Dutiful Secrets: A Dutiful Wife: Dutiful Secrets, #1

By Ruth Masters

Dutiful Secrets: A Dutiful Wife

A Psychological Crime Thriller

A  fast paced crime novel set at the foot of Penny-Ridge Mountain, Canada, exploring the secret crimes of a family, unfolding a difficult relationship between a Mother & Daughter throughout the series.

Book One: What lengths will the Maxwell's go to for each other, will they create the very secrets that will tear them apart or will their tenacity to succeed in life bring them closer together?  A Dutiful Wife starts with a Dutiful (daddy's girl) Daughter, Amber Maxwell; a high flying Psychology Student and Sailing Champion that her father will do anything for.  Amber has the wind knocked out of her sails, with her mother coming to the rescue. With this new found Mother and Daughter relationship comes a merciless and unnerving trail of subornation. Does Amber take after her Mother or her Father in this captivating live crime thriller that preys on, frames & re-enacts a real time crime? Will the lengths she goes to secure her place at Sail University after all or will her Mother, Rose stop her from going any further so that the police don't work out what's happening right under their nose? 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ruth Masters
• Release date: Mar 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201041168

Book preview

1

Amber...? Amber’s mom, Rose, pops her head over the back of the sofa, her glasses balanced on the tip of her nose. Take Lucky with you will you. He’ll be dying to go out." And she disappears again, just her hair tied up in a top knot is left to be seen. 

I was going to clean La Vada before I go out with dad later. Amber stops: she was on her way out the door. The La Vada is the family’s sailboat, which sits pride of place in the family’s boating dock, where Amber keeps her laser.

Right... In your running gear - really - where are your waterproofs? Rose doesn’t need to look up, she had caught a glimpse of her daughter as she headed towards the front door and doesn’t want to invite an argument – she has artfully arranged mounds of paperwork around her and wants to stay focused; an argument would only zap her of her energy right now and throw her off course. 

Amber looks down at the gear she was wearing and looks back at her mom.  Rose has been engrossed in whatever project she has taken on for a whole month, this means that she will be distracted for another good couple of months and that she will take every aspect of her new project so seriously that she’ll forget her own daughter, husband and the dog even existed, apart from Joshua, Amber’s adopted brother, her mom and Joshua have an unbreakable bond: they are inseparable. 

Breaking News – Good Morning, this is Becky Ferndale reporting from outside the Lakers Police Department. Police have just released a new missing person's profile. Rachel Holland, at just 21 years old. It is feared that Rachel could make the third disappearance and suspected kidnapping over a series of three months, making this an average of one disappearance per month. 

Amber and her mom freeze, it’s hard to ignore the breaking news. CSN announces itself so evocatively over the box, with its beat creating a sense of urgency, as if the world is ending so you have to stop right there and then and pay attention.

"Police are appealing for anyone who recognizes Rachel’s photograph or may have seen her in the area of Lakers and surrounding areas to come forward. Police have said that they are set to do a door-to-door inquiry around her last seen location seeking information from anyone who may have seen anything suspicious, including all who personally know 21-year-old Rachael Holland. I will repeat, the young female is the third confirmed disappearance in three months. 

Rachel Holland was last seen leaving work at a highway 54 café at around 12am Tuesday night and was reported missing by her sister when she hadn’t arrived home by the next morning. The police have found Rachel’s car parked up in a layby with all her belongings still left inside and a knife puncture in one of the tires. 

This seems to be a signature mark, with the knife puncture to a tire, ensuring that victims come to a stop somewhere with a flat tire before abducting them, possibly even at knife point. It does all point to the same evidence and markings of the first two missing females near the border of Minnesota.  Following the series of kidnappings, the same patterns and styles...

Over to you, Vick. Do you think this is the same perpetrator or a copycat?"

Flashing images of a crime site with an abandoned car and photos of a female college student, showing off her best features, framed by her long brunette hair run over the screen like a moving photo gallery. 

Rose picks up the remote and shudders as she turns down the volume; Gives me chills, the third young girl in three months and just in the next state!  Don’t you see why I worry! she then lowers her tone and picks up her drawings muttering And you complain about taking Lucky with you! 

Amber’s listening, and at the same time fully engrossed in the news.

You know one word to your dad and..... Rose pops her glasses back on and gets back to her papers.

