn't trust me enough to tell me these things.'

'Emmet is coming after me. I know he will. That's why Tim and Juniper have to get far away.
If everything goes well they will be home by tomorrow but I doubt it will.'

'Emmet and Rosalind are going to get married when she eventually breaks out of prison. I tracked his movements to a wedding chapel but I couldn't get there fast enough. So now Rosalind Dyer might be Rosalind Lang. I don't have long left to report before they are going to come after me.'

'the single woman taskforce begins today. I will study Emmets movements over the next few months. To everyone else, I've given undercover. I hate that I'm lying to them but I need to keep them safe with the oblivion.'

'emmet has been working downtown. I'm heading over to scope out the area. Hopefully I can catch him sooner rather than later to go back to Juniper and Tim. Then maybe I can actually be with him. The sooner we're together the sooner one of our heats can be broken. The sooner the better.'

'Emmet has been working downtown at a coffee shop. He hit me with his car and now he is coming after me. I am angry at Tim for lying to me about our relationship. But that can wait. I need to show Grey my findings.'

The entries continued throughout almost the entire notebook. I scrolled to the last page,

'I have sent them away. Tim and Juniper will be safe while I sort this whole mess out. Emmet and Rosalind will come after me. If I die then they will at least be safe. I love Juniper and T-'

The pen makes a mark across the page before returning to finish the extract.

'Grey has called me to the station. Pack a bag for a week. I'm pretty sure Rosalind had broke out of jail. This may be my last entry. Goodbye'

It was in fact her last entry. Dated the day she was kidnapped.
So that was everything.