"What I want to know, Dave, is why you never said nothing about Melanie being mixed up in all this." Mitch snuffed a cigarette on his shoe and tossed it at a puddle in the dark empty alley.

"I did, to Nigel. It's how I figured this other blonde must be Leann's sister, the way the two of them hung together. And how I figured Leann was close. Not my fault he didn't say something to you." Dave fidgeted with the knife in the pocket of his coat and paced.

"Yeah and you cocked that up real good. The sister. Fffft. Not even close." Mitch rubbed his hands together in the cold night air and took a step toward the much smaller man.

"And what I also want to know, Dave, is why you haven't grabbed Leann yet."

"What? Just off the street? Broad daylight? And without the girl? Yeah that'd be smart, Mitch. That'd be why Nigel has you running point on this." Dave shrugged at Mitch's accusations of incompetency and stepped away, but he sneered up. "Oh wait. He doesn't."

"He would if there was only one of us."

Dave scoffed. "If there was only one of us I wouldn't of had to help that boy working the carousel see how much better off he'd be moving on. And there wouldn't be police making house calls on Melanie and this woman and keeping them all on tip toes, would there?"

"Well least now we got a twenty on Leann. Thanks to me." Mitch puffed his chest and walked toward the front of the alley, back to the van.

Dave kicked a used tin of beans to the side and leaned on the scuzzy brick wall behind him, and lit his own cigarette. Mitch had indeed pinned Leann down, aided by Leann's actual sister calling Nigel with a sweet offer.

She was buttoned up tight as a drum in the flat, but she'd have to leave sometime. When she did, dumb, quick and strong right there would happily escort her into the waiting delivery van he'd arranged specially for the trip back to Manchester.

He sucked hard on the cigarette and the tip flared in the night. He eyed the mountain of a man in front of him. Sure enough, one way or the other, Mitch wanted to finish this job for the both of them.

"Caroline – no."

Melanie literally raised her foot to stomp it down and turned her toe into the low-pile beige carpeting of the hotel room.

Caroline laughed and it had a sharp edge to it. Both hands on her hips she completely dismissed Melanie's objections with a shake of her head and a wave as she paced.

"I'm sorry but there's no question. Either we call the police right now, I'm going with you to meet Leann, or both."

Outside the drawn shades of their latest landing pad the night was dark and the moon covered by clouds. They'd left the flat as the sun was setting. The man watching them had departed as soon as their car had arrived to take them to the repair shop to fetch the Jeep. Caroline had peered around the shades and watched him stroll off down the sidewalk, headed toward the pier and the carousel that felt sinister to her now.

Even the sun going down, the crimson and amber and coral watercolors painted on the patchy clouds, seemed sinister. Not at all the romantic Brighton getaway she'd planned for, emotionally or logistically. She'd heaved a sigh at it as they piled their bags into the taxi, gaze lingering on the stunning horizon for what felt like all the wrong reasons.

They'd gotten the Jeep back, and in it Melanie had confessed everything else. Nigel was Richie's illegitimate son. Apparently everyone but Melanie understood that Richie's appliance repair 'house calls' came with a 100% satisfaction guarantee if the lady of the house was interested. When Melanie's grieving family had fled back to India after the 'accident' on the boat that had freed Melanie but cost her her father, she'd kept tabs on Nigel - knowing it was simply a matter of time before another woman met Melanie's same fate.

Sure enough, six years ago Nigel married Leann. When she heard he had a child, Melanie returned to Manchester. Whether it was a trip of atonement or self-imposed obligation, Caroline couldn't tell. Melanie seemed intent on taking responsibility for the situation, but in Caroline's mind only at arm's length. She couldn't help but wonder why Melanie felt so responsible to this woman. She turned over and over in her head the strange resemblance they shared.

Three years ago Melanie had finally reached out to Leann, little by little over the course of a year, through old friends. She'd earned her trust then gone immediately to Harrogate to wait in anonymity for Leann's call to come. It did and the escape through Brighton was planned.

Now, tucked safely away from danger in a generic hotel room, Caroline's head was a tornado and her emotions were a lethal mixture of acid and base. Love and fear collided with anger over secrets kept and betrayals unfairly dealt. She didn't see how Melanie could continue to be a part of her life back in Harrogate. It was too dangerous for her and for the family she'd worked so bloody hard for so many years to hold together.

