Brotherhood

[emmasi]

Topic Title: Brotherhood

Topic Description:Kim, Robbie, Barry, Jack, Lucas. Rating: A(VD)(L)

Type of story: Longfic

Rating: A (VD)(L)

Main Characters: Kim, Robbie, Barry, Jack, Lucas.

Genre: Drama

Warnings: Violence/Death, Language

Is Story being proof read: Yes

Summary: Kim vows to keep Robbie safe from the police after Robbie confesses to killing Josh West.

This begins on the night of Josh West's muder, so please disregard anything you've seen on the show since then.

__________________________________

Robbie stumbled in through the back door of Irene’s place. His hair was damp, but there had been no rain tonight. It was sweat.

He stood shaking in the kitchen, looking back over his shoulder through the clear window. He could see a street light in the distance. God, what if someone had seen him in the street light?

The house was dark. He couldn’t see, but if he turned on a light, someone would know he was awake. They’d come and ask him why; they’d see that he’d been running; they’d ask what he was running from.

That couldn’t happen.

He stayed still and waited for his eyes to adjust. Maybe he could find his way to his and Tasha’s room in a moment. It shouldn’t be too hard, now that they had taken Hayley’s old room downstairs (which was bigger that Tasha’s previous room).

God, he couldn’t go in to Tash. What if she woke up? He knew he wouldn’t be able to lie to her, and she so didn’t need to know the truth right now.

The loungeroom light came on. Robbie froze, hoping that whoever had come to investigate the scene would not see him in the dimly lit kitchen.

“Rob,” mumbled Kim, as he emerged tiredly from his bedroom, “What are you doing?”

“Nothing. Getting a glass of water. G-go back to sleep.”

“Did you just stutter?”

“Why would I stutter?”

“I don’t know,” Kim walked closer to him, “Maybe you’re nervous.”

“Why would I be nervous?” Robbie stepped back, even though Kim was nowhere near him.

“I heard the door,” said Kim.

“No you didn’t.”

“I didn’t?”

“No. I mean, you did, but…it wasn’t anything to worry about. I just came out here for a glass of water, like I said, but then I saw a rat in here so I chased it outside.”

“A rat?” Kim had gotten close enough now to see how shaky Robbie was. “Since when do rats scare you this much?”

“It was nothing okay! Just go back to bed!”

“Sure,” said Kim, clearly unconvinced, but not wishing to keep himself awake any longer. “Just keep it down out here, okay? Some people have to go to work tomorrow.”

Kim wandered back into his bedroom, leaving Robbie alone again.

Kim had barely gotten beneath the covers when he heard a gentle tapping at his door. He sat up curiously.

“Kim?” Robbie cracked open the door.

“Yeah Rob?” Kim wasn’t too keen to pursue this conversation but Robbie obviously needed to talk.

Robbie crept inside the dark of Kim’s room, not bothering to turn a light on (the loungeroom light was still shining in through the doorway). Robbie sat cross-legged at the end of Kim’s bed, psyching himself into a confession.

“Kim, I’ve done something bad.”

“How bad?”

“Really bad.”

“Oh, you’re not sneaking around with someone else are you?”

“No! Of course not, you know I’d never do that to Tash.”

“Then what?”

“I…I can’t tell you.”

“Rob…”

“No, I can’t. I don’t want to drag you into this.”

“Then why are you sitting at the end of my bed in the middle of the night?”

Robbie cast his eyes down, ashamed of himself for putting Kim in this position. He slid off the bed. Kim grabbed him by the wrist.

“Hey, if you want to talk to me, you can.”

Robbie paused and then turned back to Kim. “Do you care about me? Do you care what happens to me?”

“Come on man,” answered Kim awkwardly, “You know I do.”

“Really? You’re supposed to be my best friend but we’ve hardly spoken to each other in ages.”

“That’s a two-way street, Rob.”

“Fair call. But there was a time when I would have trusted you with my life. I need to know if I still can.”

Kim suddenly got the feeling that, whatever Robbie had done, he was not simply being dramatic about it. This was serious.

“You can trust me. Tell me what happened.”

Robbie sat down again. He took a deep, shuddering breath. Kim put a hand on his shoulder to keep him calm.

“I…” Robbie swallowed the words back – he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

“Rob, it’s okay.”

