Chapter 2

1 YEAR LATER

Perdy was charged with drink driving. She wasn't happy.

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME", she screamed. "I HAVE A DAUGHTER TO LOOK AFTER".

It was no use though, she was going to jail.

Grayson's memory still hadn't returned. He didn't know any of the things that had happened in his life. The mysterious death of his father, his family, becoming a barrister, Perdy, The King's, Katie and his daughter.

It didn't look like he would be getting away any time soon. Grayson was alone in the hospital; he had no friends, no one to talk to. In fact the people there made him feel uneasy. He wished he could get away.

Katie lived in a small apartment in Leeds. She wondered what happened to Perdy and Grayson, why they never tried to track her down. The thought always entered Katie's mind.

Katie put Mariah to bed. She was coping well with a child and she didn't need Perdy or Grayson. Then she opened the newspaper and read a bit of news. It was titled - "Suicide in prison", it then read:

"Yesterday the body of prisoner Perdita Hyde Sinclair was found hanged in Leeds Prison. Mrs Hyde Sinclair who had been imprisoned on charges of drink driving was doing a 12 month sentence. Her next of kin Mr Grayson Sinclair has been unable to comment as he has memory loss and a result as Mrs Hyde Sinclair's driving."

Katie put down the newspaper, she was shocked. She knew Perdy to have a history of depression, but never thought her suicidal. She felt bad for Perdy, even a bit guilty, but couldn't help feeling a bit relieved because she couldn't take little Mariah away.

Then there was Grayson, he had lost his memory. Katie felt a little sorry for him, but quickly remembered what he had done to her, the feeling quickly disappeared. There would be no chance he would come after her and Mariah would there?

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October 2023

15 years had passed since Katie left Emmerdale and moved to Leeds to bring up her daughter. Life was going well. Mariah was in high school and had a great bunch of friends. She always wondered about her dad. Her mum never spoke about him. She always lost her temper and got really nervous when Mariah brought the subject up.

"Mariah, please, don't talk about it any more."

"But mum, you always say that, why?"

"LOOK, MARIAH, JUST GET TO YOUR ROOM"

It was no use, Katie wouldn't speak about it. Mariah went off defeated to her room.

It was getting late, Katie turned on the TV, but nothing interested her, so she turned it off and went to make herself a cup of tea. As the kettle was boiling she glanced out of the window. Something caught her eye a figure, she probably figured it was kids messing around, so she forgot about it and pulled the blind down, then she made her cup of tea, sat down and drank before going to bed.

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Mariah got up ready to go to school. She wanted to ask her mum more about her dad, but it would be hopeless. There weren't any grandparents or other family she could ask either. According to her mum she had no other family but her.

Mariah wondered why she didn't have any of her mum's looks. She had medium length jet black hair and brown eyes, so she figured she must look like her dad.

Mariah left to catch the bus to school. She couldn't help thinking she was being followed, but she thought it was her mind playing tricks on her. Mariah thought about it more on the bus and decided to start her homework that had to be in second class. Maths, how she hated it, it was a waste of time to her, not to mention impossible to work out.

Once she got to school, she told her friends about what happened with Katie last night. They told her to keep trying.

"Look, Mari, its family you're wanting to find out about, it's your right to know about your dad", her friend Tish said.

"Tish, she just lost her temper, she can be a pain, look sometimes I wish I knew my other family, then I could go and live with them", said Mariah.

Tish was drawn away by somebody waiting at the entrance. "Mari, that bloke has been looking at us for the past half hour."

Mariah looked and said "Come on lets go inside."

Grayson was still locked up, then everything changed. Things started to come back to him, he remembered, everything, who he was, his family, everything that happened for the past year and most of all his daughter, who would be around 15 or 16 now.

Grayson needed to get away. Then in the middle of the night he decided to pay a visit to the man who was responsible for locking him up. He went to his office and saw a cup of tea on the side. Grayson took some powder out of his pocket and dropped it in and gave the drink a stir.

Grayson quickly hid and watched him drink, he noticed no taste difference. He then walked out of the hospital without anyone noticing. He still had his keys for Mill Cottage and when he got there everything was how he left it. He knew about his darling Perdy killing herself and frankly he couldn't care less, he was glad she was dead; after all she had killed his memory for the past 15 years.

The next day, Grayson was determined to find his little princess. He decided to hire the best private detective money could buy. A man by the name of P. Harvard Stirling. Mr Stirling was a medium height man, was in his late 50s and had hair starting to grow grey; he spoke with a Scottish accent even though he was from Texas. He said his American would make him noticeable.

Grayson handed Mr Stirling a photo of Katie. "Find her, Mr Stirling, and report back to me with information", was the orders given by Grayson.

Mr Stirling didn't have a hard job finding where Katie was now living. He waited outside all night, and saw Katie at the window one night, she looked troubled. Then at the other window he saw a girl around 16, she looked like a younger female version of his employer, Grayson.

"Bingo", he said and waited till the next day.

The next day Mr Stirling saw the girl leave the house. He purposely dropped something and handed it to a passer by.

"Excuse me, a girl just dropped this, she was coming out of the building, had medium length black hair and looked about 16" he said to them. The old woman smiled.

"Ah yes, that was young Mariah Sugden, Katie Sugden's daughter, if you ask me she would have been prettier if she looked like her mother."

"What do you mean?"

"Well she clearly doesn't take after her mother; probably her father but we never see him around here".

Mr Stirling nodded; secretly pleased he got this information from the woman.

"Would you like me to hand it in?" she asked.

"Oh would you, thank you madam", he said not wanting to cause suspicion.

He handed the item to the woman and went to his car and waited for her to go inside. The girl was at the bus stop. He took some photos. Then a bus came along. Mr Stirling followed the bus, the girl got off at a school. Mr Stirling saw her and took more photos.

The girl was talking to another girl, probably a friend. However they might have seen him because they looked his way and walked inside.

But his job was done; his employer would be satisfied with his information.