She tried to imagine relaying this story to Celia, any of it, and couldn't even get past the first syllables in her head before she heard her mother's clucking disapproval and imagined her ever-deepening scowl. Melanie wasn't the 'kind of people' Celia Dawson, and by transference her daughter, mixed with.

That was tomorrow. Today pressed in on her and her own scowl spread on her face as she stared down Melanie's resolve.

"Whether I'm better or worse off for it I don't know yet, Melanie. But I do love you. And I'm not sending you out there alone into the night to do god knows what with god knows who lurking in the shadows. Or even worse, not lurking – threatening you, or even hurting you. And that's that."

Melanie's shoulders dropped but she didn't look away from Caroline. "Okay. If you want to do it that way we can. We'll call the police, right now. I have the card for Sergeant Weixel. We'll call him up and he'll come here or I'll leave you at the police station to talk to him. You can tell him everything, Caroline, if you feel that's right. The whole point – of everything – was to keep you out of this. If it needs to end with me taking responsibility, so be it. While you're there, I'll get Leann out."

"No." Caroline stopped pacing and crossed her arms over her stomach. "I mean, I don't know yet what I want to tell the police. But you're not going alone."

"Yes, Caroline, please. Please let me keep you safe. I came to England to keep Leann and her daughter safe, and I will. I moved to Harrogate to be safe, and I was. And I had no right to fall in love with you, and with Flora, and drag you into all of this. Of all the wrong turns I've made, I think this – involving you – was the worst of them."

Melanie collapsed into an arm chair and covered her face with her hands. Caroline saw tears streaming down her cheeks and sat on a corner of the bed opposite her. She leaned her elbows on her knees and clasped her hands, very close and still very far away from a woman that just yesterday she'd hoped to marry.

"Well whether you meant it or not, I'm in it up to my elbows now, aren't I?" Caroline's tone was unforgiving. She thought about Flora – felt sick that her daughter might ever have become a part of all of this chaos. Then she thought about that pink sweater with the giant red heart right in the center. The little girl it belonged to, and what her mother – and Melanie – were trying to do to keep her from any more harm.

Melanie composed herself; sat straight and blew her nose. Her eyes cleared. "You are. But no further. No further Caroline, do you hear me? I know how we are, you and I. How we work." Melanie shoved up at her glasses and gestured back and forth between them.

"I know you get your way when it comes to – to everything. But not this. Just, not this. I'm soft, Caroline, but I'm not fragile. I'm not going to break, and I'm going to do what I came here to do. I'm stronger – I'm smarter than you give me credit. A lot smarter than you give me credit."

Caroline sat back on the bed and her world tilted again as the steel in Melanie she'd glimpsed only today came forward.

"Don't be shocked. Please, Caroline, don't be like this. I do know you. I don't mind being second fiddle, and I don't feel I need to prove myself to you. Because if you didn't know how I really am, deep down somewhere, where you've tucked it away to keep your own ego happy, well, we wouldn't be together, would we?"

Well she's nailed you, love, hasn't she? Celia roared with laughter in Caroline's head.

Melanie stood. She placed a hand on Caroline's arm and a kiss on her cheek, and grabbed her jacket from the closet.

Caroline didn't move, didn't speak. The tornado tearing through her mind spun faster and wider and wilder. She wanted to go home. She wanted this to be done and she wanted to hug Flora and her mum and the boys and even Gillian and return to the peace and balance she thought she'd secured.

Melanie pulled on her jacket and tugged her thick dark hair out of the collar. She braided it more quickly than Caroline had ever seen anyone do, and Melanie watched Caroline right back as she did so.

"I'm going now to take care of all of this, okay? I'm meeting Leann and I'm going to stay in Brighton another day to make sure she gets on her way. You're going to leave, right now. The more I think about it, the more I don't want you here. I have no idea if Mitch knows where we are, and even worse I have no idea what's become of Brian Shadforth. You don't belong here, Caroline, and you don't want to be here. I can see it in your eyes."

