Happy Birthday to me… Where's my party?
6 years on = 6 updates. Here's number 1…
Disclaimer: I don't own Max, Millie or the suss Polish bad guy. But if I could, I'd call the suss Polish bad guy. He's so awesome!
Chapter Six;
Enemy
He kept his promise, albeit a little late, and Millie visibly relaxed at the sight of him. "You're late." She gave him a smile though as he introduced himself to Millie's friend Isabella. Oscar didn't even notice his arrival, caught up in a lively conversation with Isabella's son.
"Work." It was Max's oldest excuse, but she seemed to accept it this time with just a shrug, turning her attention back to Oscar.
"You're a detective at Sun Hill, right?" Isabella asked, sounding very interested. Max glanced up at her from the menu with a nod and a brief smile. He sensed Millie listening in, but she pretended she wasn't. "Millie talks about it. Says you're very good at your job." He didn't meet his wife's eye, but felt a little better at the knowledge. "Must be interesting."
"Sometimes interesting doesn't quite describe it," he muttered, not looking up from the menu again. It wasn't that he was too interested in the list, but more that he was trying to hide the rather obvious expression of disinterest across his face. He didn't want to be here, playing 'happy families' and drinking coffee when in reality the events of the last few days were beginning to weigh on him and were getting heavier by the hour.
He glanced at Millie for a second as the waiter arrived and took their orders. She'd tied her hair up for the meeting, her fringe falling over only one side of her forehead and a few escaped hairs covering her ears, and she hadn't really dressed up, just sporting jeans and a grey sweatshirt. She looked perfectly normal, but there was something in her expression that troubled him. And, he noted as she asked him if he was ordering anything, she still hadn't met his eye. As he placed an order for a Flat White, he touched her arm and lowered his voice. "Are you okay?" She nodded, still without eye contact. "Is this about this morning?"
"You mean about the fact you never tell me anything?" That hint of venom had returned to her voice and she hissed the question softly, menacingly, her way of saying he was right but she daren't admit it.
"Let's not do this here."
"Oh, finally we agree on something." She looked away, pointedly beginning a conversation with Isabella. Max looked to the table with a heaving sigh and then allowed his eyes to dart the café. It was a nice place, one of the more up market places on this end of Canley. The High Street was long; so long in fact it almost took in the whole of Canley. One end was close to the estates, dealing in the nightclub scene and the discount shops. It was the end Sun Hill's uniform were called out to most. This end of the High Street was more up market, closer to the more respectable end of Canley. Here were groceries, restaurants and cafes just like the one he now sat in. The Archer had the air of an old pub but with the right amount of class. And the menu looked straight out of a restaurant. It was an indication that Canley was changing for the better, moving way from housing estates and council flats and into a more livable place.
Not that any of this meant any kind of decrease in crime.
It didn't matter how a place was because crime was indiscriminate.
Letting his eyes wander over the other patrons in the café, his detective senses still on, he paused at the sight of a woman he'd interviewed the day before regarding a break-in. She still looked shaken and he felt sorry for her, wondering if she'd be okay. He paused at the realization of pity. Damn, he thought, she's rubbing off on me.
Hiding a smile, Max's eyes kept going, turning now to the patrons at the front of the café. Their table was just inside the door, up against huge bay windows opened up so the external seating merged fluidly with the internal seating. Only four tables sat out front, three empty and one occupied by two older women chatting animatedly. He tried to ignore their conversation (the purple-haired woman's grandson was starting his A-Levels soon) by glancing across the road at the music store. The entire front of the store filled with TVs playing music videos, his attention was caught on it for a second before something out of the corner of his eye got to him and he glanced at the alleyway beside the music store and right into the eyes of the dark-haired man from the park.
He closed his eyes for a second, willing mind-games to be the cause, but when he opened them he saw the man smirking at him. Then he waved.
Max reacted quickly, taking Millie's hand. "We have to go."
She frowned, finally meeting his eye with a glare. "What?"
"We have to go." Max had already stood, dropping a twenty on the table. "Sorry Isabella, it was nice to meet you." He dropped Millie's hand and picked up Oscar. "Come on buddy." Oscar frowned but didn't say anything. "Come on." He started out the door.
"Sorry," Millie shot back at her friend before she followed him from the café. "What's going on?"
"Get in the car." Max gave her a soft shove towards the open car door. He thanked his lucky stars he'd managed to get parking almost right outside the café. He didn't know what would've happened had they been forced to walk. Millie looked set to protest, but followed his instructions with just a cold glare. As Max rounded to the driver's side he looked back at the alleyway. It was empty this time but Max took no chances and started up the car.
*
They didn't stop until they reached the Tallow Road shopping district, Max having doubled back on himself more than once. Once there they got out of the car and Max swept his son into his arms, continuing to ignore Millie's questions until they entered the large electronics store and Max deposited the boy in front of a games console with two other children. Ruffling the boy's hair, he took Millie's hand and led her away from the child, keeping his eyes darting between the door and the boy. "Are you going to give me an explanation yet?" Millie asked again, glaring a look that she'd acquired from years with him.
His answer was just one word, more breathed than spoken. "Jankowski."
She frowned, her lips pursing as she wondered why that name was so familiar. Eventually it came to her. "Marek Jankowski?" He nodded. "You killed his brother during your CO19 years." He nodded again. "I thought he was away for a long time. Drugs or whatever it was."
"It was drugs." He glanced at her. "You were there. How bad is your memory?"
She frowned. "Now isn't the time for insulting me. Now is the time for explaining why you panicked at the sight of him. I'm going to have to explain this to the girls at preschool."
"Stuff the girls at preschool." He gave his son one last look and turned back to her. "This isn't the first time I've seen or heard from him."
"What?" Millie sounded shocked, her voice gasping out the questions that followed. "When? Where?" She glowered. "Why haven't you told me?" She paused and frowned. "The note, the flag."
"You went through the rubbish?" He looked insulted.
"If you're not going to tell me anything Max that's what I have to do." She leant past him, looking at Oscar who was engrossed by the game in front of him. As she looked back at Max she found him watching her. "Is Oscar in danger?" He looked away. "Tell me the truth." Her tone dropped menacingly.
"Maybe."
Millie put her hand to her mouth. "Oh god. Why? What does Jankowski want with us?"
"Revenge. He promised it, at the trial. He promised revenge."
"I heard him, but they all say that. They're just words."
Max shook his head. "This is personal. That wasn't the only letter from him. I received three more. The last one was on my desk this morning, when I got into work." He dug it out of his pocket and handed it to her. As she scanned it, Max made to take it back and translate it. Again, it was written in Polish. But Millie seemed to understand it.
It was Jankowski's most threatening one yet and Millie looked up with wide eyes. "He's not touching our son." She spoke through clenched teeth, her jaw set tight. Max nodded, taking the letter back. He had to pry her fingers off it as she strangled the letter, taking her anger out on the white paper.
"I'm not going to let him." He re-pocketed the note. "He want…"
Millie cut him off. "If he calls you like he says he will, you can't meet with him. He'll kill you."
Max marveled for a second at how quickly his wife had picked up his native tongue, but it was forced back again by reality and he shook his head. "I have no other option." Millie's head dropped as she realized he was right. "You read it Mill. If I don't meet with him, he'll kill you and Oscar instead."