Sure Fire (2 page)

Stabb shoved aside the guard in front of the monitor and reached for the camera controls. The picture zoomed in – showing two dark figures silhouetted inside the car. There was another explosion as the whole complex caught fire, illuminating the car's number plate.

Smoke drifted across the picture, and the car was lost to sight.

Sandra Chance never saw the car that killed her. Just back from several years working in New York for a multinational computer company, she looked the wrong way as she stepped off the Manchester pavement. It was an easy mistake – she was so used to the traffic driving on the other side of the road. The driver was not to blame, but he didn't stop to find out.

The funeral was a quiet affair at the local church in the Manchester suburb she had moved into just a few weeks before. Though she was originally from the area, she had no family there – no family anywhere. Except the children.

Richard and Jade were just fifteen when their mother died. Twins, they had always shared
everything – toys, games, books, arguments, and now grief. Rich kept it bottled up, but it was there. His eyes were welling with tears as he stood with his sister in the front pew. Jade let the tears run down her cheeks as they listened to the priest's words about their mother – about their loss, their bravery and their devotion – but Rich preferred to keep his emotions to himself. Jade would know how he felt – she always knew how he felt – and that was all that mattered. He didn't care about anyone else. He didn't
have
anyone else.

A few other locals had turned up, out of respect rather than love, but none of them had known Sandra Chance or her children. Mary Gilpin was the only person who knew her at all, as a neighbour and childhood friend. The children were staying with her now, but Mary's husband Phil had never liked children, and had been quick to involve “the authorities”. He hadn't even come to the church.

As the priest mentioned Mary Gilpin's name, she looked up. Jade glanced at her, smiled sadly and looked away again. Rich didn't react at all.

Then the door at the back of the church creaked open. The sound seemed even louder in the still
moment of silence. Rich looked around. He stared at the man who stepped quietly into the church and closed the door behind him.

Rich watched the man cross himself and go to the nearest pew at the back of the church. He was a big man, but he moved quietly and easily. When he sat, there was a stillness about him, but also a contained strength. He looked about forty, with a rugged, experienced face and short blond hair. He was wearing a black suit and might have passed unnoticed and unremarked in a crowd except, Rich saw, for the man's eyes. They were blue – like Rich's own – and moved in a slow arc, as if he were taking in every detail of the church and people around him.

Jade had also turned. She too saw the man. The man's eyes met hers, just for a second, then moved on to Rich. The two children looked at each other and frowned. Jade squeezed her brother's hand. She flicked her head to get her blonde hair out of her eyes, and they both knelt to pray.

The cold autumn sun was low in the sky, casting long shadows of the tombstones across the churchyard. Jade and Rich stood together a little way from the grave.

“She should have looked the right way,” Jade said. “She was always warning us, telling us to be careful. Not to be in too much of a rush.”

“Don't blame her,” Rich told her.

“I'm not,” Jade protested. “It's just…” She sniffed and looked away. “She should have looked.”

The man from the back of the church was talking to the priest and Mrs Gilpin. There was another woman with them, a middle-aged woman with dyed hair. Rich knew she was with the Social Services. She was supposed to be looking after him and Jade until someone decided what to do with them. He couldn't remember her name and he didn't care.

“Who is that man?” Jade said. “I feel like I've seen him somewhere before.”

Rich shrugged. “More Social Services.”

“Why are they here?” Jade said.

“We can't stay with the Gilpins for ever.”

Jade stared at him, her tear-stained face framed by her long blonde hair.

Rich sighed and went on: “Didn't you hear him last night, going on at her again about how she can't be expected to look after us and it isn't fair on him?”

“Maybe we can go back to New York,” Jade said.
“Stay with Charmaine and her family.”

“Yeah, right,” Rich muttered. “Like one of your old school friends is going to take us both in.”

The woman from the Social Services was shaking the strange man's hand. She glanced over at Rich and Jade, then walked quickly away. The man seemed to gather himself, squaring his shoulders and taking a deep breath that made his chest heave. Then he and Mrs Gilpin came over to where the twins were standing.