Fine! Enough was said. Come on Lucky – Walkies. Amber looks back at the T.V. one last time.

Lucky’s tail wags as he makes his way over to the front door and sits down. He only needs the sound of his leash being taken down, to know what he has to do. He’s a Husky mix, just 10 months old and almost full size already – huge - but impeccably trained for hours on end by Joshua, through playing hours and hours of catch and stay still for treats, followed by ‘where’s your leash?’

Thank you, Becky. Well, it certainly does – same age, young female, belongings left at the scenes of what Police think are the makings of a serial abductor and it is unknown whether the victims are still alive...Again, Police are appealing for anyone with any information who may have seen anything at all to get in touch, before it could be too late.

2

It's 09:00 hrs and the sun has already reached its peak. Amber is already half a block from home and heading into Penny-Ridge’s nature trail. The sun makes her regret not wearing a matching sports cap as her auburn hair soaks in the heat of the rays. Loose strands of hair that fall free before her eyes blind her as they glisten like bronze. 

As she tames the loose strands, pushing them back across her ponytail and poking them back into her scrunchie, her eyes catch across the road and lock onto another– a new face – a new face that doesn’t fit so well, the new face was a boy’s.

Suddenly, a new feeling; Amber comes over self-conscious and redirects her eyes sharply ahead.

Lucky lets out an enormous ‘WHELP’ as she catches his paw under her running shoes and her face turns as red as her scrunchy that’s still failing to hold back her hair. 

Figuring she could pick up the pace a little, she crosses the street early and breaks into a jog.  She looks out, straight ahead and looks left and right. Whoever this person is, looks just as uncomfortable as Amber feels; there’s something compellingly awkward about this boy.

Hi, hi. Amber nods and smiles to the neighbors as she carries on jogging to the end of the street; forty more yards and she’ll make it to the stile, then she’d be able to disappear out of view. 

It was all so new to her, having to put so much effort into her footwork and posture, Amber had never felt so under pressure to make every step she took so perfect, like this before. Why she felt so compelled to sustain his attention, she didn’t know.

In two days, the very first try outs to join the annual summer Penny-Ridge’s Sailing Academy’s Regatta Team begins, so as much as she needed to complete her daily workout challenges, she also was hoping for some time to run over her trusty sequences, to reflect and relax. 

Amber needs this placement, not just for the races she had grown up enjoying out on the Marina, but to come out on top professionally for her extracurricular activities she needed to secure and prove successful at, for her Higher College & University placement, at Seal Coast next year with their leading Criminal & Forensic Psychology Programs and their Bayshore Sailing Academy for women just a stone's throw from site.

The last three years had turned around fast, and Amber, age eighteen, was top of her class in social sciences and forensic psychology and after this semester, has just one year left before completing her studies at university. Her father had upgraded their family boat, invested a vast amount of money in her tuition at the Academy and already down paid her deposit for a college that was near impossible to be accepted. She had been accepted based on the strings he worked hard to pull and the portfolio he promised she would achieve and deliver on time – boys were the last thing on her mind, her father reminds her of this all the time.

There’s already been plenty of disqualifications and last-minute rejections due to students coming up positive for drugs in attempts to gain that all-important portfolio, whilst trying to keep up appearances under the pressure, unless like Amber, they had parents in high places to take some if not all of that pressure off: Amber is constantly reminded how it's her opportunity to shine with her effortless ability to achieve and balance each present area in her life. 

3

Ewan  McAllister 

You know, Ewan, think positively, because we really feel like this is the break that you’ve been needing for years. They’re a lovely family and Mrs Rossby is one of the best foster parents we’ve had on our system for nearly twenty years. Jackson, Ewan’s social worker, has just driven Ewan two and a half hours across state from an all-male’s residential facility arrangement after being discharged from a psychiatric observation and safeguarding facility.

Ewan gets straight out of the car, before Jackson can congratulate him. 

No.23 West Marine drive. Your. New. Home. He says as he watches Ewan through the window charge for his bag as if in a race to get to it before anyone else does.

Ewan hasn’t said a word the whole time they’ve traveled, he stands with his bag clutched to his chest. It’s not totally out of character for Ewan to be non-verbal, nor was it expected for him to be jumping for joy about his new placement, with several placements, one after another, failing him. He didn’t know how to hope anymore – to bridge and forge a well trusted bond - nobody ever understood him. 