Caroline walked up to her and tugged at Melanie's jacket. She could barely hear herself as she spoke, and she stared at the pattern of Melanie's scarf. "What you see is fear. I don't want to be here. I don't want any of it. But I have it. I have you – to worry about, like it or not. I will trust you, Mel. I will let you go and finish your business. But I will wait for you. I must know you're safe. Anything else, any other plan is just a non-starter."

"Thank you. And I'm sorry Caroline. I'm sorry. I love you. I love you and that's my fault." Melanie leaned her forehead on Caroline. "I do intend this to work out. I have planned ahead. I have put some contingencies in place. I've made that clear to Nigel."

Caroline looked up and frowned. She kept hold of Melanie's coat.

"Dave's a free agent. And he's reasonable. Always has been. He'll deliver a letter, and more than that he can be convinced out of doing things - or into doing things."

Caroline closed her eyes and let go of Melanie. "For all you've told me, I think I still only know about half of what's going on, don't I?" She'd resigned Melanie to her own fate, and now she really, really did just want to see Gillian and the girls, even if they were still hundreds of kilometers away. An emptiness flooded her and she wanted to replace it with family.

"I've told you the substance of it, and I've told you the truth, Caroline."

Caroline nodded. "I believe you. Be careful, Melanie. Please."

She let Melanie wrap her arms around her and it felt like comfort and hope. She pulled her closer, and though she couldn't believe her own heart, she hoped that it wouldn't be long at all before she could hug Melanie again.

As soon as she closed the door behind Melanie, Caroline went to her mobile at the desk by the window. She cursed and plugged it in, her battery practically empty as the evening drew on. She had yet to listen to Gillian's voicemail, or her mum's. 'It's not quite bedtime yet – and it'd be better if I wash my face and pull myself together a bit.' She set the phone down, drew her sweater over her head and ambled to the bathroom.

The new quiet in the room was filled by car horns and trucks and shouting pedestrians. They'd both agreed on a busy hotel in the busier inner city. The noise and the people surrounding them now were comforting, but she closed her eyes and recalled the sound of the ocean.

She turned on the faucet and studied herself while the water warmed. Her tired expression was a surprise to her, as it was so similar in so many ways to the one she'd worn this morning. A few hours older and eyes red. But no great show of wear for the day, and no visible marks from the bruising ride of the past few hours. Nothing on the outside representing the marks all over on the inside.

She dried her face with the stiff white hotel towel. She didn't mind the roughness or the chlorinated smell, because to Caroline it represented clean. She set the towel down and spared one more look in the mirror – tried to help her hair have anything resembling a shape – and put on a smile as she headed to the mobile to ring home.

"Hi sweetheart. I so, more than anything in the world, wanted to see your smiling face right now - and there you are! Have you had a good day?"

Flora looked exhausted, but Caroline drank up every inch of happiness flowing through the line.

"It was great. I got to ride on the tractor with Uncle Robbie. It was really bouncy. I had to wear funny glasses to cover my eyes. It was fun."

"Did you hold on tight?"

"Yes but not enough. I pushed Calamity and she pushed me back and I fell off."

Flora held up a right arm covered fingers to elbow in a purple cast.

Knowing it was the wrong reaction, Caroline gasped and her face fell. "Flora what's happened? Are you alright?" She was punch drunk, and even in her horror she couldn't muster much passion in her response. Instead her questions rang of despair.

Flora frowned. Her eyes grew bright but Caroline could see her tears were of concern for her mum. "Mummy I'm okay now. I am. It hurt soooo bad. More than anything ever. I'm very sleepy but it's better now. Aunt Gillian says it will feel better every day."

"Does she?" Caroline smiled at Flora but her eyes were tight and so were her lips as she drew them upward. "Flora honey I don't want you to go anywhere, but can you please put Aunt Gillian on the line for a sec?"

"Yes mum. Am I in trouble?" Flora's little brow stayed wrinkled and all the concern on it kicked Caroline in the teeth all over again.

"Oh no. No. You're not in trouble at all. In fact I'm so proud of you. I know that you were probably the bravest you've ever been today, and I want you to know how proud I am of that, and how much I love you."

"Okay." Flora handed the phone up and Gillian was already wincing as Caroline came on.

Caroline whispered through clenched teeth. "She's broken her bloody arm, Aunt Gillian, and this is the first I'm hearing of it?"

