Secrets by Jane A. Adams

Adam as though he might shake his hand.
    â€˜Joseph Bern,’ he had said. ‘They call me Joseph Bern.’
    They call me Joseph Bern …
    Slowly, reluctantly and yet, with the kind of nervous, excited apprehension Joseph had always managed to inspire in him, Adam got out of the car, crossed the brief expanse of sodden gravel drive and made his way up the steps and into the hospice reception.

TEN
    N aomi and Alec had eaten early and then retired to the bar and sat in a quiet corner enjoying a drink. The hotel was in a residential area that lacked a pub of its own and they had discovered that quite a few locals used it casually in the evening, coming for a meal or just a pint. Naomi listened abstractedly to the buzz of chat and clink of glasses. It was a friendly sound, normal and familiar.
    â€˜I’m hungry,’ she said.
    â€˜You just had dinner.’
    â€˜I know, not that kind of hungry, more the going to see if there’s any cake left, kind of hungry. You know, like at home, when we drifted into the kitchen and had a late supper, just because we wanted to.’
    Alec laughed. ‘You have to have your own kitchen if you want to do that,’ he said. ‘The chef seems the friendly type, but I’m not sure he’d let you raid his fridge. But I’m sure we can get dessert if you want some.’
    She thought about it and shook her head. ‘I think it’s more wanting the whole kitchen thing than the whole cake thing, if you know what I mean.’
    â€˜I know what you mean,’ he agreed. ‘Which brings us back to what next?’
    It was the first time she’d said anything like this and Alec took it as a sea change in the way Naomi was feeling. ‘I think it’s a kind of homesickness,’ he said.
    She nodded. ‘That’s exactly it. Alec, I think I want to go home.’
    â€˜You want me to phone the buyer, tell them it’s not going to happen?’
    She shook her head. ‘No, it’s a bit late for that. I think what I mean is we need to just decide on a place to be, buy somewhere that will do for now, that can be home while we figure out what we actually want. I mean, we’re in a very lucky position, we’ve got money to do a cash sale, how many people can say that? We can find somewhere that will be OK for now and then sort it out later, can’t we?’
    Alec nodded. ‘Sounds like a plan,’ he said.
    â€˜But we’ve got to sort out this Molly thing first,’ Naomi said flatly.
    â€˜We don’t have to. We can just walk away and let the police deal with it.’ He laughed. ‘See what I did then, I talked about the police like it’s them and us. I’m getting better at it.’
    â€˜Hmm, a little. We can’t walk away, Alec, you know that, but what I want to do is put a time limit on things. If Molly won’t help herself well there’s not a lot anyone can do. We stay another week and then we move on. We do all we can to help out in that week, but after that, she sorts it out herself or she gives in and lets DI Barnes and his people help her. Agreed?’
    â€˜I’ll drink to that,’ Alec said. ‘So, where do we go looking for the “it’ll do” home?’
    She smiled. ‘We could try sticking a pin in the map,’ she said.
    Alec harrumphed, then realized he sounded like Molly. ‘I seem to remember we did that before,’ he said. ‘It didn’t work out so well that time.’
    Molly sat alone with her own thoughts. The radio was on and a classical concert played softly, but she wasn’t really listening. She was remembering the concerts she’d attended with Edward and the music they had danced to. Edward always loved to dance, even as they grew older and the idea of dancing all night was just a fond memory, he had still been a fine mover. Elegant and upright. But that was just Edward, wasn’t it, a man so upright and so