Weapon of Choice
Chapter 26: Restless
Thanks for the reviews and sorry for taking so long to update! I hope you like this chapter.
This chapter is dedicated to Amy (LightSpirit) for graduating from university, congratulations! :D xx
Smithy went upstairs to shower after they had eaten dinner. Today had mainly involved him teaching football skills and it had left him feeling tired and sweaty. When he came back downstairs about a quarter of an hour later, clean and refreshed, he found Kerry asleep on the sofa. She was curled up, blonde hair splayed across a cushion and a paperback book resting on her chest.
Smithy smiled, picking up the book and placing the bookmark inside it. He reached for the blanket that was folded over the back of the sofa and covered Kerry's sleeping form with it. He pushed the hair away from her forehead and placed a kiss to the soft skin there. He wasn't pretending now; wasn't just playing the role of Kerry's undercover husband.
He took a seat in the arm chair and switched the television on, but keeping the volume at a very low level. He had turned it on during the news broadcast and the sports report was currently on, so Smithy watched to see how his beloved West Ham were faring in the football league. When the sports news ended there was a repeat of the day's top stories throughout the country but nothing caught Smithy's attention; there was nothing that seemed to be related to Grant Black and his operations in any way just the usual economic fears and the death of yet another young soldier overseas. When the national newsreaders handed the broadcast over to their local counterparts, Smithy began to pay closer attention. A few uninteresting news items about planning permission and hospital closures passed by before Dale was sucked in completely.
Footage of the school gates, which had become very familiar to Smithy over the last few weeks, but in these video clips a blanket of bouquets and teddy bears could be seen on the ground. The camera panned in close, showing the heartfelt messages of grief and sorrow at the violent passing of Kathryn Walker. The sober faced newsreader was explaining that tomorrow would have been Kathryn's eighteenth birthday and still the true circumstances surrounding the teenager's death remained a mystery.
Smithy debated waking Kerry up so that she could watch this too, but he was sure that she was already aware that it was Kathryn's birthday the next day. He didn't think this broadcast would help her at all. Kerry was still the officer most dedicated to avenging Kathryn's death and giving her parents the closure they so desperately deserved. He hoped that this renewed attention to Kathryn's case wouldn't make Kerry doing anything foolish or dangerous.
Once the news had finished, Smithy turned the television off again and considered going upstairs to sleep himself. He was yawning now and finding it quite hard to keep his eyes open. He was awake enough though to realise that it would look strange to whoever was watching him if only he slept in their double bed tonight. He walked over to the sofa and bent down, taking Kerry's smaller, lighter frame in his arms. Still in the clutches of sleep, Kerry's arms subconsciously wrapped around Smithy's neck to anchor herself to him. He made his way slowly up the stairs with Kerry in his arms, and then set her down gently on the bed.
Kerry smiled sleepily up at him, the journey up the stairs having roused her from her sleep, but only a little. She moved her hands from his neck to frame his face, her fingers tracing the light dusting of stubble on his jaw.
Smithy tried to move away from her but it was half hearted attempt. He let her pull his face closer to hers and accepted, and returned, the soft, sweet kiss that she gave him. An all too familiar ache seized him and it took all of his strength to pull away and tuck the duvet around her as sleep claimed her again.
Despite his exhaustion, it took Smithy a long time to sleep that night.
Sleep didn't visit Joe until late that night either. Cameron had tried to persuade him that they should go out drinking, but Joe had declined. As welcoming as the idea of drowning his troubles in alcohol seemed, Joe knew he needed to keep his wits about him even, or especially, in Cameron's presence. Besides, Joe had a lot think about and decide on.
At present the most pressing issue on his mind was Jasmine and the pregnancy. If Black found out Joe wasn't sure that he would be around long enough to worry about his other concerns. As hard as he tried to think about Jasmine, the baby, and Cameron and Grant's demands, it was Kerry Jones who kept invading his thoughts. It wasn't until he realised how he had helped to endanger Kerry and her husband that he had begun to feel something for her. Maybe he had been wrong to think that Jasmine was what he really wanted, when really he needed a real woman like Kerry. Did he continue to let the Joneses become involve with Grant, or did he bargain for Kerry's life in exchange for Dale's services to the Blacks? He wasn't sure that Grant would agree to that anyway, not when Joe was supposed to be in love with his daughter and it was their forbidden relationship that had dragged him into this whole mess to begin with.
It was all too much to think about and he was no closer to making a decision. It led to hours of tossing and turning in his sheets until he lay tangled and wide awake. He was scared to sleep because he couldn't trust what, or who, he might dream about and as soon as he fell asleep morning would arrive, and he would have to face the day. It was not one that he was looking forward to.
Grant Black enjoyed having a staff to take care of all the little details of his day to day life, but that did not mean he was neither a perfectionist nor a control freak. There were some things he insisted on doing for himself even if they did seem mundane and inconsequential. That was why, at five o'clock on a rainy October morning; Grant was sitting in a darkened van at the docks. The hands of his designer watch glowed faintly as the minutes slowly ticked by. Another half an hour passed and Grant was beginning to get restless, soon it would be getting light and he would have to hand the reins over to another of his men for fear of being apprehended with a case of imported knives in his possession. If one of his men was found with them it would be an inconvenience but not a disaster. His men would rather serve a handful of years in prison that have to face his wrath. That was certainly the case where his daughter's teacher was concerned.
Grant had seen little of his daughter lately. With all of the plotting and planning he had been doing, he'd been too busy to spend much quality time with her. Something seemed different about her though, he had noticed. Jasmine had always had a volatile personality but she seemed less angry of late but his moods were more changeable. Teenage girls weren't his area of expertise but he could tell that something was off. If he found out that she was upset because of something her teacher had or hadn't done, Grant Black would make sure that Jasmine was the last female Joe Harrison ever touched.
Kerry and Smithy walked to school in almost complete silence the next morning. Both of them were lost in their thoughts, but their thoughts differed considerably. Kerry was thinking about Kathryn Walker and what, if she were alive, the teenager would be doing to celebrate turning eighteen and coming of age. Her life had been extinguished senselessly and much too early. Her heart broke for what Laura and John Walker must be feeling this morning. Smithy wasn't thinking about the case at all, although he too was depressed and sad for the Walkers. Smithy's thoughts were firmly on the blonde woman who walked by his side but may as well have been miles away from him. She had kissed him last night, simply and sweetly, but it had still be a kiss charged with passion. It had made his insides melt and his pulse quicken, but they had not spoken on if. Kerry hadn't mentioned it, and although she had other things on her mind, he could help being hurt by that. Unless she didn't remember? He looked across at her, a faraway look in her blue eyes signifying that she was still absorbed in her own thoughts, and realised that was the truth; Kerry simply did not remember the kiss they had shared.
Joe was full of nervous energy that morning, and Kerry was concerned that his behaviour was bordering on the manic. Had Black found out that his daughter was pregnant with Joe's child? Was Joe fearing for his life? There were so many questions that Kerry wanted to ask him but she couldn't for fear of arousing his suspicions. It had already surprised her today that Joe had been absent during the extended morning assembly that was held in Kathryn's memory. Jasmine's own absence had not been a surprise to Kerry, but it made her feel sick to her stomach to think that they had been together during the assembly. The part of her that believed Joe was a good person grew smaller with each passing day.