It was less than a year before Ewan would be classed as an adult and if this placement fails, then he would be moved back to an independent facility and if on the grounds he commits any more offenses, then he would be taken back under section and further psychiatric observation.

Jackson has been Ewan’s social worker since he was 6 years old and so having seen him through his worst, keeps on at him, trying to pump him up, but not even his purposely awful singing in the car had stirred a reaction. 

Ewan stares out onto the grand New England style estate surrounding the West side of the Marina. There are people laughing, entertained by Jet skis and boats, and kids running and jumping in off their very own private dock fronts that sit at the foot of an array of neatly landscaped lawns. 

Ewan’s mouth begins to open, and his head slowly starts to tilt to the right. Jackson assumes that Ewan’s just in awe capturing the scale of Penny-Ridge Mountain that stands unmissable before them and can be seen from just about anywhere as soon as you get outdoors.

So, do you think you could cut me a deal, give them two weeks?  Jackson starts taking out the rest of his bags of luggage from the boot and places them down by his feet, before standing alongside Ewan, studying him, soon realizing that it’s not the mountain that’s captured his attention, but a girl. A girl with bright Auburn hair.

Jackson looks back at Ewan and then back to Amber. The way the color and texture of her hair glistens in the sun, Jackson can tell; she has mesmerized him.

There you go... Jackson rests a hand on Ewan’s shoulder. Now there’s something to ease your mind – there are plenty of kids your ages in the neighborhood.

Ewan snaps out of it and looks up at Jackson; 32, six-foot-three, slim, African American, dressed like he’s in his Sunday best. 

Ready? Let’s do this! 

Good morning, Ewan! A friendly happy voice matches the friendly and happy face it’s coming from – a face that could tell a thousand stories, happy mostly you could assume by the deep expression lines ingrained over a lifetime of half a century. 

Gillian! Gillian Rossby is Ewan's new and promising foster parent. If now was the time after a trial run to proceed for Ewan to be in with a chance of an official adoption, it was best it happened now, for everyone’s sake. 

Jackson straightens his tie and smiles as wide as he can. He’s nervous enough for them both: If anything, he just wanted to make a good impression for Ewan. 

You are both in time for breakfast!  Gillian welcomes them. 

Everyone has been so looking forward to your arrival, we didn’t want to start until you got here, safe and sound. Gillian stands aside, holding the door open, gesturing for them to come in. The warmth of her smile looks so at home on her face, like it was a natural state of happiness given the crow's feet and lines around her eyes have disappeared as soon as her lips started to curl.

Sounds wonderful Gillian, we are hungry!  Jackson gives Ewan a little nudge and puts his right foot forward, hoping Ewan will play ball. Ewan does, he puts his right foot forward, but then hesitates for a second longer. Hoping to catch a last glimpse of the girl with the auburn hair all ablaze, he looks back over his shoulder, but Amber’s nowhere to be seen.

I thought if we could all have breakfast together then either myself or Lucas could show you to your room and then you can retreat for as long as you feel, make yourself comfortable. 

Keeping the rhythm flowing, Gillian walks and talks before she stops briefly to turn around, gives one of her warm smiles and places her hand gently on Ewan's shoulder to ask if Ewan needed to use the restroom before breakfast. It’s only now they’ve paused that Gillian notices Ewan is clutching his left hand with his right over his zipper.

Sweetheart. Gillian stands back You’ve come all this way; I was just about to say... you must really need to use the bathroom!

At the high pitch of Gillian’s voice, along with her touch, Ewan jumps back crashing into the entrance hall console table lined with photographs and trinkets, sending everything toppling like dominoes. A frame furthest away from them looks like it might be saved from crashing, but no – by the time they noticed, it slipped off crashing to the floor. 

Oh, don’t you worry about that Ewan – I never liked that old photo anyway, makes me look ten years older than I am, don't you think? Gillian laughs as she tries to stay as soothing and light-hearted as possible.

All is OK Ewan. Jackson reassures him, Safe space. 

For several years now, Jackson had built up plenty of practice with Ewan and speaking in just the right tone, Gillian, which way is the restroom? he says with confidence, letting Ewan know that disappearing to the restroom is their next move.

