The Devil's Due: A Cooper and McCall Scottish Crime Thriller by Ramsay Sinclair (good inspirational books .TXT) 📗

club had already disappeared inside. Lily and Jimmy ran rings around each other, playing a classic game of tag.

Jen eyed them bizarrely, then nudged me. “I bet you ten pounds that those two get married one day.”

“Don’t waste their lives away. They’ve got ages until they even need to think about marriage.” I groaned at Jen’s matchmaking skills. She had an eye for couples, or so she thought. She was always setting people up on dates. I happened to be at the brunt of her powers and encountered one too many dodgy men as a result.

“Plus girls and boys can be friends,” I added.

“Friends with benefits, maybe. It’s physically impossible. Otherwise, the chemistry becomes unbearable,” Jen finalised, folding her padded arms.

“Agree to disagree. Some of my best friends are guys.”

“Er, yeah. Gay guys,” Jen referenced my closest friend. “That doesn’t count.”

“Hey, I didn’t know until recently. That’s not fair,” I huffed, bored with Jen’s assumptions. Meanwhile, Lily ran up to a woman I recognised as her mother. They hugged sweetly, waving goodbye to Jen and me from afar.

“Doesn’t Jimmy’s mum usually get here first?” I wondered.

“Yeah. Laura. She’s supposed to be providing the fete cookies this year,” Jenny shared. “Me and the kids can’t wait.” It was a tradition for the church to get involved with our school Christmas fayre. Every year, Laura baked some wonderful sugar cookies that everyone lusted over. “Still, I’m surprised she’s got time now.”

“Why wouldn’t she?”

“Her and her husband?” Jen prodded pointedly. “Oh, Luce. You are useless.” Now, I’m sure minding my own business wasn’t the same as being useless. “They divorced a couple of months ago. The husband went AWOL, and no one saw him since. Caused a big scandal down at the community church. Poor Laura got lumbered with Jimmy and their new-born.”

My eyes wandered back to Jimmy again, noticing a speck of sadness clouding his eyes. My heart ached for him, standing all alone now out in the cold.

“It’s hard for children of that age to grasp the context of divorce,” I mused.

“Thanks for ruining it with your depressing observations. Brought the mood right down. Why is it always a negative thing? It’s life, divorce happens. For me, it can’t happen quick enough.” Jen fell into a cycle of complaining about Mark. “I’ve offered Mark a load of possible flings, but he won’t accept them, stubborn prick. Any other guy would jump at the chance.”

I felt sorry for Mark. He always appeared to be a decent husband. You’d have to be, to put up with Jen every day.

“We’re trying to figure out who Jimmy’s dad cheated with. I reckon it’s that new younger cinema attendant. She showed up at exactly the right time. Husbands always go younger afterwards,” Jen revealed, strangely excited about the prospect. “Fat Fran guessed the Librarian did it.”

“It’s not a game of Cluedo.” I thought for a moment. “Fat Fran?”

“Yeah, everyone calls her that. She can’t get enough of it.”

“It’s not the only thing she can’t get enough of.” I chipped in, annoyed at Jen’s gossiping. It wasn’t up to us schoolteachers to speculate about their Laura and Jimmy’s home life. As long as Jimmy was cared for, that’s all that mattered.

“He was a right hunk, though. Did you ever see him? All us mums would drool whenever he picked Jimmy up, that syndrome where guys always look hotter around kids.”

“Jen, please stop,” I begged, sick to death.

“Right. Sorry, Luce,” she apologised for I was never one to get annoyed easily.

“It’s fine.” It obviously wasn’t. Jen and I split apart for a while, taking a break. I decided to sit with Jimmy, who waited alone on a bench, shaking both legs to stay warm. Jimmy’s intelligent eyes met mine with caution. I knew he trusted me more than other teachers at school, and for that, I was grateful.

“Can I sit down?” I asked quietly, always asking for permission, meaning that the children had their own discretion and personal choice. I too struggled with shyness.

Jimmy nodded silently, giving me a cue to sit.

“Is you mum picking you up tonight?” I opened up, and he formed a quiet ‘yes’. I rubbed my hands together, warming them up. “What time is she coming?”

He shrugged, staring at the ground. “I don’t know,” Jimmy whispered, voice lost in the wind though I just about heard. Laura usually picked Jimmy up on time.

Jen plodded over, bored with waiting. She’d waved the last two children off home and had nothing left to do.

“Is he ok?” she questioned meekly.

“Could you sit with him for a moment? I’ll ask reception to ring Laura, in case she’s held up in traffic,” I explained quietly to my colleague, trying not to worry Jimmy. My attempts were in vain as he’d heard me, anyway.

“Mum walks here with the baby,” he explained quietly. Jen shot a look in my direction, to see me biting a piece of my lip in confusion.

“She’s not caught in traffic then,” Jen pointed out the obvious. For someone clever at maths, she’s pretty dimwitted at other things.

“Maybe she hasn’t realised the time. I’ll ring her in case,” I already paced away, leaving Jen inwardly cursing me for making her freezing stay outside.

An oven of warmth engulfed my body pleasantly inside the receptionist’s office. The receptionist waved eagerly.

“Can I help you, Lucy?” Nearly every staff member knew my name.

“Actually, you can. Can you ring Jimmy Smith’s mum? He’s still waiting outside for her. Usually, she’s always first to arrive, but she’s got a lot on her plate right now,” I ambiguously explained.

The receptionist was agonized, ready to go home.

“Please?” I begged. “If she doesn’t reply, write down her number, and I’ll ring her myself from my mobile.”

“Alright. For you,” she caved and dialled.

It rang. And rang. No reply. The receptionist shook her head and wrote down the number as agreed.

“Thank you,” I tapped it into my phone, heading back outside to hear Jen talking loudly, starting to get impatient. When I shook my head to communicate that