1
Edinburgh, Scotland – 2017
Hidden in the shadows of the darkened alley, Pierce Holmes waited and watched. He had been following this small family for weeks, waiting for his opportunity. His nerves were getting the better of him as they had every time thus far. Never having done this before, he wasn’t sure he wanted to do it now. He shifted his weight from foot to foot, as his eyes skimmed over the alley and the street. It was Sunday morning and there was no one else around. This was the opportune time he’d been waiting for. He could grab the child and make a run for it, but first he’d have to subdue the mother and father, not permanently of course, but just long enough to get the girl and disappear.
This should be easy, but something was holding him back. A presence. He wasn’t alone. Someone was watching him. He gazed up at the windows of the surrounding buildings, but saw no one. Pinned up against the wall of the alley, he turned his head from side to side, quickly assessed the situation. No matter how hard he looked, there was no one in sight. His gut told him this wasn’t going to work, even though it had seemed perfect only moments ago. He cursed silently to himself. This would not be the day. He would not take the first step on his journey towards great wealth and revenge. He’d wait.
Despite the gnawing need in his head to complete his mission, the feeling that someone knew what he was up to wouldn’t leave him. His brain was battling his gut on this one. Ever since he’d found those papers in Malcolm Granger’s office he’d been a man possessed. All he could think about was getting his hands on the Twin Sword. He’d thought Malcolm crazy when he’d dragged them through time to retrieve it. Oddly, he’d forgotten all about it until he found the papers. Since that moment he could think of nothing but possessing the sword. He had flown halfway around the world to ensure it would be his. All he needed was the child.
Now, here he stood in an alley in Edinburgh, ready to pounce on the unsuspecting couple, but something was holding him back. Perhaps it was his own uneasiness over his plan or perhaps this unseen watcher was real. It couldn’t be. He had been so careful. No one knew of his plans, no one knew where he was. He balled his fists and growled at his own cowardice. The woman pushing the pram glanced in his direction. Whether she saw him or not, he couldn’t say, but she did hurry her steps as her husband followed along beside her.
***
“What’s wrong, love?” David Sinclair asked his wife.
“I’m nae sure. I keep having this feeling that someone is following us.” Maureen Sinclair warily glanced back over her shoulder.
“I thought I heard a growl.”
David looked back and scanned the area. It all looked perfectly normal, she knew, just a few shoppers out enjoying a Saturday afternoon. “I didn’t see any dogs,” he assured her.
“I don’t think it was a dog. It sounded like a man.” She shivered at the thought.
“I’m sure it was nothing. Probably only a drunken sot asleep in that alley over there.” He glanced back over his shoulder and paused to stare at some movement in the alley. He stared for a moment, his brow furrowed, then turned and placed his hand on her back to hurry them along. “We should get home. It looks like it might rain.”
“David, this isn’t the first time I’ve had this feeling.” She’d experienced this before. Over the last two weeks she frequently felt uneasy when out with Molly. She peered around the aisles at the grocery store trying to catch whoever was watching. She had stopped going to the park completely because it just didn’t feel safe there anymore. It was ridiculous, she thought, but she needed to tell David. Maybe he could help her see it was all in her imagination.
“It scares me.”
He stopped and looked into her eyes. “I won’t let anything happen to you or Molly.” He wrapped his arms around her and his warmth pushed some of the fear away. He kissed her head and stepped back from her, “I’ll go back and take a look. See who’s there.” He turned back towards the alley, but Maureen grabbed his arm.
“No!” She knew she sounded frantic, but her mother’s intuition was telling her that whoever had been following them wanted little Molly.
“Are you sure?” David turned back to her, worry etching his brow.
“Aye. I’m sure.” She was afraid. What if something happened to David? What if whoever was watching them harmed him in such a way that it would be easy to take Molly. She had to get these thoughts out of her head. The many uneasy nights without sleep and days of worry gave her a constant headache. She could hardly concentrate on her work in the bakery. Yesterday she burned an entire pan of scones and twice gave customers the wrong change. If only she could prove to herself that it was all in her imagination. But what if she couldn’t prove it? What if it was true? Then she’d be even more terrified. This was her wee bairn. She couldn’t allow anything to happen to her. If it did, her life would be over. One thing she knew for sure, she would do whatever she had to do in order to protect wee Molly.
They hurried back to their little apartment above the bakery, entering through the door that led upstairs just as the first drops of rain began to fall.
“Ye made it back just in time,” Mrs. May said, surprising them so that they both jumped. “I’m sorry. I didnae mean to scare ye.”
Maureen took a deep breath, trying to calm her pounding heart.
“’Tis fine. We werenae expecting to run into ye, ’tis all.”
Mrs. May laughed, her blue eyes twinkling with warmth. It was apparent she didn’t realize how terrified Maureen had been. She crouched down to Molly’s level, “And how is our Miss Molly doing today? Did you have a lovely time out with mum and da?”
Molly’s face lit with a smile, her pudgy little finger pointing to the bakery entrance.
“Oh, she’s a precious one, our Molly.” Mrs. May sprang up, patting her mop of grey hair back into place and turning to Maureen. She was quite spry for a lady over sixty, must be the decades of bending and mixing. “I’m on me way back to the bakery. I left Mr. May to tend the customers. I hope he hasnae scared them all away.” She chuckled and squeezed past them. “I left some shortbread for ye, by yer door.”
“’Tis verra kind of ye. Many thanks,” David said.
“Think nothing of it.” She smiled warmly at them, softly caressing Molly’s cheek before disappearing through the door that led from their apartments into the bakery.
Maureen relaxed enough to laugh as she heard Mrs. May berating her husband through the closed door.
“She’s quite the character, that one,” David said. He picked wee Molly out of the pram, which Maureen then parked under the stairs.
“I’ll be happy to be back in our cozy little home,” Maureen said, following him up the stairs past Peter and Ethel May’s second floor apartment just above the bakery, to the third-floor flat they had rented shortly after getting married. They really needed to move to a bigger place, preferably one where there was no stair climbing involved. It would have to wait though. David’s salary from his job at the bank, barely covered their expenses and the money Maureen made working part time in the bakery all went into their savings. It would take some time, but eventually they’d be able to afford their own small cottage. It was their goal and one they both were working hard to attain.
David picked up the shortbread. “Mmm…”
“I’ll make some tea as soon as I put Molly down for a nap. Are ye tired, love?” she asked as she watched her daughter yawning and rubbing her eyes. “Come. Let’s have a wee lie down.” Maureen took her from her Da.
They’d reached the safety of their home. Maureen could feel the tension leaving her as soon as the door closed. She looked around the little family room at the comfortable couch where she and David watched movies at night, at the pile of toys Molly played with during the day, at the photos of family and friends along the mantle and felt lighter. They were together and her little family was fine. She’d put her fear aside for the time being and concentrate on what was right in front of her instead of the unknown.
“I’ll put the water on,” David said, already munching on a piece of shortbread.
“I’ll be right back. Dinnae eat it all,” she teased, raising an eyebrow at her husband.
He smiled broadly and continued munching away as she disappeared into her wee daughter’s room.