Hours later, Ewan sits on the edge of his new bed. To his left a fresh towel and flannel, and to his right, a freshly pressed pair of new pajamas. As he looks all around, he can see mementoes, nick-knacks and photographs that have no connection to him at all. It was pointless, he thought, putting his own stamp on his room – he wouldn’t be there for long – he just had that feeling, and when he had this feeling, he was always right. 

Knock. Knock. Gillian calls out as she taps lightly on Ewan’s door, popping her head in straight away, not giving Ewan anytime to answer.  It was all too fast; he couldn’t get his bearings. The day was spent feeling like a puppet and it hurt to stay so rigid and with all that noise, all that fuss from people he’d never met before. Jackson pulled all the strings; Yes mam, no sir, isn't that right Ewan, and Wow Ewan, isn't that so thoughtful Ewan, you’d love that wouldn’t you Ewan, try this; isn’t it so nice Ewan?

Just saying goodnight sweetheart. It’s been a long day for us all and we’re all locked up. You should have everything you need for tonight, yes? Gillian’s nod with the size of her forced grin was that impressionable, Ewan nodded along with her. 

Great! Whatever you can think of, or anything you need at all, just take tonight and the next few days to think about it – there's no rush, just settle in. Gillian stares hard, to see if he had understood her; his eyes no longer could bear to make contact, but he nodded as if he was still tied to a bunch of strings – the day had given him plenty of practice, but now he just wanted her to go away.

Okay... She drew out softly, smiling. You should get some sleep and maybe get a shower, oh heck – do you need me to turn the shower on, or can you figure it out? She walks directly into his bedroom, and this makes Ewan flinch back and close his eyes. 

I’m sorry.  she pauses at the sight of his flinch and spins on her heels, heading back to his bedroom door. In the morning, Lucas can show you how to set it to suit you.  She pulls the door half closed behind her and turns and says, So your alarm, we have set it for six so we can start work at seven, we’ll work until midday. Ewan was going to receive a trial of home schooling from Gillian, to see if she could assess his strengths and weaknesses, before chores and exercise.  Good night sweetheart. Get a good sleep. 

Ewan’s shoulder has been turned to her the whole time and he turned to bare his back just a little bit more, until she got the message – she did and the sound of her closing the bedroom door brings him relief. 

As he waits and listens to her footsteps getting further away far down the landing, his eyes are drawn to the window. A sound of metal clanging and men laughing draws him to cross his room to the bay window. 

Ewan sits down on the window seat and pushes open the window. The sun has set leaving an array of brightly warm hues of flamingo and magenta pinks across the sky. 

He looks down, capturing how far down it is, and when he looks up, his eyes are struck as a trio of Sandhill Cranes glide over the water. He inhales a deep soothing breath. 

Further down, following the sounds of more clanging and men laughing, Ewan raises up off the seating just an inch, enough for him to see two middle aged men wearing wetsuit bottoms with t-shirts on their upper halves. They’re fixing down their boat and jet ski onto trailers; their smiles and relaxed faces along with their body language, tells even Ewan that they’ve had a really great day, just by the state of calm that these men give off, he exhales deeply for the first time all day.

The view of the water and Penny-Ridge in the background, with the nature trail in-between and surrounding the borders, is making Ewan itch to get outside and explore. He kneels up and looks out, this time stretching as far as he can, his eyes land back on the ground, two floors down: he starts to feel trapped, like the air was constricting and the outdoors would set him free; he needs to feel free, he wants to get out. 

4

The sun sets, leaving a lingering trail of what looks like wildfires spreading out across the horizon, spanning the edge of the nature trail. Not a whisper of smoke in sight, but the air is warm and has a sweetness about it. The sweet scents from the meadow fields that border the nature trail drift along in the night air, carrying across the waterfront: always a guarantee right up until the end of summer.

Amber strolls down the embankment to her favorite place on the edge of her family’s private dock and lays down her cardigan.  It’s not the first time Ewan has seen Amber today. From this day on, he’d learn that it was always after and not before the sunsets that Amber would leave her house and stroll down to the bay – he has just by chance spotted her from 200 yards away, from on the outside of the nature trail that he took, after watching her climb over and disappear from view, earlier today.

As she lays down, Ewan crouches low in the tall grass to hide and watch her; she was waiting for the clouds to clear and for the night’s sky to draw black, for the stars to appear, and like clockwork, she’d talk herself through her accomplishments, ready to answer to her father, at a weekly is Amber on track family dinner that’s due tomorrow.