Gillian's grimace became surprise. "It's not. Check your bloody mobile once in a while, Caroline."

Another flop of her stomach. Caroline wished she could simply melt into the armchair, melt away and wake up in the distant past or the distant future. Any place, any time, that didn't include Melanie's lies or Flora's broken arm.

She clapped a hand on her head. The missed calls. "I'm sorry. I've had a day myself. But seriously, Gillian, what happened. And tell me, promise me, that Flora is fine."

"I promise you, Caroline. It's a clean break, right as rain in a few weeks. We felt like we were on an assembly line, in and out of casualty in an hour. She was smiling by the end of it because she could have any color cast she wanted. She's a tough one you've raised."

"Okay." Caroline put a hand to her mouth, closed her eyes and willed herself to be in Harrogate right now. Nothing. Still miserable in an anonymous hotel room in bloody Brighton. She started to giggle and stopped herself before they became hysterical.

"You alright yourself? You seem like you've been through your own wars."

"Oh I have. You won't believe it. I still don't. But that'll keep. Will you put Flora back on?"

Caroline's heart slowed as Flora filled the screen again, scowling her unabated concern.

"I miss you mummy. I'm okay. Really I am. But I'll be so glad when you come home. But Aunt Gillian has been so nice. We had the best dinner."

"Tell me." Caroline smiled and put her heart into it, if for no other reason than to bring a smile back to Flora's face. It turned the trick.

"Auntie Gillian made chicken with noodles. Calamity helped make a chocolate cake for dessert. Nan and grandpa Alan are here too."

Flora's brown eyes doubled in size. "Oh! Mum. When you get home can we bake the biscuits with cinnamon that Mel does? I told Calamity how good they are and she doesn't believe me."

Flora stumbled over 'cinnamon' but Caroline got the point.

"I don't know if we can do the rolls with Mel, Flora. But I promise that you and Calamity and I will have a whole day all to ourselves."

"Yay! I can't wait. Are you coming home tomorrow?"

"Oh yes I am, Little Miss. Nothing could stop me. I'll be there by tea time for sure."

A full row of small, well-gapped white teeth was all the reply Caroline needed. Her mobile flashed at her to plug it in, and she dismissed it. She needed more time with Flora.

"Have you picked a bedtime story?"

"Calamity picked The Lorax. I got to pick last night."

"And what did you pick?"

"We're Going on a Bear Hunt. Uncle Robbie pretended to be the bear and we acted it out."

"Oh that's the best way to read that book. Do you think he will do that for us when I come to get you?"

"I'll ask him. He's funny. We had a tickle fight with him tonight. I couldn't really play along but Calamity and Auntie Gillian won."

"Sounds smashing. So what are you going to do tomorrow?"

"Uncle Robbie promised to hang a tire from a tree so we could swing on it and Auntie Gillian said we could help her dig up the garden."

"Mmmmmm. Even more perilous fun on the farm. Maybe no tree-swinging for you, little miss. Will you tell me all about it when I'm home?"

"Yes Mummy. Auntie Gillian wants the phone and I'm really, really sleepy. I love you."

"I love you with every single part of me, including my whole heart too, Flora. Sleep well."

She clicked off, let the mobile tumble to the floor and set out to have a spectacular cry. Within minutes she was asleep in the comfortable-enough armchair.

"Oy what've we got here, then?" Mitch leaned toward the windshield and shifted his hips around in the tattered bucket seat like a house cat playing with a mouse. "Two birds for the price of one, if I'm counting right."

Bollocks. Dave clocked Melanie Wysocki at the same time Mitch had. She glanced around and proceeded with careful steps out of the alley where the men had stood not ten minutes ago.

Dave'd gotten one text from her this afternoon, from a mobile number registered somewhere in India. "Mine stays safe, Leann stays safe, you'll do well." He'd tried texting back but got nothing.

Not much more than the note he'd received from her just like it almost fifteen years ago. Him anonymously greasing the skids for Melanie had been a payday for him back then, and he fully expected another one now. And anyway he never liked any trade involving roughing women up, and kids – no way. Watching his little brother gut-shot when he was nine, that'd done it for him. Nothing with kids. He wasn't like that. So he was fine making life a little easier for Melanie.

But what the bloody hell to do with Mitch?