“I’ll do as much as I can.”
“No, your word, Nhiari. I can’t risk her.”
Hurt flickered across her face. “You want me to protect your girlfriend?”
“No!” Her hurt gave him hope she still might care for him. “I don’t have a girlfriend. But this person means a lot to me.”
She studied him for a long moment. “All right.”
“Thank you.” He took a breath. “Lindsay has been helping me.”
Nhiari frowned for a split second and then sat straight. “Lindsay from the supermarket?”
“Yes.”
“Why would she help you?” Her incredulity was clear. “She knew you were wanted by the police. There’s no way Lindsay would break the law and go against Dot.” Her voice rose and with it was defiance, as if she couldn’t be wrong.
He hated to disappoint her again, but he wouldn’t lie to her. It was time to tell her the truth. “Because of who my father is.”
This time he saw all of her questions, but she simply said, “Start explaining.”
He appreciated her attempts to control the conversation, to take back some of the power by not deigning to ask the questions. “Do you know much about Lindsay’s past?”
Nhiari shook her head. “She’s owned the supermarket since we were kids. Dot worked there from the time she was old enough to work. Never married, never had any kids.” Her eyes widened. “Dot said she had one true love, but he couldn’t marry her because he had family obligations.”
Lee nodded. “That man was my father.”
Nhiari gave herself a moment to absorb the information. Lindsay had been a constant in her life since she was young, and she’d given Dot hope and love when Dot had had none from her own family. There was no way either of them would want Lindsay to end up in gaol.
But Dot would feel so betrayed by the woman she considered a surrogate mother.
Had Stonefish manipulated Lindsay like they’d manipulated so many other people? “Can you prove it?”
He pulled out a folder from his bag and handed her three photos. “These are my father and me.”
The first showed a man in his twenties holding a toddler. Both had similar features to the man sitting across from her; same small nose, dark, rounded eyes, and a grin that was full of life and fun. She couldn’t help smiling back.
The second photo was of both of them older; Lee was in his late teens and dressed in a military uniform and his father had grey in his hair. The smiles had faded. Both expressions were serious.
She glanced at him.
“Singapore has compulsory military service. That was just before I went in.”
The last photo was much more recent. Both were dressed in suits. Lee looked much as he did now, and the suit fitted him to sexy perfection, showing his lean figure. His father’s hair was grey and thinning and he’d aged significantly in the ten or so years since the previous photo had been taken.
“Tess’s sister’s wedding last year,” Lee said.
That made sense. Tess was Ed Stokes’ partner, and she’d been on the run from Stonefish earlier in the year. Lee had first become a suspect after Tess had recognised him at the Ridge, and then they’d realised they’d both been at the same wedding.
“I brought the photos to show Lindsay, so she knew I spoke the truth about who I was.”
Nhiari passed the photos back. “Your father came back at the beginning of the year and promised Lindsay he was leaving his wife and coming back to her.” He’d broken her heart a second time when he hadn’t returned.
Pain crossed Lee’s face. “That was his plan. He told me when he returned to Singapore about how he’d fallen in love when he’d been backpacking through Australia. How he’d wanted to marry her and stay in Australia, but his parents had already arranged his marriage to my mother. He would bring great shame to both families if he was to refuse. The two families had been doing business together for generations.”
“Stonefish,” Nhiari breathed as everything clicked into place.
Lee nodded. “Father married my mother, and I was born a few years later.”