Ewan wonders what she’s doing and within fifteen minutes, feeling completely calm - his eyes start to feel heavy and so he lays himself down, mirroring her. Another fifteen minutes goes by, and his eyes have fallen shut: he has drifted into a deep sleep – he would not find his answers about Amber, tonight.

5

A mber... Rose sings from the landing at the top of the stairs. It is 06:20 am. You got half an hour, and I'm leaving... 

Amber’s eyes pop open and at a hundred miles an hour, thoughts, questions and things she needed to remember for tryouts rush through her mind. Her thoughts are broken by the soft soothing laughter of her younger brother Joshua. The sound of her mother’s voice humoring and chasing him around his bedroom creating more laughter, reminds her of exactly where she was, and the floods of anxiety wash away.

Say, rise and shine... go get your day.... 

Amber listens and laughs as her mom sings to Joshua, and with the sound of her footsteps plonking down the stairs slowly and dramatically, Amber knows she’s giving him a piggyback.  Rise and Shine, go get your day..., He sings all the way down, with every word but the first, completely out of tune.

Okay, okay, I’m up! Amber shouts as she jumps out of bed and reaches for her cell phone. 

1 new message - Jennine

As Amber heads into her bathroom, reading Jennine’s message, before placing down her cell and reaching to turn on the shower. She starts to unbutton her pajamas as she looks ahead through the window, when something catches her eye - someone was picking themselves up off the ground of the meadow; whoever it was didn’t scare her, they seemed familiar. She rubs her eyes and tries to focus clearly, but then as if she had imagined it, the figure was gone.

Joshua climbs up onto one of the bar stools to the kitchen island.  Is Amber coming down mommy? He wriggles in his chair. 

She’s probably in the bathroom, sweetie. She knocks back a shot of espresso.

Mommy, do you have to go? Please don’t go. 

Rose kisses him on the forehead and ruffles up his hair before cupping his chin softly, I won’t be long kiddo. I’ll be back before you know it. You know your father will be heading back as soon as he’s dropped me off and said when he’s finished work, you guys are going to head into town! 

Really? His eyes light up.

Yep! You’ll have so much more fun than me - I’m so jealous! she stands in front of him puffing out her cheeks. Cocoa pops, Weetabix or oatmeal? She turns around to the cupboards and reaches for a bowl. 

Cocoa pops! Joshua perks up, puffing out his cheeks before he pops them, amusing himself he laughs.

Good choice Monsieur! Rose sets a bowl full down in front of him and leaves him a jug of milk. 

AMBERrrrr...?  She calls making her way to the bottom of the stairs, looking up, she can’t see anything but the sound of the toilet flushes from off the main landing. 

The bathroom door opens, and Kelvin Amber’s father walks out onto the landing, shaking his hands dry as he jogs down the stairs. She won’t be long – she's been working so hard lately! He kisses his wife on the cheek before heading into the kitchen. 

Considering her husband's forgiving adoration for their daughter, she gives it a second longer before glancing back up the stairs, this time calling even louder... Amber... I have to go! 

Well, I’m ready to go. Kelvin walks back into the hallway. Rose’s travel bags are placed in order of size and ready to go into the car. Right, I'll get these to the car, then. He picks up the two smallest and stops at Rose at the foot of the stairs, Everything’s going to be fine he assures her.

Maybe I’d feel fine if I wasn’t going to be late! and with her hands back on her hips: AMBER! This is the last time I’m calling you...

6

The water laps gently , making little sound as Ewan paddles the oars to the old kayak, back to where he found it. A rising mist construes the Rossby’s waterfront boat shed, now just a couple hundred yards away. The fact that he’s paddling so gently is as much out of fear and nervousness as he has no idea just how long he has been gone for.

He pulls in the kayak and reaches out for a limb of tree spread out along the bank of the lake, it looks like a good place to tie up, scanning along the waterfront, he seeks out a suitable place to climb the embankment, as part of his plan to come in from the back of the Rossby’s boat house, to enable him to get back into the house, without being caught out in the open.

The rise of the lake overnight has caused the embankment to soften, turning the sand to sludge. It’s thick on the bottom of his boots, making him slip and unable to catch a grip, as he reaches out to grab the long Reed and grasses that sit wild at the foot of such neatly manicured landscapes. His cargo pants, best boots and hands are now thick with silt, and it would be harder to get back into the Rossby’s residence, without being found out, for leaving a trail of dirt. 

