Love Returns Read online

  Love Returns

  by

  Ronni Meyrick

  Alison Macguire is a self confessed workaholic, with no time for meeting the right woman. If she confessed, she wasn’t sure that there was a woman out there for her. She has only ever been in love once in her life, and that was when she was sixteen. Some might have said it was a crush, but Alison knew that she had been in love with the girl at school. But she had been too afraid to let her feelings surface. She needs to make some changes in her life, and fast.

  Felicity Bromwell also needs to change her life. To escape a violent relationship she moves herself and her children from Cardiff to London where she is sure they will be safe, and be able to start a new life. She has sworn off relationships for the time being, and told herself that she needs to evaluate her taste in men. She seems to always fall for the bad boys.

  Can everyone’s prayers for a new start in life be answered?

  Copyright © 2014 Ronni Meyrick

  First Edition

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 and the United Kingdom Copyright act of 1956 and 1988. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real, except where noted. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or deceased, is entirely coincidental, except where noted.

  Contact the Author:

  [email protected]

  Dedication & Acknowledgements

  Firstly I need to thank four friends for being my proof readers. Jen, Sylvia, Kate, and Caroline, (Lady Juggs.) thank you for being my guinea pigs ladies.

  Secondly thank you to the lovely Trin for helping a newbie understand the world of e-publishing and all your editorial support. You’ve got the patience of a saint.

  Thirdly and by no means least, my lovely wife K for letting me write for hours on end, and keeping me supplied with copious amounts of coffee. I dedicate this book to her in thanks for her love and patience.

  Also a huge thank you to you guys. This is my first effort at writing and publishing. I hope you all enjoy it. Feel free to contact me via face book or you can email me at [email protected].

  Chapter One

  Alison arrived at work at 8:30 a.m. on Monday. She parked in her space, gathered her briefcase and bag, locked the car door and headed towards the lift that would take her to her office at McDougal & Cohen.

  She smiled at everyone who entered the lift, while she recalled everything that had happened over the last couple of week. She was pretty pleased with herself. The outcome of some of the disciplinary meetings, she had been conducting, had gone very well. But one still nagged at her. Paul Jenkins. He’d been dismissed on the grounds of gross misconduct, and was escorted from the building by the police last week, having been charged with fraud.

  Mr Cohen, or Frank as he preferred with the managers, was supposed to speak with Mr. McDougal, regarding the details an outcome of Paul’s case. But, judging by the shitty email she had received yesterday afternoon from Mr. McDougal, Frank had done nothing. Oh the joys of being the HR Manager. This morning should be interesting, she thought to herself.

  She stepped off the lift and walked down the hallway towards her office. She could always lock herself in. That would put pay to any meetings.

  “Alison!” came a deep booming voice.

  She turned around, to see the large overweight frame of Mr. McDougal coming towards her. Perhaps he was a mind reader, and could sense she was going to try and avoid him. She plastered her most accommodating smile across her face, “Good morning, Mr. McDougal.”

  “Good morning, I hope you were on your way to see me? There are a few issues we need to discuss this morning. Number one being, why the hell I’m getting emails from a solicitor representing Paul Jenkins, in a case for unfair dismissal?” his voice was hard and his stare so cold, it would freeze the Sahara desert.

  “I was just getting in, Mr. McDougal, if you would please give me five minutes, to take my things into my office and collect the files that we need to discuss. I will meet you back at your office, or you’re more than welcome to hold the meeting in my office,” she replied hoping he would agree to a later meeting. She hadn’t had any coffee yet and was a little grumpy.

  He thought about this for a couple of minutes. “Your office, you’ve got nicer coffee than me,” with that he gave a slight snigger, which surprised Alison.

  They walked along the corridor to Alison’s office. While she fiddled with the key in the door, he took a bolstering gulp of air. Alison noticed a slight frown on his face and asked. “Is there something wrong, Sir?”

  “No, no,” he replied. “It’s just I can’t smell the lovely coffee aroma I usually get when I walk past your office.”

  Alison faced the doors and rolled her eyes. “That’s because I haven’t started any yet. That’s normally the first order of business. Then I do all my morning prep. All while taking calls and answering emails,” surely he didn’t think she had a secretary? She was probably the only senior manager not to.

  “You mean you have no help in the mornings, what so ever?”

  Okay, so perhaps he is a mind reader, she thought. “No, just me. I usually get to start my normal routine at about 11 a.m. or 12 a.m. It depends on how many enquiries I have.”

  Alison finally managed to get into her office. She set her briefcase on the desk, put her bag in the cupboard and opened all the blinds. She then assessed the state of the office. Obviously yesterday had been a good day. She had managed to tidy up. Some days her office could resemble a landfill sight, with papers and files everywhere. She turned around and went about, making the coffee that her boss so obviously desired.

  “If you go over to the coffee table, Mr. McDougal, I’ll bring yours over to you, and we can have the meeting there,” she said lightly hoping that he wouldn’t think this environment too informal for a meeting.

