‘I know. Sugar told me.’
Miriam moves on quickly. ‘She was one of the best people ever. Always working hard for others, especially women and girls. Lake was her maiden name.’ A tiny smile ripples over her bottom lip. ‘She hated that term. She called Lake her warrior name. That’s probably why you never linked Danny Greene with Suzi Lake.’ She shakes her head. ‘There was always something strange between him and his mother. I couldn’t understand what it was. It was like he always had to show her he was a success too.’
‘Danny being a patron was how he probably met Hope and the other women,’ I explain. ‘Although it sounds like Hope was also the part-time receptionist there to earn money for her university studies.’
Which solves why the Good Knight was on the desk in the photo. Hope’s desk.
Miriam speaks more slowly so I understand. ‘I never saw her and Dad together, so I assumed that someone else was the father of her baby. Plus, she never told me who the father was.’
I insist, exasperated, ‘I’ve been telling you about Hope—’
She butts in. ‘You have, but you’ve not been using her name. Or the names of the other women when you talked to me.’ Miriam places the Lady in her lap. ‘That’s why I started freaking out when you took me to the old centre. I couldn’t believe where we were. I didn’t want you to go in there.’
I hear her voice from that night now: ‘Maybe we should come back another time?’ Now I hear the desperation in it I missed at the time.
‘That place was full of badness and even badder memories. I kept telling myself this isn’t what I think it is. First, I saw the Good Knight fall out of your bag. Then when we found Hope’s bag . . .’ The rest of her words hiccup in her throat. Her head dips.
Ronnie asks, ‘Are you OK?’ I hear the gentle concern she has for my sister.
Miriam nods. ‘When we went to the place where I left you as a baby.’ She raises her head. Her eyes are wet. ‘Hope told me to leave the baby there because some of her mum’s friends went to the Caribbean Club. Maybe if they found you somehow her baby would make its way to her mother.’
We’re both rocking with tears again. I’ve never been a praying woman, but I do it now. I give thanks and praise to whatever’s out there to take care of Hope’s soul. To ensure she’s in the embrace of everlasting peace.
‘Every way I kept looking at this kept coming back to one person – Dad. I couldn’t cope,’ Miriam admits. ‘I didn’t know how to tell you any of it. It all came flooding back. Leaving the baby in the rain. Never seeing Hope again.’ She sniffs. ‘And Dad’s right about me losing it when I’m stressed out. I drown my pain in any class A crap I can get my hands on to forget. I’m a useless mess.’
‘You’re not.’ That’s Ronnie, calm and clear. ‘You slay dragons and save babies. You hurt but you also outride the pain. You’ve got a father who has used and abused you but you won’t allow him to break you. Tell Eva about Danny.’
Miriam ruthlessly swipes away her tears. ‘He left my mother the year you were born, 1994, which I suppose makes everything add up. Out of spite he fought her tooth and nail through the courts to get custody of me. Then he practically ignored me. Their marriage had been on the rocks for years. He oozed charm and women couldn’t seem to get enough of him. Mum never got over him. It drove her to the bottle. She died from cirrhosis of the liver. I hated him for what he did to her.’ Her voice changes, shaking with fragility. ‘But. God forgive me, I loved him too.’
This isn’t easy for her to reveal, so I say, ‘I don’t want to make you say more. But I have to understand. For Hope.’
Miriam bleakly nods her understanding. ‘I could be wayward as a kid, and was messed up with my parents splitting, so one day at the centre I sneaked upstairs and that’s where I stumbled across Hope. I think she still had a set of keys to the office from her days working there. She was super clever. I bet she figured out what Dad was up to and used those keys to get into the office to find evidence including the Pretty Lanes invoice we found in her bag under the stairs.’ Miriam looks at me sharply. ‘Did you find out who Pretty Lanes are?’
I catch Ronnie’s eye. She shakes her head, so I tell Miriam, ‘I promise I’ll tell you soon. Now’s not the time.’
Miriam trembles. ‘When I think of seeing her chained up. How could he do that to her?’