“No!” Robbie protested suddenly. “It’s not okay! It’ll never be okay! It’s too late for that!” His voice cracked as tears formed in his eyes. He was shaking again.

“Rob,” Kim pleaded gently, “It’s okay to tell me, what did you do?”

Robbie shook his head, causing his tears to roll loosely down his cheeks.

“I killed him.”

Kim’s heart stopped. Every sound in the room and outside it seemed to cease, except for Robbie’s crying. Kim blinked. His heart kicked in again, but for a moment, he couldn’t move.

“You killed…who?”

“Josh!” hissed Robbie, horrified.

“No, Robbie, Josh isn’t dead. You must have dreamed it. Go back to sleep, okay?” Denial was a beautiful thing. It was just a shame that neither of them was buying into it at the moment.

“He is,” whimpered Robbie, “I killed him – just now – and he’s dead.”

“Maybe there was an accident,” conceded Kim, “But you’re not a killer, okay? You’re a good person, Rob, you don’t have it in you.”

“I killed my grandfather.”

Kim was stunned.

“I switched off his life-support. I watched him die. And I watched Josh die the same way. One little touch of my finger and…gone.”

Kim leant back on the headboard, away from Robbie. “Jesus Christ,” he whispered, realizing that Robbie was telling the truth.

“Do you hate me?” sniffed Robbie.

“No,” said Kim truthfully. “I’m just scared. How could you do it? Why?”

“My granddad…I loved him. I didn’t want him to suffer.”

“Okay, but you didn’t love Josh and he wasn’t suffering.”

“No,” Robbie growled. “I hated Josh. And he deserved to die.”

“What did he do?” asked Kim cautiously.

Robbie hesitated. He was struck with guilt – he was about to betray Tasha’s trust – but he was already guilty that they had kept their best friend out of the loop to begin with. He broke down.

“I begged Josh to get her away from those animals,” he cried. “But he was actually helping them! All that time – all that time she was on the farm…the things he let them do to her…He knew about it all and he could have stopped it. But he didn’t.” He looked up to Kim, his eyes pleading for forgiveness that he hadn’t said all this sooner. “Tasha’s baby, it’s not mine. It’s Jonah’s.” Kim couldn’t find a reaction to fit that news. “Jonah drugged her and raped her – God knows how many times – and Josh let it happen. Just because the Believers were paying him to keep quiet! He knew about it and he let it happen!”

“Rob, calm down.” Kim decided to take a rational approach. Getting emotional now wasn’t going to help, and if Robbie kept going on like this, he was going to wake everyone up and get himself into more trouble. Robbie kept crying. Kim sat forward again and held him to his chest. “It’ll be okay, we’ll fix this.”

“How?”

“I don’t know…but I won’t let anything happen to you, alright?”

“What if I go to jail? What if Tash has to raise Jonah’s child, while I’m in jail?”

“That won’t happen.” Rationally, Kim knew that was a lie. “But if it does, you know I’ll look after Tash. You know I will.”

“Don’t let her hurt the baby.”

“What?” Why should Robbie care what happened to Jonah’s baby?

“She’ll be angry and confused, but she’ll never forgive herself if she hurts that baby. Please, don’t let her.”

“I won’t.”

“Promise.”

“I promise I won’t let her do anything stupid.” He hugged Robbie tighter. “I just wish I could have stopped you too.”

***

Kim stared blankly over one of the machines in the Gym. It mightn’t have been so strange – he had a tendency to zone out when his clients were doing long, repetitive tasks – except that his client today was Rachael, his girlfriend.

“Am I doing this right?” Rachael tried to engage him.

“Hm?” He jerked his vision back into focus. “Oh, yeah,” he said lazily, “That’s great. Keep doing that.”

“Wow, I’m impressed.”

“Sorry?”

“You can sleep standing up,” she joked, “Not everyone can do that.”

“Yeah, I am a bit tired. I didn’t get much sleep last night.” Robbie hadn’t left his room until about 5am, when he’d decided to go back to Tasha’s bed before she realised he was missing.

“Is anything wrong? And don’t lie to me, I’m trained to know if you are.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Which means ‘It’s something.’”

“Nothing you need to worry about.”

“‘Mind your own business.’”

“In the nicest way possible.”

“Is it about Josh West?”

“What?” His heart paused again. Could she know about Robbie?

