Her Silence

Chapter Thirty Seven

"Sometimes life brings you the most unexpected experiences, where you learn more than you ever wanted to." Emily Gabriela Vira

"You did what?" James roared. I'd only be home for all of five minutes. "Do you have a death wish or are you just plain stupid? You made the decision within two minutes and a text message? She could have killed you Rosie! She could have brought your Mother!"

"I know! But she didn't! And that says a lot, don't you think?"

"No! No, I don't think!" He rakes his fingers through his hair, which was now long and unruly. I step forward and hug him, squeezing his body as tight as I could. I then move backwards, and smile.

"You see? I'm still here, safe and untouched. I know I should have told you, but this reaction speaks for itself: you wouldn't have let me go."

"Of course I wouldn't have let you go!" He shouts quizzically, as though I'd grown a second head.

"Look, I totally understand how you feel, I'll be the exact same when you go on the hunt for my Mother. But she's in a really bad way James. She's been tied up, I'm sure of it."

"Too right." I hit his arm. "What? You expect me to be sympathetic? She nearly killed you." He says, flippantly.

"Yes, I know that. I'm not asking for sympathy for her as I had little myself, I just think she has a lot to say and explain, and it could be crucial in drawing this all to a close." James takes a deep breath and leans against the kitchen counter. As I had expected, he was mad. Really mad. But my hope to make him see through the trees held me back from arguing with him. "Please James. I don't believe she was even in her own body when she did what she did, and if you saw the sight of her, you'd agree with me."

"I have no doubt that she had any sense of what she was doing, but I can't see past that. You understand, don't you? She nearly took you from me." I close my eyes. This was proving to be more difficult than I thought. "But," I look back at James, "I think you're right in that I need to see her. When did you say?"

"Three days from now. It gives us time to plan and decide what we can get from this. I say we – you. I'll come to the station with you, and you and your team can come up with some brilliant execution as to how we play this out. The ball is in our court isn't it – we know where my Mother is, Jacob is dead, and Amy is evidently willing to help." James smirks and moves towards me, holding me at arm's length before pulling me in to kiss the top of my head.

"I might just make you a member of the team." He jokes.

"Could I be your personal assistant?"

"Why, of course. With your own office?"

"Can't we share?" I wink. James's eye grow darker, and he weaves his fingers through the back of hair, pulling my head so I'm looking directly up at him.

"Are you implying something Miss Dore?" He whispers, smirking. Just as I go to make some inappropriate comment, my phone begins to ring. "Saved by the bloody bell." He groans, making me giggle. I run over to the phone to see Mr Rodgers's number.

"It's Mr Rodgers." I tell James and he frowns. I answer, barely getting the phone on speaker before a hideous shrieking fills the kitchen, making me nearly drop it in the process.

"What type of sick manipulator are you?" A shrill Mrs Rodgers screams. "You've rinsed my family of our money; Harry may have to be pulled out of school!" She continues to denounce me of list of things I'd apparently taken away from them, to the point where James comes over and takes the phone from my hand.