  The corner of his mouth twitched, and Alison started thinking that she might actually get a smile. Something that she had never seen on this man’s face since, she started five years ago.

  “That’s a wonderful idea,” he replied.

  It took fifteen minutes for the coffee percolator to work its magic, and allow Alison to serve her boss with a cup. While he was enjoying the first sips, she went to her desk and picked up Paul Jenkins’ folder. He must be really worried about this threatened lawsuit, she thought. Otherwise he wouldn’t be in my office at 8:55 a.m.

  She took her seat and looked at Mr. McDougal, who looked as though he was ready to pounce. He had the whole, bull and red rag expression. She swore that if it were possible, she might even see steam coming from his nose.

  “So can you tell me, why a member of staff has been fired after ten years of employment? Paul was one of the best Account Handlers this company has ever seen. He’s made us a hell of a lot of money over the past.”

  Obviously Mr. McDougal had a lot of respect for Paul. She had been trying to decide, on how she should handle this meeting. Now she knew she would have to tread very carefully.

  “I’m sorry, Sir, I was approached by Mark Stand, Paul’s floor manager, regarding the accounts that Paul has been working on this past year. Mark had some questions about the accounts, and Paul couldn’t answer them. Mark wanted those answers. So I requested all files on the accounts, be passed onto the investigation team. Cynthia Giles carried out the investigation. To say that the findings were interesting is an understatement. It appears that Paul has been
skimming off the top, of all the accounts he worked.”

  Mr. McDougal’s face went white, and he started breathing very heavily. Alison immediately got up and put the air conditioning on. Trying to cool her boss down, before he had a heart attack. She was relieved he was sitting down. He probably would have passed out otherwise.

  “You’ve got to be joking? How much was missing from the accounts? Has any of his other work been checked?”

  Alison rooted through the file and found the amount. “I’m afraid he’s had £100,000, from this year’s accounts alone, Sir. Luckily, the guys in the file department have kept everything as far back as fifteen years. I’ve asked for all the files, to be delivered to Cynthia for closer examination. I don’t think we’re going find anything for the first year or so. He was just finding his feet, and wouldn’t be bold enough to try it.”

  Mr. McDougal was starting to get some colour back to his face, but he still looked like a condemned man, being led to the gallows.

  “Sir, I was the HR officer that dealt with the grievance procedure. I knew he would probably try something like this, to try and worm his way out of being prosecuted. Paul has had three grievances against him in the last year. The Police have been notified, and will want to have a look at the files and the report, being written by Cynthia. But at the moment, I understand he has been charged with fraud and released on bail. The unfair dismissal case that has, come to your attention will not hold water in court. It’s very plain to see, that we had no other option, than to terminate his employment and file charges.”

  Mr. McDougal picked up his coffee cup and downed what was left. His breathing had returned to normal and, he seemed much calmer. Alison couldn’t help but notice, the slight tremble in his hand though.

  “Thank you, Alison. I’m sorry that I was rather brash with you when you came in. I didn’t know any facts, and I had a threatening email from a lawyer. Since you’ve been here, you’ve changed so many things, and have saved us a lot of money. I suppose I’m going to have to find a way to compensate you, when the next bonus or wage increase arrives. Or would you settle for a larger office?” he gave a small smile.

  Alison laughed at this. It appears that old McDougal had finally mellowed out a touch. “No, a raise would be fine thanks, Sir. I’ll have a word with Frank and ask him, why you were never informed of this issue.”

  “Next time, if there is ever an issue like this I would prefer you brought it straight to me, or email me and Cc Frank into it. But with that said, perhaps we should set up a fortnightly meeting, so all three of us can be singing from the same hymn sheet.”

  “That would be a good idea. Now if you would please excuse me. I have a mountain of work to do and, I would like to get out of here at a reasonable hour.”

  “Okay, Alison,” he turned to leave and stopped. “I take it the position for a new Accounts Handler has been advertised? We need to get that filled A.S.A.P, the longer we wait the harder everyone else will have to work.”

  Alison walked over to her desk and opened another folder. “Yes, Sir, I’ve arranged for the vacancy to be advertised in all the major papers and, to be put on all the appropriate websites. We’re looking to start interviewing by the second week in September, and have the position filled by the first week in October.”

  “Excellent. By the way, the coffee was great. If I send my secretary down can you tell her, where it comes from, and where to get it?”

  “I can do that. But please feel free, to help yourself to another cup to take with you.”

  Alison was glad she had finally sat at her desk, the last offer of free coffee made her boss smile, like a child in a sweet shop. She smiled at him as he found the biggest mug possible and filled it, surprising her with another enormous grin as he exited.

  Alison sat back before she began her day, and had a moment of reflection. Not only had McDougal mellowed. But it appeared he also had a sense of humour. Yes the lawsuit was expected, and that is why she had handled things personally. But it was still going to be a major pain in the arse.

