A Dark Secret: Part 3 of 3

A Dark Secret: Part 3 of 3
Casey Watson

Part 3 of 3Just when Casey thinks her foster care duties are done, she’s asked to look after Sam, a troubled nine-year-old with a violent streak who drove his previous guardians to release him of their care. It soon unfolds, however, that this is no simple case.Determined to get to the root of Sam’s behaviour, Casey is committed to uncover his mysterious past only to find out something far darker than she ever imagined…Having recently said goodbye to their last foster child, Miller, the Watson family are taking a bit of a break. But it’s while Casey is having fun catching up with her friends that she receives a call from her new link worker. Social services are desperately trying to find a settled home for nine-year-old Sam, who has Autism and some serious behavioural problems.Removed from his mother less than a week ago, Sam has been staying with respite carers. But with two young children of their own, they now find themselves unable to hold on to the little boy as he is bullying them relentlessly. It’s not an isolated situation, either. Apparently Sam’s own siblings begged not to be placed with their older brother – they were both adamant that they were too afraid of him.The Watsons agree to accommodate Sam, who, despite his tiny stature, turns out to be quite the whirlwind – destroying anything and everything in his path. In addition to the outward behaviours, it quickly becomes evident that there is a much darker past that has blighted the boy’s life. As Casey tries to get to the bottom of it, she discovers there are no files on Sam; only the testament of his previous neighbour. Thankfully, Mrs Gallagher is only too happy to help. And to talk. But it soon transpires that there is a great deal more to Sam’s secret history…

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Copyright (#uc6d9fa7c-4754-5845-a4c8-d12e4d56b945)

This book is a work of non-fiction based on the author’s experiences. In order to protect privacy, names, identifying characteristics, dialogue and details have been changed or reconstructed.

HarperElement

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

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London SE1 9GF

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First published by HarperElement 2019

FIRST EDITION

© Casey Watson 2019

A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library

Cover image © Clive Nolan/Trigger Image (posed by model)

Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers 2019

Casey Watson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

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Source ISBN: 9780008298616

Ebook Edition © May 2019 ISBN: 9780008298623

Version: 2019-03-28

Contents

1  Cover (#u137fbe90-42f5-5206-a4ef-e393651cc813)

2  Title Page

3  Copyright

4  Contents (#uc6d9fa7c-4754-5845-a4c8-d12e4d56b945)

5  Chapter 18

6 Chapter 19

7 Chapter 20

8 Chapter 21

9 Chapter 22

10 Chapter 23

11 Chapter 24

12  Chapter 25

13  Epilogue

14  Also by Casey Watson

15  Moving Memoirs eNewsletter (#litres_trial_promo)

16  About the Publisher

LandmarksCover (#u137fbe90-42f5-5206-a4ef-e393651cc813)FrontmatterBackmatter

List of Pagesiii (#ulink_c8979119-c078-53e1-89b1-a216cd02ca7f)iv (#ulink_2e286112-35b0-5e2f-8736-3c4c5718d1c8)183 (#ulink_7d06ac45-1632-5bf7-bf93-6f79ff892773)184 (#ulink_3cd43823-38c9-54e7-888d-4f0221517a10)185 (#ulink_db06569a-4ddb-5dd8-a3a8-b4e078df5026)186 (#ulink_234cb01c-ab20-5481-8e06-409cc6e105c5)187 (#ulink_6488966b-10fa-5bdf-ab00-987e06be8938)188 (#ulink_c5f320da-be8b-5d52-8be7-b86237b5cc0c)189 (#ulink_5eabc1c9-ffa9-5d5f-8758-959b26b81e55)190 (#ulink_5af10fa2-3c76-560c-b36b-4ebb419ace52)191 (#ulink_bacb7fb5-2996-5564-976f-cdb44d1a1881)192 (#ulink_061c5deb-c1cf-5792-b9fa-4d5831d50a7d)193 (#ulink_44a164cb-e2d7-59bd-93db-9d9e1a1af133)194 (#ulink_6ac88d45-ad9f-5b1c-96a4-a3d029fb7109)195 (#ulink_04d901e6-e130-53d0-8690-c8655b11af94)196 (#ulink_17258b2d-4e3c-57b9-a671-84a836c1a6a3)197 (#ulink_27028bb3-9bb6-5f70-a4c7-1598bee12340)198 (#ulink_09b0ee72-a45a-53af-9030-d4dfa22ab895)199 (#ulink_5ae2856c-b864-580c-b55d-407fe506fa46)200 (#ulink_4c812196-37ba-5e59-acf4-1bb5de551cdb)201 (#ulink_3dd00f2a-a539-5474-8806-4c67ab13a62d)202 (#ulink_2928753d-32d4-5a9a-a8b1-eaf575ad2725)203 (#ulink_75eab677-1247-52fa-9147-96f69bfd56af)204 (#ulink_90630989-1361-5de6-9389-50cbaaec4d1b)205 (#litres_trial_promo)206 (#litres_trial_promo)207 (#litres_trial_promo)208 (#litres_trial_promo)209 (#litres_trial_promo)210 (#litres_trial_promo)211 (#litres_trial_promo)212 (#litres_trial_promo)213 (#litres_trial_promo)214 (#litres_trial_promo)215 (#litres_trial_promo)216 (#litres_trial_promo)217 (#litres_trial_promo)218 (#litres_trial_promo)219 (#litres_trial_promo)220 (#litres_trial_promo)221 (#litres_trial_promo)222 (#litres_trial_promo)223 (#litres_trial_promo)224 (#litres_trial_promo)225 (#litres_trial_promo)226 (#litres_trial_promo)227 (#litres_trial_promo)228 (#litres_trial_promo)229 (#litres_trial_promo)230 (#litres_trial_promo)231 (#litres_trial_promo)232 (#litres_trial_promo)233 (#litres_trial_promo)234 (#litres_trial_promo)235 (#litres_trial_promo)236 (#litres_trial_promo)237 (#litres_trial_promo)238 (#litres_trial_promo)239 (#litres_trial_promo)240 (#litres_trial_promo)241 (#litres_trial_promo)242 (#litres_trial_promo)243 (#litres_trial_promo)244 (#litres_trial_promo)245 (#litres_trial_promo)246 (#litres_trial_promo)247 (#litres_trial_promo)248 (#litres_trial_promo)249 (#litres_trial_promo)250 (#litres_trial_promo)251 (#litres_trial_promo)252 (#litres_trial_promo)253 (#litres_trial_promo)254 (#litres_trial_promo)255 (#litres_trial_promo)256 (#litres_trial_promo)257 (#litres_trial_promo)258 (#litres_trial_promo)259 (#litres_trial_promo)260 (#litres_trial_promo)261 (#litres_trial_promo)262 (#litres_trial_promo)263 (#litres_trial_promo)264 (#litres_trial_promo)265 (#litres_trial_promo)266 (#litres_trial_promo)267 (#litres_trial_promo)268 (#litres_trial_promo)269 (#litres_trial_promo)270 (#litres_trial_promo)271 (#litres_trial_promo)272 (#litres_trial_promo)273 (#litres_trial_promo)274 (#litres_trial_promo)275 (#litres_trial_promo)276 (#litres_trial_promo)277 (#litres_trial_promo)278 (#litres_trial_promo)279 (#litres_trial_promo)281 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18 (#uc6d9fa7c-4754-5845-a4c8-d12e4d56b945)

It wasn’t usual practice for a social worker to work with the children on their books at the weekends. Not that social work was ever just a nine-to-five job, because there were always occasions when the unexpected happened. But unless a social worker was on call, weekends were free time – well, in theory. They, like us, were always dogged by endless paperwork. It was also Easter weekend, and though we weren’t planning to make any sort of fuss (this year, Riley was going to be away with her in-laws, so it wouldn’t be much more than a quick Easter egg hunt for Dee Dee, at Kieron’s), others did, I knew. So I was extremely grateful when Colin Sampson agreed to help us out with Sam the following Saturday, so that Mike and me could go to Mrs Gallagher’s and talk about the potential upcoming respite.

We decided not to tell Sam where we were going, though. Just that Colin was coming over with an Easter egg, and wanted to spend time with him. It made sense – if either we or Mrs Gallagher changed our minds about Sam staying over with her, ignorance would be bliss; we wouldn’t find ourselves in the position of having built up Sam’s hopes only to dash them again.

Not that we needed to. Sam was as oblivious to the business of Colin having weekends off from work as he was to the notion that what I did was ‘work’. He was on a high about Colin coming and the ‘big Easter adventure’ they were going on, and if it even crossed his mind that there was a reason for us going off for a few hours he was too busy thinking about his own day to ask me.

‘We’re going on a very long journey,’ he told me as he paced the carpet by the front window. He was speaking to me, but as much to himself. He looked deep in thought, head down, hands linked together behind his back – a bit like a little old man ruminating on life. ‘It’s a very long journey,’ he added. ‘And I think that’s a clue. I think it’s a puzzle Sampson wants me to solve.’

‘I just think Colin means you’ll be out and about for a while, love,’ I suggested, anxious that Sam might have got the wrong end of the stick and was setting himself up for disappointment. I’d heard them talking on the phone – they fell so easily into deep conversation – and though it was clear Colin had a knack of understanding Sam’s level, it also meant that I frequently lost track of what either of them were on about. Perhaps this was simply one of those occasions and Colin had indeed made plans I didn’t know about. ‘Anyway, he’ll be here soon, so I’m sure all will be clear. In the meantime, if you don’t stop all that pacing up and down, you are going to end up wearing out my carpet.’

‘Too late,’ Mike chipped in from his favourite chair, where he was reading. ‘He’s flattened all the pile. Uh-oh. We’re going to need a new carpet.’

Sam stopped and looked down, then he frowned. ‘Oh,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry. But it’s okay, Mike. Don’t worry. Me and Sampson will go to the shops and buy a new one.’