Twenty Five
It hadn’t taken Christian too long to track down his daughter, she
was attending a school not too far away and he had taken the bus straight there
and was now standing outside the school gates.
He wondered if she would remember him, it had been years since she had
seen him after all.
A number of cars came and went, Christian
craning to see if his daughter was in any of them, “Who the hell am I kidding”
he thought as he concealed himself behind a large tree. There in front of him stood the prettiest
little girl, her blond hair stretching in two long pleats down her back, little
tanned arms clutching a pile of folders, Christian knew instantly who this
child was. He’d know her anywhere, “You
coming Jessie” Christian gazed at the little dark haired girl who’d spoken then
back to where his daughter stood. “No I better wait for my daddy” Christian’s
heart broke, she had another daddy. Boy
he hadn’t been expecting that. Her
friend hovered slightly then screamed, making Jessica whirl round, “What? What’s wrong?” she panicked, Christian
watched them for a few seconds “There’s a man behind that tree” Jessica’s eyes
narrowed “What? Where?” she said, taking
a few paces nearer to him “Jessie no…you mustn’t” her friend cautioned but
Jessica continued walking towards him.
He smiled at her then darted a look
around to make sure they weren’t being watched. “Are you lost?” she asked
sweetly, he smiled but was aware of the other little girl who was now on the
phone. “Jessie, come on I called my Dad, he’s gonna come get us” Christian
smiled at both of them. “I’m not gonna hurt your Jess” he said calmly, she
smiled again.
“I just wanted to
make sure you were okay”
“Why?”
“I em”
“Jessica! Come
on, my dad’s gonna be here any minute!”
“In a second”
“No! Come now!”
“Jessica Britney,
come on let’s go, you girls can come wait inside”
Christian eyed
the pretty young woman, then Jessica “Bye Jess” he said solemnly.
“He knows my name
Miss Stanton.”
“Don’t you go off
talking to strangers again do you hear me?”
“Yeah, but Miss
Stanton he knew my name”
“Jessica that
doesn’t mean anything”
Christian noticed
his daughter take one last look at him.
She knew who he was, he was sure she did, he could tell by the look in
her eyes, a look which plainly said ‘Don’t worry daddy, I understand, one day
I’ll come find you”
Kate knew she was being followed; it
didn’t take a genius to work it out. The
car had been parked just opposite and she was now leading the occupants on a
wild goose chase. “Will you slow down?” she heard Christian say, she turned
right round and glanced down to where he lay.
“Jesus, will ya
keep your eyes on the road!”
“What the hell
are you doing in my car?”
“Well getting a
ride thanks”
“Chris, are you
nuts?”
“No I don’t think
so”
“God, I don’t
believe you, I’m getting tailed and you are in my goddamn car cracking jokes!”
“Gotta do
something babe”
Kate huffed, her
heart was now racing as she contemplated her future, and here she was with the
cops at her back and a fugitive lying on the floor of her car. Things really couldn’t get any worse, could
they?
Christian sat up and looked through the
back window, they were still there.
Tailing them, “Kate you wanna slow down a little honey?” he said, she
eyed him in the rear view mirror “Are you sitting up?” she hissed, he grinned
“Yeah…the floor got mighty uncomfortable”, she rolled her eyes “Lie down now!”
she barked and he laughed
“What am I? A dog?”
“Chris?”
“Yeah?”
“Do as you’re
told, coz I ain’t going to jail for you”
“Well slow down
coz, well right now jail seems a better option than err being dead!”
“You want me to
stop right now?”
“No! Sorry babe”
“Yeah, they’ve
gone”
He sat up once
again and smiled to himself as he begun to climb over the seat.
“What the hell are you doing now?”
“Oh duh what does
it look like!”
“Chris you really
are insane”
He lent over and
kissed her cheek.
A
car pulled up outside a huge white house, Rosetta Cortez watched from the
kitchen as the pretty little eight year old got out and slammed the door “By
Jessie” the occupant called after her, she turned and waved then continued
along the pathway. “Hola Rosetta” she
greeted the woman with a peck on the cheek, “Hola Jessica” the woman replied
fondly as she watched her open the refrigerator. “What’s for dinner Rosetta?”
she inquired, Rosetta turned just in time to see her take a swig from the
Carton.
“Jessica! Use a glass”
“Sorry”
“Tiz okay, I suppose
you get it from your papa”
Jessica frowned
as she put the carton back. “Rosette can
I ask you a question?”
“Sure, you can
ask me anything Jessica.”
“Why was I
adopted?”
Rosetta froze,
her face showing concern. “I am not sure; perhaps you should ask your father.”
Jessica pouted, “Well
I would but he ain’t never here”
Rosetta smoothed down
the imaginary creases of her grey uniform then fixed warm brown eyes on the
child, she was correct of course. Her
Father was never at home, “He works hard Jessica sweetheart” she told her,
Jessica let out a deep sigh, “Well I wish he didn’t have to Rosetta.” Rosetta placed both hands on the child’s face.
“I think your papa would rather spend time with you but he has to work”
“Rosetta, what
does my daddy do?”
Rosetta smiled at
her. “He catches bad folks”
“What like a
Police Officer?”
“Yeah, exactly”
“Cool, I never
new that”
Rosetta smiled as
she watched the child skip off to change then do her homework.
Detective
King looked furiously at the young cop.
“What the hell d’you mean you lost her?” he bawled at him, the young man
averted his gaze.
“She skipped off the freeway and got lost in
traffic.”
“I don’t fucking
believe you.., what the hell are the academy sending out these days, you’re
complete amateurs, all of you!” There
was a knock at the door. “What?” The man
yelled,