Using all his strength, making it halfway, he looks up ahead to see right in front of the house; a police car and the officer is standing talking to Lucas outside. In a panic and instead of heading back to the kayak and out of sight, he stumbles out onto the front lawn fully exposed. 

Ewan? Lucas spots him and calls out in surprise. 

As quickly as he can, he tries to make it to the house, to get to his room, but finds his feet are stumbling underneath him. His hands being in both pockets don’t do him any favors, as he tries to act naturally, only compromising his balance, now ten yards later, with officer Meyers closing in on him, he’s down on the ground.

7

Ewan was what the doctors called, a born survivor; Infancy was nothing but a fight to save his own life in that each of his feeds, the first one nearly two days after his birth, saved his life and from then on, each bottle that was made by his siblings when they remembered, he mostly drank alone; there was no-one at all to familiarize or bond with.

No scent, no skin, no maternal touch. No soothing voice or facial features cooing back at him, whereas a newborn would typically study and then learn to mimic the face of his mother, it was his siblings that he relied upon, never knowing when he would next feed. 

Each bottle that was given to him, he instinctively made them last, creating an intelligence for survival; a conditional effect of the neglect that he had learnt to master as a form of reverse psychology when needing the attention of his siblings. A performance where Ewan would soon realize that by not crying for attention, but to coo and smile, especially when he was hungry or his diaper and clothes needed changing,  he would then have a better chance at getting the attention he needed - his female siblings would happily play dress up and change him when he wasn’t screaming and occasionally, if they’d play house, they’d also feed him by hand holding his bottle.

Regardless of the wrong proportions of formula to his feeds, where exactly the water had come from, it was a miracle that Ewan, although malnourished, formed the intelligence to have survived and would later go on to have such a strong immune system. Undiagnosed clearly until the age of eight, with FAS and hyper sensory disorder, maternal deprivation and neglect were only part of his deprived early childhood education and early developmental disorders.

Anna, Ewan's mother, had suffered a complicated birth. She was all alone except for one midwife, torn between a ward of expectant mothers and through the sole reason that the hospital needed beds, the decision that the nurses and doctor discharged her prematurely, was upon the grounds that her new-born was responding to a feed from the nurse, followed by a bowel movement and she, Ms Anna Brenan was also responding equally. 

If they had taken initiative to Anna going into labor twenty one days early, not because it was her fifth child as presumed, but after being kicked in her lower back, so hard that the shock and fall to the floor, broke her waters, and after an exhausted sleep, having no time to see to her baby before having to return to work the next day, he would then be neglected and then perhaps Ewan’s whole life direction could have been altered before the age of six, along with his siblings who were taken into care the day after they were saved when an upstairs fire broke out and a local cop patrol attended to a call a made as an elderly neighbor stood helpless watching black smoke billowing out of the upstairs window.

It was one of officer Blake Meyer's very first days on duty when he was out on patrol and attended to the call. He had known Anna her whole life, having grown up knowing her to be the girl that would hardly ever make it to school.

As soon as he arrived three out of  five children were out on the front lawn sobbing inconsolably and by the time he had gotten out of the car to make his way over the road to them, the eldest child Connie was spotted trying to push Ewan and his cot out of the front door, because he was too heavy to carry and having spent most of his time stuck in his crib as he got older and heavier, wasn't able to walk himself out of there. 

Meyers removed all the children from off the premises, strapped them all into the patrol car and stood as witness on the trial to the multiple charges of child abuse, whole heartedly believing that Anna did her best and didn’t mean for the neglect and dangers her children were abandoned and exposed to. 

He fought her corner, but she was charged on countless events per child and incarcerated at an all-women's custodial center under the conclusions that the findings were equally unavoidable and therefore deliberate. 

The fathers to the children refused to take any responsibility nor any wishes for custody were sought. Connie the eldest child swore and promised that she would come back for them and adopt them herself after college – the children were mostly split up and Ewan having to attend so many different clinics, specialists and therapies to enable him to walk properly and attend specialist schools until he got to middle school, meant attempts to support any relationships with his siblings, thereafter, fell behind.