“Hello,” the man said. His voice was deep and rich, and he tried to smile. He reached his hand out towards Rich, such a natural gesture that Rich found himself taking the man's hand and shaking it. The man's grip was firm and confident.

Rich felt his insides turn to water as the man introduced himself.

“John Chance,” he said. “I'm your father.”

They sat at the back of the church while the priest tidied things away and worked in the vestry.

“How can you be our dad?” Jade demanded as soon as they sat down.

“Why should we believe you?” Rich asked.

“It's as much of a shock for me too,” Chance said.

“Why didn't Mum say anything?” Jade asked. “We didn't even know she'd been married.”

“It was a long time ago,” Chance said. “Sixteen years. I came home one day and she was gone. She left a note, but it didn't say much. I assumed I'd hear – from her lawyers if not from Sandy herself.”

“No one called her Sandy,” Jade said. “Mum hated it.”

“I'm sorry,” Chance said. “Until last week I really didn't know anything. Then I got a call from Mrs Gilpin. Apparently, your mother left a letter with her – in case anything happened to her.”

Chance smiled, but it looked strained. “I did love your mother very much,” he said. “I believed she loved me.”

“Believed?” Jade prompted.

Chance turned away.

“She never asked for a divorce – she even carried on using my name. We're still married.” He hesitated, realising his mistake. “
Were
still married. That's partly why you're in my care.”

“I'm sorry if it's spoiled your day,” Jade said sharply.

“That isn't what I meant,” he said.

“I guess it's a shock for you too,” Rich said. He still had his hand on Jade's shoulder. She put her hand over the top of it.

“Just a bit,” Chance confessed. “But, look – we'll make it work. I'm in the middle of some business right now, quite intense stuff. But that should be over soon. By the end of term, when you come home, we'll be able to spend some time and sort out where we go from here, OK?”

“Come home?” Rich echoed. “You mean we're staying up here till the end of term?”

“With the Gilpins?” Jade asked. “While you go back to London?”

Chance looked awkward. “Not exactly. That isn't what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean,
Dad
?” Jade asked.

“Look, I haven't exactly had time to plan this,” Chance told them. “I live in a tiny flat right now. It's hardly big enough for me, let alone the three of us. And I'm working all the hours God sends. I can't get you to and from school and cook your meals and look after you and—”

“And change our nappies?” Rich said. “We're fifteen. We can cope. Mum worked, you know.”

“We'll discuss it at the end of term, all right?” Chance said.

“And where will we be in the mean time?” Rich wanted to know. “In some poky flat that's too small for us all?”

But Jade was staring open-mouthed at Chance. “No way. Absolutely no way at all, ever, on this earth.” She looked round at Rich.

And he realised what she had already guessed. “Boarding school is right out,” he agreed. “Not if it's the last school on the planet.”

“Just till the end of this term,” Chance told them. “Till I can spend some time with you and work this out.”

“No way,” Jade said.

“Never,” Rich told him.

Chance stood up. His voice was quiet, but Rich could sense an undercurrent of determination. “I'm not asking you. I'm your father and I have to decide. I'm sorry, but that's how it has to work. End of debate.”

“That wasn't a debate,” Rich said. “A debate involves two points of view and a decision based on the arguments. That didn't happen.”

“You just decided for us,” Jade added. “You've only just met us and already you can't wait to get rid of us.”

“I'm not talking about it,” Chance said. “Because you're right – there is no debate. It's decided.”

“Oh – so suddenly you know what's best for us?” Jade said. She stood up and glared at Chance. “You abandon us and Mum sixteen years ago and now you're back and you know best? I don't think so.”

“Wait a minute,” Rich said. “
Sixteen
years ago. We weren't even born then.”

“You didn't even wait till we were born?”