“Josh West was murdered last night – it’s been all over the local news. I’m sorry, I thought you would have heard by now.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Kim, his heart recollecting it’s beat and playing it much faster than was comfortable. “What’s that got to do with me?”

“Josh was a client of yours, wasn’t he?”

“He paid me money to watch him play around with the machines sometimes. It’s not like we were best friends.”

Crap. Why did he have to mention best friends? What if Rachael figured out that he was thinking about Robbie? What is she guessed that Robbie had murdered Josh?

Rachael smiled and hopped off the machine. “Alright, but you tell me if there is anything you want to talk about. I may not be your counselor anymore but I’m still your girlfriend.” She bounced up onto the balls of her feet to kiss him. Kim obliged as a ‘thank you’ for not asking any more question. “See ya later,” said Rachael, ending her session with him.

Barry crossed the threshold of the Gym as Rachael exited, all the while staring her from his sight. Kim knew that his father’s reaction couldn’t possibly be a good thing.

“I hope I didn’t interrupt anything,” said Barry coldly.

“Nope, just a training session,” answered Kim.

“We’ve talked about this Kim…”

“Dad, I’m guessing you didn’t come to tell me to back off from Rachael – again – so what’s up? To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Barry smirked at his son’s confidence, an attribute that was both admirable and infuriating.

“It’s about your friends, the Hunters.”

“What about them?” asked Kim, more defensively then he meant to.

“Don’t worry, they’re not in any trouble. They just seem to be having some difficulty concentrating at school.”

“Well that’d be the school’s problem, wouldn’t it?”

“The school can only do so much. Particularly when the problem is a domestic one.”

“If you’re so worried about Robbie and Tasha’s domestic life, why don’t you talk to them about it?”

“Believe me I will. But I thought that you might be able to approach them as a friend. They’ll be much more open with you.”

“Right. And then I can pass the information onto you?”

“If you think that’s necessary.”

“Well I don’t. And I won’t. If you want to harass my friends, you go ahead and see where it gets you, but don’t expect me to go digging up dirt for you.”

Kim dodged Barry and went to the counter of the Gym, searching through the books to find something that looked important enough as to require his full attention.

“Kim…” Barry didn’t believe that his son’s running tally of who had paid their membership in full and who hadn’t was that important right now. “If something is wrong with Robbie and Tasha – ”

“Why does something have to be wrong?” snapped Kim. “Why can’t they just be having a normal rough patch like everyone else? Does everything have to be life and death – ” He stopped suddenly. He hadn’t realised that his voice was raised until that word ‘death’ echoed loudly in his ears. He became aware of the people around him, wondering if they were judging him for using the term so frivolously. Josh West had just died. Death was real and serious. It was not a snappy comeback to be used against your father in a meaningless argument.

Barry was curious to know why Kim had lingered so long on his phrasing and why he was so defensive of Robbie and Tash’s recent behaviour. But one thing Barry knew, was that Kim didn’t not respond well to being pushed or pressured into satisfying anyone’s curiosity.

“All I’m saying is,” Barry continued calmly, “If Robbie and Tash have a problem, then ignoring it isn’t going to make it go away. Perhaps they could use a friend’s guidance, instead of a principal’s…” he tried to anticipate Kim’s assessment, “Interference, to help them through it?” Barry watched Kim carefully to make sure that at least some of what he said sank in. Kim didn’t respond, which, in itself, was a good sign.

Barry left Kim silently to his books. Kim continued his robotic additions, hoping to keep the emotional side of his brain shut down. But it didn’t work. One thought kept creeping into the back of his mind: now that he had promised to keep Robbie, Tasha, and the baby safe from the law, his father, and anyone else who might threaten their well-being, how the hell was he supposed to do it?

***

Kim walked into the Beach House. Robbie was sitting alone on the lounge, staring into space.

Kim put his bag down on the dining table. “Hey Rob.” Robbie didn’t answer. “Rob,” Kim said loudly. Robbie jumped. He twisted around, shaking – he looked terrified. “Hey, it’s okay,” Kim soothed him. “It’s just me.”

He went and sat next to Robbie, who couldn’t control the wave of shivers that were still racking his body.

“You’ve got to stop doing this,” Kim told him.

“Doing what?”

“Being so…out of it. If you don’t start acting like yourself, people are gonna get sus. Even my dad thinks there’s something up with you.”

