Page 61 of Secrets of Riverside

‘What do you mean?’ She gritted her teeth. ‘My father was a good man, a decent man, who worked hard and took care of his family.’

‘In your eyes, of course he was.’ Jarrah’s expression was foreboding. ‘We need to sit, and I’ll tell you everything you need to know.’

Trepidation filled her as she waited for him to take a seat, then she pulled out the chair opposite him and did the same.

‘I want you to have a look at these first, and then you can ask me anything you want.’ He handed the bag over to her.

She cautiously took it from him and opened it with trembling fingers. There were four photos and a newspaper clipping. She started with the clipping.

Son of rumoured mobster boss and wife are shot dead. Joey Martino, and his wife, Anna, were found with gunshots to the back of the head in the early hours of Sunday morning. Their son has been handed over to social services. Police are calling for witnesses to come forward.

Not needing to read the rest of the article, she looked up at Jarrah. ‘What has this got to do with my dad?’

‘I’ll explain after you have a look at the photos.’

Picking them up, she stared at the first one. It was her father, shaking hands with the older man from the newspaper clipping. The next one was of her father again, his arm wrapped around the same man’s shoulders. And the last one, it was of her and her father, with the same man again. Hazy memories spun in her head, the fragments of each not fitting.

‘I don’t understand.’

Jarrah pointed to the first photo. ‘Carlo Martino is my father, Millie.’ She nodded – she’d worked out that this must be the case. ‘And the photos are confirmation that your father worked for my father.’

No, this can’t be happening. ‘What in the hell are you saying, Jarrah?’

Drawing in a deep breath, Jarrah appeared to brace himself. ‘That your father was a crooked cop.’

‘I don’t believe you.’ For a fleeting moment she thought she was going to be violently ill.

Jarrah’s expression was despondent. ‘I’m so very sorry, Millie, but it’s the cold hard truth.’

‘How are these photos proof that my father was up to no good?’ She shoved all four back towards Jarrah.

‘My father is a known mobster, and I think you know that your father would’ve never shaken such a corrupt man’s hand if he wasn’t doing business with him.’

Realisation punched her already beaten heart. She didn’t want to believe him, but Jarrah had a good point. Her gentle, loving, kind-hearted father was a crook? She just couldn’t bear it. ‘Why didn’t you give this evidence to the police when you had the chance to?’

Jarrah shrugged and shook his head. ‘What good was it going to do, other than ruin what little you had left of your life?’ Looking past her, he took a moment, followed by another. ‘My father is the reason your family are gone, so the least I could do was respect your father’s memory by keeping his secrets safe.’

‘So let me get this right, you were actually protecting me?’ she said, with quiet conviction.

Leaning forwards, he took her hand in his. ‘In a way I was, yes.’

‘Why would you do that?’

‘Because you’d been through enough, lost enough, and I didn’t want your life to be any more complicated than it had already become.’ He looked at where he was wringing his hands. ‘I hate my father, and all he stands for, and I hate the fact he dragged my little brother into it all, which is why I’ve taken Tommy under my wing and tried my best to put him on the straight and narrow.’

‘I see.’ She let this sink in, nice and deep, before asking what she was dying to know the answer to. ‘If you had nothing to do with their deaths, why did you go to prison, Jarrah?’

‘The night it all happened, I was trying to stop my brother and his bunch of thugs lighting it, but I couldn’t. Then when the cops caught me, because I was the only one left at the crime scene, I took the rap because Joey had a fiancé and little Tommy to take care of. Whereas I had nobody to worry about, apart from myself. And when I got out of prison, I changed my name and tried to leave all of it behind me.’ He paused, as if collecting himself. ‘When I failed to stop them starting the fire, and witnessed how quickly it was spreading, I did all I could and went in to try and save you all.’

‘Oh my god,’ she gasped. ‘You’re the one that carried me out?’

‘Yes.’ One word, and yet it had the power to change everything.

Millie’s eyes burnt and her stomach roiled. Chewing her bottom lip to stop herself from sobbing, she looked down at her folded hands. ‘Thank you, for saving me.’ Her gratitude was but a whisper. ‘And trying to save my family too.’

‘I don’t need you to thank me, Millie.’ Coming to his feet, Jarrah moved to her side and knelt beside her. ‘I just need you to believe what I’m telling you.’

Allowing him to take her hands, she relished his tender touch. ‘I do believe you.’

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