Take responsibility, Murdo says.
Now is the time for me to do that.
I can change things, or I can at least try.
I can’t let J.B. work for Magnus Pierce again. It would kill my mum. She’s been happy since he’s been home. How can I convince him he doesn’t have to? But if he’s already told Magnus Pierce he would work for him, he can’t go back on that. Not with Magnus Pierce. So, no good talking to J.B. He won’t listen. He can’t. He’s caught up again and can’t get out. Like a fly caught in a web.
But maybe if I ask Magnus Pierce. Beg him to let J.B. go, let us get on with our lives. Maybe I can do something. I have to try.
If I want to change things I have to go straight to the spider.
Magnus Pierce.
Luckily, Dad was at the nursery with Margo so as I left the house there were no awkward questions, no need for more lies. I paused for a moment at the front door.
Dad. I had called him Dad, and it hadn’t been painful at all. My dad.
I took the bus to the far side of town where Magnus Pierce’s offices are.
‘You know where to find me,’ he had said once. And I did too. J.B. used to work there, in a brightly lit office, with phones and faxes and computers constantly linked to the Internet. All very businesslike and above board. Fronting a business that relied on fraud and smuggling and all sorts of dodgy dealings.
Magnus Pierce’s Mercedes, MAG 1, sat in the driveway heralding his presence. Good. I wanted him to be there. I wanted to ask, beg him if I had to, to let J.B. go. We didn’t need the money. And surely he didn’t need J.B.
It was only as I climbed the winding staircase from the street entrance that I began to grow really nervous. I had rehearsed over and over in my mind what I was going to say, but now as I took one faltering step after another my mouth went dry and my mind was a complete blank. All I knew was that it was up to me to get J.B. out of this mess.
A long corridor at the top of the stairs led to Magnus Pierce’s office and I could hear murmured voices behind the closed door. One of them was his. Louder than the other. In charge as always.
Even before I knocked on the door it was hauled open by a tall woman, very thin, her black hair streaked with grey. It took her only a moment to recognise exactly who I was.
‘Hey, it’s the Blythe girl,’ she called back into the office, then she stood aside to let me pass.
He was sitting behind his desk, and he swivelled round in his chair to look at me. He had his jacket off and his tie was loosened. Papers were strewn on his desk, and he looked for all the world like a proper businessman and not … not what he was.
No wonder at first he had fooled J.B.
‘Lissa.’ He beamed a smile at me with what looked like genuine warmth. ‘And to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?’ He gestured me to a seat and I took it nervously.
The woman closed the door behind her and leaned against it. She looked unfriendly and her hooded black eyes never left me. She was scary.
‘C … could I speak to you alone?’ I tried to sound confident, but my voice was too shaky. ‘Please?’ I added.
Magnus Pierce nodded in the direction of the scary woman. ‘Give us a minute, Esther.’
She looked none too pleased to comply. ‘She’s Blythe’s daughter,’ she said. ‘I might want to hear this too.’
Magnus Pierce’s eyes flashed a warning at her. It warned me too. She wasn’t a visiting girlfriend, or even a customer. She was one of them. And she didn’t like J.B.
I watched her as she pulled the door closed.
Be calm, Lissa, I told myself. Speak clearly, don’t get excited.
Yet, as soon as I opened my mouth my words came out in a torrent.
‘It’s about my dad.’ There. I’d called him it again. Not too hard. ‘I know he’s coming back to work for you.’ He raised an eyebrow and I hurried on not wanting him to think Dad had told me anything. ‘It’s OK, I know he’s not supposed to talk, and he hasn’t. I heard him on the phone to you. Late at night, when he thought we were all sleeping. He didn’t tell me. He didn’t tell anyone. So you know you can trust him. He went to prison for you, didn’t he? He didn’t say a word then. I thought he was stupid doing that, but he thought he was doing the right thing. I understand that now. But you can’t let him come back to work for you. I don’t care if we never have any money. But I couldn’t bear him going back to jail.’ Still Magnus Pierce said nothing. He rested his chin on his folded hands and just looked at me.
‘I know he’s going to do what you want. I heard him tell you that last night. But please, let him be. You don’t need him to work for you.’