“Your dad?”

“He stopped by the Gym this afternoon. He said that you and Tash haven’t been paying attention in class.”

“When you’re going to jail for the rest of your life, or trying to figure out how to tell your kid some day that ‘Hey, by the way, you’re real daddy was a delusional pervert,’ class doesn’t seem that crucial.”

“But Rob, people can’t know that. They can’t find out what’s going on with you so you can’t give them a reason to wonder, okay? I’m going to do everything I can to help you but you have to help yourself, you and Tash both.” He dropped his persuasive tone. He wasn’t sure he wanted Robbie to answer this next question: “Have you told her yet?” Robbie shook his head. “Are you going to?”

“I don’t know. She’s already had to deal with so much. Making her an accessory to Josh’s murder probably isn’t the best idea right now.”

“Do you really think you can keep this from her?” Robbie shook his head again and started weeping. Kim would have felt awkward – it’s always awkward when one of your mates is crying and you don’t know what to do about it – but this was Robbie; he was easier. Kim knew it was better to treat him more like a female friend than a guy. It wasn’t a bad thing, Robbie just responded better to sincere emotion than the avoidance and bravado that most guys preferred. Kim put his arm around him. “It’ll be okay. Just tell her the truth – tell her you did it for her. She’ll understand.”

“No, she won’t. She told me to leave it alone. If I’d just listened to her…”

“If she’d listened to you about Jonah in the first place this wouldn’t be happening.”

“Don’t. Don’t say that. This isn’t her fault.”

“But it’s yours?”

“Yes! I killed him, Kim! I killed Josh West! Who else’s fault is it?!”

“Oh my God.” Kim and Robbie both turned to Barry’s voice. He was standing at the open back door with his hand poised to knock on it.

“Dad,” Kim jumped up off the lounge and quickly hopped over to him. Robbie stayed where he was, looking just as terrified as when Kim had first startled him, but now he had tears running down his cheeks and neck as well. “What are you doing here?” Kim tried to act casually.

“I came to talk to Robbie and Tasha myself, as you suggested,” answered Barry properly. “But I see that won’t be necessary.” He stared at Robbie in disbelief. “You killed the mayor?”

“Dad, it was a mistake,” Kim answered for him.

“It’s not a mistake, Kim,” spat Barry, “It’s murder! I can’t believe you’re protecting him!”

“I protected you, didn’t I?”

Barry fell silent, very aware that Robbie was in the room. “Watch what you say,” he hissed to Kim.

“Why? Are you going to stand there and tell me he’s any worse than you?”

“Kim!” Barry tried to silence him.

“No, Dad! Robbie killed Josh to protect his family just like you killed Mum to protect me!”

“What?” said Robbie weakly.

“Forget what you’ve heard, Mr. Hunter. My son is confused.”

“I’m only repeating what you told me. It was okay for you to escape jail time for killing my mother, who was, from what I hear, a really nice person – ”

“She killed your brother,” growled Barry. “She tried to kill you!”

“ – yet you want Robbie to go to jail for getting rid of the most evil, corrupt and did I mention evil piece of scum that ever floated into Summer Bay?”

“It’s an entirely different thing! Mayor West was shot in the chest! Your friend here had to plan an act like that! I killed your mother in the heat of the moment – to save your life!”

“Yeah, I’m sure you had to kill her to save me. I guess you never thought to just knock her out? Restrain her? Call the police?”

“No, I didn’t. But I’m certainly going to call them now.” He reached for his mobile. Kim grabbed his arm.

“If you tell them about Robbie I’ll tell them about Kerry.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me.”

“You have no evidence!”

“That’s the thing about concerned parents, they don’t really need any evidence to keep their kids from going to a school run by a killer.”

“Kim, you are making a huge mistake.” Kim didn’t let go of Barry’s arm. He stared unblinking into his father’s eyes, daring him to cross him or Robbie. Barry wasn’t up for the challenge. “Fine,” he threw up his hands. Kim let him go. “I’ll see you at school then, Mr. Hunter,” he said to Robbie. Robbie understood this to mean that Barry would not be letting him out of his sight from now on. Great, more pressure.

Barry left and Kim returned to Robbie. “Don’t worry, he won’t say anything.”

“Did he really kill your mother?”

“That’s what he told me.”

“But I thought you said she walked out on you? I thought you were trying to find her last year?”