Over the last decade, Ewan has overcome so many changes between different settings, systems, fosters, independent hospitals, given numerous attempts to abscond at each placement, the system had failed him. There was always something that had happened, or a trail of behavioral challenges and incidents that would send his team back to the drawing board, to observe and tirelessly seek out applicants that shone any hope in understanding and willing to train around his complexities. Gillian Rossby was, for many cases, exactly who they needed to call on.

8

H oney, will you please give me a sign that you understand – that was really dangerous disappearing like that last night. You know we have to log you in every morning and night, to make sure you're still with us and doing ok. Gillian sits down to get Ewan’s attention, but he’s drawn to the view of the Marina, and she’s being as gentle and as warmly spoken as she can, but it seems to be making no difference. 

I just didn’t think this would happen on his very first night... Gillian stands up and walks over to her husband. Lucas is standing in the archway to the lounge, next to Officer Meyers. Neither he nor Gillian had any idea exactly how long Ewan had been gone for throughout the night or the early hours, but Lucas acts to calm her and tells her this isn't her fault, before moving his focus onto Ewan.

Ewan, do you have something you want to say to us? He speaks firmly but with a friendly tone – for the past two decades, they had foster placed all sorts of cases with children and always found it best to be the soft, yet the stern one out of the couple, to let Gillian assert all the passionate energy she had for working with children. 

Ewan doesn’t say a word, he has stopped looking out the window, now, but his chin is to his chest, and he looks lost in whatever’s on his mind.

We really are sorry Blake; we’ll never let this happen again. Gillian starts clutching at the charm on the end of her necklace.

No harm done; I think we can keep this one to ourselves. Hopefully this is a sign that he’s going to settle in - I mean, he came back didn’t he... Blake takes his officer's hat in his hands and turns it through his fingers, nodding towards Ewan before heading to the front door. 

Lucas follows him and stops in the entrance hall. We’ve called out his social worker, Jackson, he said he was on his way.

I’d just ring him and call it a false alarm, get on with your day – I'm sure he is hungry and needs a warm shower. I can’t imagine how this must all feel to him. Blake opens the front door to let himself out. 

Lucas leans up on his toes and back down again, You’re right. We can’t thank you enough for your support this early in the morning, especially! Holding the front door for Blake.

Just doing my job, to a call about a young boy, we all have a part to play in looking after. Blake stops and turns as he leaves, calling back in through the door, coaching Gillian and Lucas. Bye Ewan, stay safe...and get a good breakfast - a good breakfast and a hot shower.

9

It’s coming to the end of the afternoon and Amber, back in class, has hardly heard a thing in today’s lecture. At exactly 11:00am, it had dawned on her where she had seen the boy across the waterfront. It was the boy she had caught watching her yesterday morning. What was he doing, at that time in the morning and on the wrong side of his estate’s lakefront, out on the outskirts of the nature trail? 

She didn’t want to draw too much attention to this, but she wanted to know everything possible about him, and so even though she didn’t know where to start, the classes for today are coming to an end and for once was something she couldn’t wish for soon enough.

Amber was usually the first one in and the last one out, but today she was the first one in, and wanted to be the first one out.

10

The smell of rain is in the air this evening, making Ewan want to work quickly in setting a trap he has just found. He’d moved out as fast as he could deep into the woods so not to be caught with it.  The sunlight teased amongst the tree canopies but the rain, if heavy enough, he knew would awaken the squirrels like children on a sugar high.

Ewan remembers this, having spent many hours watching from his window that backed out onto woodland, at a medium secure unit, and as the rain started to fall heavier and faster, he was reminded of when he’d watch the squirrels set to work, both amused and envious of their freedom as they bounced from tree to tree, up and down, in and out of the treetops. It was as if they had the privacy to set to work, under conditions that others would only shield from.

He sits still for a moment, engaged in their theatrical performance, the way they forage and stop, bickering with one another. 

Kneeling to untie the rusted-up wire that would have once been used to secure the openings of the cages, as quickly as he could, a sharp distinctive sound stops him; the sound of leaves crunching and twigs breaking under foot, the sound of someone or something creeping up behind him.

He rises to his feet, heart racing, caught red-handed and unable to explain his intentions. The sunlight penetrates all around him like shards of broken mirror creating prism rainbows amongst white beams of light, blinding him. Using his forearm as a shield, whoever approaching gets close, not being able to see clearly, loses his