“Now hold on. Sandy – Sandra,” Chance corrected himself quickly, “left
me
. It wasn't my decision. I'd never have left her. Even if…” He stopped abruptly.

“Even if what?” Rich asked.

Chance took a deep breath. “Until yesterday, I didn't know where your mother had gone, what she'd been doing. Until yesterday, I didn't know I was a father.”

* * *

No one spoke all the way to the Gilpins' house. Chance parked the car in a space outside the house next door – outside the rented house that Rich and Jade had lived in for the last few weeks with their mother. Jade doubted he even realised.

“Everything's going into storage,” Chance explained. “We can sort through all your stuff later, decide what you want.”

“At the end of term, right?” Jade said.

Mr Gilpin answered the door. He shook hands with Chance and muttered something about condolences. He glared at Rich and ignored Jade. He stepped inside and gestured for them to come into the hallway.

Several boxes and carrier bags were lined up against the wall. Jade could see her own clothes spilling out of one of the bags. School books shoved in a box. Rich's best trainers in another.

“We could have packed our own stuff,” she said.

Mr Gilpin looked away. “Thought you'd be in a hurry to be off.”

“Someone's in a hurry all right,” Rich said.

“I'd like to say goodbye to Mrs Gilpin,” Jade said. “We didn't really get a chance at the church.”

Mr Gilpin turned away. “She's not here. Gone out. Shut the door behind you.”

Chance lifted one of the boxes. “I think we'd best be going,” he said.

As they drove away, Jade watched the net curtains of the front room twitch.

Rich sat in the front and Jade sat in the back of the car.

Jade could see that Chance had angled the mirror so he could watch her. Was he keeping an eye on her? she wondered. Or did he just want to look at the children he hadn't known he had for the past fifteen and a half years? What did he think? What did he see beyond two fair-haired teenagers with similar features, similar slim build? Only their hair distinguished them – Jade's was long over her shoulders while Rich's was short, off his collar and slightly spiky.

“So, tell me about yourselves,” Chance said, trying to be cheerful. “What do you like to do with your time?”

“Get driven about in cars that go too fast,” Jade said.

Chance's laugh sounded strained, but he eased off the speed slightly. “Right. Anything else?”

Jade slumped back in the seat, looking out of the window as they passed most of the other vehicles on the road.

“I like reading,” Rich said. “I read anything, but mostly I like to find out about stuff. How things work. That sort of thing. Telly's good too. Hey,” he thought suddenly, “do you have a PlayStation?”

“Sorry. Got a DVD player and a laptop. That's about it. What about you, Jade?”

She continued to stare out of the window. “I like doing things, not reading about them. Is there a gym near you?”

“I've no idea.”

“Figures.”

Chance laughed again, only this time it sounded more genuine. “I keep pretty fit, you know.”

“You think,” Jade muttered.

“And my hearing's fine,” he said. “You into that fitness stuff then?”

“A bit.”

“And then some,” Rich said. “She works out. Runs. She eats loads of fruit and vegetables.
Drinks loads of bottled water.”

“It's good for you,” Jade protested. “You have to look after yourself. Healthy body, healthy mind.”

“Quite right,” Chance agreed.

“Don't patronise me,” she told him.

“I was agreeing with you.”

“Well, don't.”

“You'd rather I disagreed with you?” he asked.

“I'd rather you stopped pretending,” Jade replied.

They lapsed into silence.

Jade stared out of the window and Rich turned his head to whisper to her over his shoulder.

“It'll be OK,” he told her. “We'll get through this; it won't be so bad. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? Apart from boarding school?”

“I just want Mum back,” Jade said, her eyes filling with tears once again.

Chance was fumbling in his pockets as he drove fast and confident down the outside lane. He pulled something out and Jade's expression changed at once – first to surprise and then anger.

Chance was trying to shake a cigarette out of a packet. He caught a glimpse of Jade's face in the rearview mirror.

“I'm gasping,” he told her.

Jade wiped her eyes and glared at him.

Chance put the packet back into his pocket.