“Yeah, that’s when he told me that I was wasting my time. Nice, huh? I shouldn’t be surprised. Everything else he’s ever told me was a lie, why should my mother leaving be any different?”

“But why didn’t he tell you she was dead? He wouldn’t have had to say he killed her.”

“I don’t know. I guess he wanted me to think it was my fault that she was gone – that having a kid was too much for her. No, having a kid like me was too much for her. I guess if he made me think there was something wrong with me from the start, that I’d be willing to let him ‘fix’ me.”

“That’s horrible.” Robbie knew what it was like to have a father that wanted to fix him. “He said you had a brother?”

“Yeah…Jonathan. I didn’t know about him either. Mum drowned him in the bath when I was still a baby.”

“God.”

“Dad caught her trying to do the same thing to me, so he killed her. I don’t blame him. Not really. I get why he did it. But I don’t get why he had to lie to me for so long.”

“Maybe he didn’t want to believe it happened,” said Robbie, completely understanding the feeling.

“Maybe. I wish he didn’t make her out to be such a monster though. She wasn’t. I read her diaries. Dad was trying to hide them from me, but I found them. She wasn’t a bad person. She was nice, and friendly, and caring…” A tear formed in the corner of his eye. “She didn’t mean to hurt us, Rob. She was depressed. She was sick and confused. Maybe if Dad had have helped her instead of ignoring her…” He shook his head. “She loved us. There were pages ripped out of the diary around the time that she killed Jonathan, but after that, all she could talk about was how much she missed him, and how she had to believe that he was in a better place. She loved him. She loved both of us.”

“I’m sure she did,” said Robbie sincerely.

“I don’t want to think about this anymore,” said Kim.

Robbie nodded his understanding. Knowing that Kim had dealt with all this gave him a small spark of confidence that he could deal with his own problems, in time.

“Can we not think about Josh too?” he asked.

Kim smiled weakly. “Yeah, that’d be good.”

***

“Mrs. Bellingham?”

Morag put her coffee down on the Diner table and raised a questioning eyebrow as to what Barry wanted of her.

“Mr. Hyde?”

Barry sat down opposite her without invitation. “It’s Kim. He’s threatening to go to the police about Kerry.”

“Really?” Morag took her coffee up again. “May I ask why?”

Barry sighed. “He’s put me in a very difficult position.”

“Which is?” She sipped her coffee with interest.

Barry looked around to make sure no one was listening. He leant in close and whispered, “Kim is protecting Josh West’s killer.”

Morag snorted in shock, sending speckles of wayward coffee flying up into Barry’s face. He blinked slowly, trying to maintain his dignity.

“Oh,” Morag coughed, hurrying to wipe away the mess with a serviette. “I’m sorry, did you say that Kim knows who killed Josh West?”

“Yes,” said Barry shortly.

“Well do you know?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

“Oh come on, Barry,” she laughed. “You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t going to spill the beans. Out with it!”

“That’s the point, Morag. Kim is blackmailing me to keep quiet. The killer is very close to my son and if that person goes to jail, then so do I.”

“Barry, I can tell you right now that no court will convict you on the hearsay of an angry teenager, especially when he was only an infant at the time of the alleged crime.”

“It doesn’t matter. As Kim quite rightly pointed out, if he goes to the police with this, my reputation will be ruined, and so will my career as a principal.”

“But I am not the police, Mr. Hyde. I am a lawyer. You can tell me whatever you wish in the strictest confidence, and it will go no further than me. It may even be that I can help your son and his friend, if you tell me who it is we’re talking about.”

“I’m not sure that I can do that.”

“If the police find out that Kim has been protecting Josh’s killer, he will be tried as an accessory to murder after the fact. That you can be sure of.”

***

Robbie was curled up asleep on the lounge, his head resting on a cushion in Kim’s lap. Kim was staring forward to the TV, his thumb absent-mindedly brushing over the hairs at the back of Robbie’s neck.

Kim’s head turned as the back door opened again. It was Tash.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey.”

She walked into the loungeroom and saw her husband lying there with Kim. “He asleep?”

“Yeah. He was tired.”

“Why didn’t he go to bed?”

“He just kind of drifted off.”

“In your lap?”

“So how come you’re home so late?” he avoided the question. “School ended like two hours ago.”

