Nikki held her breath as she listened outside of the living room door. Erin had quietened and now Nikki could hear a gentle sobbing coming from the room. Slowly she opened the door and looked upon the girl who was curled up on the floor, her body convulsing with each sob that ripped through it.
"Has she exhausted herself yet?" Harry asked coming up behind Nikki
Nikki nodded and took their daughter from Harry "Go in there and talk to her," she nodded towards the living room.
"Why me?" Harry frowned
"I don't think she wants a female presence at the moment," Nikki said.
Harry quietly walked into the room and sat in a chair in front of Erin who had drawn her knees tightly up to her chest.
"Do you want a drink of water?" he asked and she shook her head
"How did she die?" Erin asked after a moment's silence
"That's what Leo's trying to find out," Harry said softly "But you needn't be scared, you're perfectly safe here,"
"You think I'm scared?" Erin exclaimed
"It's perfectly natural…" Harry began but was cut off by Erin
"I'm furious," she explained, "She was the last link to my father and now she's gone and died,"
"Erin…"
"This is so like her," Erin shouted, "She took all knowledge of my father away and just left me with this," she flung the photo of her father at Harry
"You kept it," he said sounding surprised, staring at the photo.
"Of course I did," Erin let out a small so as she took the photo back from Harry and cradled it to her chest.
Harry was about to reply when he heard the doorbell ring. Nikki's voice drifted towards them and was soon joined with Leo's deeper tone. They heard the door open again and this time Leo walked into the room. Erin immediately turned away still clutching at the photo.
"How is she?" Leo said softly to Harry
"Confused," Harry, told him "But then again she's bound to be,"
Leo nodded and took a step towards Erin calling her name "Can we talk?" he asked gently and she nodded.
Erin took a seat and Leo sat down next to her leaving space between them sensing that she didn't want closeness at that moment.
"Erin, today a body was brought into the mortuary and I'm sure you've already worked it out, but it was Nora,"
He looked across at Erin who was staring hard at the floor keeping her thoughts silent.
"I've done a post-mortem on her to see how she died. From what I can work out she died of a drug overdose, most likely heroine,"
She still said nothing.
"Erin…" Leo prompted
"I want to go home," she said quietly standing up.
"Okay," Leo said gently leading her out of the room shooting Harry a worried look.
…
Erin was curled up in the corner of her room. Her knees were tightly drawn up to her chest and she clutched the phone closely to her ear as she engaged in a hushed conversation.
"Can I meet with you tomorrow?" she said into the phone
"Sure," Nate said "But what's happened?"
"I can't say right now," Erin whispered
"Why are you whispering?" he asked
"Because Leo might overhear…"
"Okay, I guess that makes sense…"
"Are you just saying that to humour me?"
"Yes," Nate said honestly and Erin let out a small chuckle despite herself
"So tomorrow morning in the park?"
"I'll be there." Nate said firmly
Erin put her phone down as they finished the conversation. She was feeling very mixed up but talking to Nate had helped. Erin knew what she had to do, she only hoped that Nate would be as willing to help as she wanted him to be .
…
It was early on Sunday morning when Nate arrived at the park. He sat down on the bench, which was their agreed meeting point and waited. He must have been there five minutes when he saw Erin approaching in the distance. She was dressed in jeans and an oversized hoodie, her hair was tied back off her face and there was a determined look in her eye, something that always worried Nate.
"Thanks for coming," she said sitting down next to him
"No problem," he said squeezing her hand "So what's up?"
"Nora's dead." Erin said bluntly
Nate started in shock "Are you serious?"
She nodded "A drug overdose apparently,"
"I'm sorry…"
"I'm not." Erin said angrily "Not matter how harsh that sounds. However, I am frustrated. She was the only one who knows anything about my dad."
Erin drew the tattered photo of her dad out of her pocket and passed it to Nate.
"This is all I have of my dad, that and the dreams…"
"Oh Erin…" Nate sighed
"I've been dreaming about him more and more Nate. The dreams are getting clearer and I know that they're trying to tell me something."
"Really?" Nate said sceptically
"I know that sounds totally absurd but I think they're telling me to search for him. I'm meant to find out about my dad."
"But Nora's dead, how are you going to find out anything?"
"If she had this," Erin said motioning to the photo "Then she must have other things belonging to my dad. Mum never mentioned dad and there seemed to be no trace of him in the house."
"She could have thrown it all away,"
"Then why did this photo survive?" Erin said and Nate shrugged
"So what's your plan?"
"We go to Nora's house. If I remember correctly, I've been there before when I was very little,"
"You can be serious?" Nate exclaimed, "That's practically breaking the law!"
Erin rolled her eyes "We'll be in and out really quickly and anyway I'm not asking you to come in with me, just to keep lookout"
"You're going to do this whether I come or not aren't you?" he asked and Erin nodded "Fine, I'll come but only because someone's got to keep you out of trouble. But I'm giving you ten minutes,"
"I'll be out in five," she told him as they made their way out of the park.
"Does Leo know about this?"
Erin shook her head, looking slightly guilty
"Where does he think you are this morning?" Nate frowned
"At yours studying. Where does your mum think you are?"
"At yours studying," Nate sighed, "This better work Erin or otherwise we'll be in deep trouble,"
"I promise" Erin said but she that glint in her eyes that always worried Nate.
Author's note: Sorry for the delay in this chapter, I wasn't happy with it so I had to re-write about ¾ of it!.