  Chapter Two

  Felicity looked at her reflection in the mirror. She had decided to make some major changes in her and her daughters’ lives. After her ex-boyfriend’s outburst two nights ago, she was afraid to stay in Cardiff. The change should not be hard to make, just a few loose ends to tie up before they could move.

  “Excuse me,” said a strong male voice. “We need to take a statement from you, get you to sign it and, then sort some details out referring to the restraining order; you’ve taken out against Mr James.”

  With a very weak smile, Felicity turned to him. “Thank you, Officer, I can’t wait for this whole ordeal to be over with, the last couple of days have been very hard and stressful for me and my family.”

  She followed him into one of the adjoining rooms, and took a seat at the table, which had on it a voice recorder, a pad, and a pen. Entering the room behind her were DCI Jones and DC Frost. They both sat opposite her.

  “Good morning, Ms Bromwell. DC Frost will be writing your statement as we go over everything, I’ll have the recording as a backup, but I’d like to get this matter settled as quickly as you did. Can you please tell me what happened on Friday night?”

  Felicity got herself comfortable. She knew she would be in here for a while. “Well, Sir, it all started the day before when I broke off a relationship with Thomas James. We had been seeing each other for about three months, and he was starting to get very possessive and jealous, whenever we were out or around friends.”

  “I decided on Thursday morning to call him, and ask him to meet me in town so we could talk. We met up at one of the local coffee shops. I told him that I wasn’t happy and the relationship was over. I explained all the reasons why, and he just went berserk. He threw his coffee cup at me, which just missed my head. He then turned over a couple of tables and stormed off.”

  “What time was the meeting, and at what coffee shop?” asked the inspector.

  “It was around 11:00 a.m. and the coffee shop was Gino’s on Castle Street. It was very busy and Gino was outraged, that Thomas had behaved the way he did. He gave me a staff t-shirt to wear home as my own was covered in coffee.”

  “Good. At least there will be witnesses to this outburst. What happened next?”

  This was going to be the uncomfortable part for Felicity. “I went about my day as normal. I did the shopping, picked the girls up from school, and then went home to start some work. I had a funny feeling that I was being followed. Chelsea, my eldest daughter thought she saw Thomas when I picked them up from school, but she couldn’t be sure, that he was hiding in a bush. I went home and went about doing some work, and sorting dinner out.”

  “I was just washing up, when my car alarm started going off. I picked my keys up and went to the front door to turn it off. When I opened the door, I saw Thomas sitting in his van at the end of the driveway. I turned the alarm off and started to walk towards the van, but he pulled away from the kerb at some speed, leaving a trail of smoke behind him. I started walking back towards the house.”

  “Next thing I know there was a pain in my upper right thigh, I looked down and saw a brick laying on the ground next to my foot. I looked around to see who’d thrown it, but there was nobody about. I hobbled into the house, and decided to deadlock all the doors and windows. I finished my housework, and put my youngest in the bath,” Felicity stopped and took a deep breath. “May I please have a glass of water?”

  DC Frost nodded, and called someone to bring her one. DCI Jones looked at Felicity and smiled. “Are you okay to continue, while your water is being fetched? I understand this must be very hard for you, but we need to try and get your full statement today.”

  “Sure.”

  “What happened next?”

  “After I’d finished bathing Annabelle, I put her to bed and went downstairs to work while Chelsea watched some TV. She asked if I could hear banging. I went to the front room window and, saw Thomas throwing a brick
at the car windscreen repeatedly. I decided not to challenge him and called 999 instead.”

  “The Police came instantly, and arrested him for criminal damage, and breach of the peace. I gave a statement to an Officer that night too. After the police left I sent Chelsea to bed, then decided to run myself a bath and have an early night. While I prepared for my bath, I noticed a huge bruise was forming on my thigh. After my bath, I made a drink then went to bed.”

  A PC entered with Felicity’s water, she took a sip. The water seemed so cool that, her throat felt like it had been filled with ice.

  “I didn’t sleep too well that night. I kept asking myself why Thomas was behaving this way. The next morning, I started to wake the girls and went down to make a coffee. My phone was bleeping, so I picked it up. I had over fifty text messages on there. All were threatening and from Thomas. We went about our normal morning routine. Annabelle had left her lunch box in the car, so I had to go get it. As I walked to my car, I notice something was seriously wrong. All my paintwork had been scratched, and the driver’s window had been smashed. On the driver’s door was the word WHORE. There was also a note on the rear view mirror it said,”

  If you think your car has been done over.

  Wait until you see what I’m going to do to you!

  “I ran back into the house, and called the police again. The handwriting was Thomas’. I called my friend Stephanie Watkiss. She took the girls to school for me. I stayed in the house all-day and worked. At lunchtime I could smell burning, almost like a barbecue smell. I looked out of my window but saw nothing, I decided to have a look out the front door. I walked into the hallway, to find my front door mat on fire.