“What are you,” began Tash as she sat down at the table, “My dad?”

Kim laughed. “No. No way. I wouldn’t wish a dad on you Tash, they all suck.”

“You were pretty good with Noah and Charlie.”

“Yeah.” He ran his hand over Robbie’s shoulder and side. “But they weren’t really mine. I think it must be impossible for fathers to do a decent job with a son that they’re actually related to.”

“Robbie’s going to be a great dad,” said Tasha.

“Yeah, he is. But that doesn’t really disprove my point, does it?” He looked up at Tash, who stared back at him. “It’s okay Tash, he told me.”

“What?” She was taken aback. “What did he tell you?”

“Everything. The baby, Jonah…He needed someone to talk to. He didn’t want to worry you.”

“When did he tell you?” asked Tash, crossing her arms tightly over her stomach.

“Last night.”

“Did he sleep with you?”

Kim faltered. He took his hand off of Robbie. “Ah, could you rephrase the question please?”

“I woke up during the night and he wasn’t in bed with me. Was he in your room?”

“He came to talk to me.”

“And then he fell asleep?”

“For a while. He was tired. Tash, he’s trying to be so strong for you right now. He’s exhausted. This is hard for him too you know. ”

“Yeah, I know,” said Tasha, offended that Kim thought he knew more about how her husband was feeling than she did.

“So if he needs to talk to someone, don’t freak out about it. You’ve got Martha and Rob’s got me. It’s only fair.”

“None of this is fair,” Tasha mumbled.

“No, but refusing to let people help you isn’t going to do any good. Believe me, I know.”

Tasha looked more closely at her sleeping husband. His eyes looked red beneath his lopsided glasses.

“Has he been crying?”

Kim hesitated. “A bit.”

Tasha looked closely at Kim’s eyes too. “Have you?” He turned his head from her. “Kim?”

“Don’t worry about it.” He jerked one of his knees upwards to unsettle Robbie. “Hey, Rob, wake up.”

“Hm…?”

“Come on, you’re wife’s home.”

Robbie pushed himself up from the lounge. He glanced behind him. “Tash, how long have you been here?”

“Long enough.”

Robbie sensed that she wasn’t particularly happy with him. He sat up slowly with a questioning look at Kim.

“I told her what you told me about the baby,” Kim guided him.

“Josh?” mouthed Robbie silently. Kim shifted his head in a way that said “no”.

Robbie turned around to Tash, about to explain why he had blabbed to Kim, but she stopped him. “Nah, Rob, I understand. Kim’s one of our best friends. I’m sorry I wanted you to lie to him.”

“Thanks Tash.” God she was beautiful. “I won’t go behind your back again, I promise.” Why was he doing this to her? She didn’t need to add ‘Wife of a murderer’ to her long list of problems. But if he didn’t tell her now… “Tash, I have to – ”

“Uh, excuse me,” called Morag from the doorway, knocking as a formality. “Sorry to interrupt. Mr. Hunter, may I have a word with you?”

Robbie and Kim both knew that Morag’s being here wasn’t a coincidence. Tasha didn’t understand why they both looked so anxious to see her.

Robbie stood up slowly, not even bothering to explain himself to Tash. Kim stood as well. Robbie walked over to Morag while Kim followed two paces behind.

“What’s going on?” asked Tash.

“Mr. Hunter,” Morag addressed him again, “Is it possible we could speak in private?”

“Did my dad put you up to this?” demanded Kim.

“Your father is deeply concerned for both of you. He’s asked me to do whatever I can to help you.”

“Rob, why do you need help from Morag?” asked Tasha, confused.

“That death threat that Josh got,” said Robbie quickly, “I sent it.” This was news even to Kim.

“Oh, Rob,” Tash whined, “How could you be so stupid? I’ve just been talking to Martha, she said that Jack and the other cops are trying to find Josh’s killer right now. If they find out you sent that note they’re going to think you killed him! Ugh, Robbie,” she held her forehead as though it hurt to think of this situation, “I told you not to let that creep get you into anymore trouble!”

“It’s done now,” said Robbie. “Mrs. Bellingham,” he stared very seriously into her eyes, “Do you really think you can help me?”

Morag understood that Robbie knew this was about more than a threatening letter. “I’ll do my best, Mr. Hunter.”

[Gypsy & Will Fan]

This is really good more soon please!