And The Earth Moved: Romantic Comedy Cozy Mystery (Amber Reed CCIA Mystery Book 1) (9 page)

Chapter Twelve

“I’ll be fine,” I find myself saying. Remember, I chant silently. Pretend girlfriend. Not real. Pretend.

Back at my flat Charlie follows me up the stairs to my tiny lounge cum kitchen cum dining room and leans against the doorframe. I live in a converted chapel. It’s not one of those architecturally impressive ones with big stained glass windows or anything. It was a tiny Wesleyan chapel, long out of use when developers converted it into four bijou (i.e. very small) apartments.

“I’m not happy about this at all,” Charlie says. “Will you at least call someone to come over and stay with you?  Your boyfriend perhaps?”

“You’re supposed to be my boyfriend remember?” I reply, wondering why
boyfriend
was the first person he mentioned. “And I don’t need anyone to babysit me. I’m fine. Yes, it was a shock, but this happening to Bert has made me want to help out on this investigation even more. Find out what’s going on, make sure whoever did this is found and charged.”

“Look, I know it’s difficult.” He rests a hand on my arm to get my full attention. “But you have to try and not allow your emotions to take over. Stay calm, rational, focussed. Even when you know the victim.”

I nod. “Calm. Focussed. Yes. Got it.” Inside I’m far from being all those things but I’m not going to tell Charlie that. “So, what can I do to help?”

He eyes me sceptically. “Seriously? Now?” He checks his watch. “It’s one in the morning.”

“Yes now!” I say, more forcefully than I expected. A little more calmly I add, “Please. Tell me what I can do to help. What are you going to do?”

“I want to talk to Bert’s family about what’s happened.” He gives me a look and then nods. “You know them right?”

I nod. “Yes, he’s divorced but his daughter is staying with him at the moment at the gatehouse. Won’t the local police have been to see her and explain what’s happened?”

“No. I asked them not to get involved in this. That’s why only an ambulance showed up on the moors, not a police car. I told them I wanted to deal with it.” He takes a step forward and places a hand over my own. “You don’t have to do this.”

For a few seconds I enjoy the sensation of his fingers gently stroking my hand.

“Amber?” he prompts.

I shake my head. Coming back to reality. An uncomfortable reality. “I’m fine honestly. I’m not sure if the gatehouse is listed in the phone book or not. If it is I could call, see if Tina answers, tell her to stay put and that I’ll be straight over to talk to her.”

“No,” he reasons. “She might panic. We’ll go round there. Does she have a car?”

“Not sure. She might do. The public transport around here is pretty non-existent and I think she’s been out and about quite a bit visiting a few pubs and friends so she might have a car.”

“Let’s go and see if there’s a car other than Bert’s up at the gatehouse first shall we?” he says. “If she’s not at home we’ll widen the search from there.”

“Right.” Adrenaline is pounding through me and I need to do this. To do something. I need to help in whatever way I can.

“Amber.” He rests a hand on my arm. “I’ll do you a deal. You can come with me and help out but after we’re done with notifying Tina and getting her to the hospital you come and stay up at Ennis’ guest house with me tonight.”

I debate my options.

The prospect of returning, all alone, to my little flat in the early hours of the morning, scary thoughts whizzing through my head, isn’t an appealing one. “OK.” I nod.

“Good.” He gestures towards a closed door which I’m guessing he’s assuming, correctly as it happens, is the bedroom. “Go and pack some stuff now whilst we’re here then, before we head off to find Tina.”

I throw some basic toiletries and nightwear in a bag, not really paying attention to what I’m doing, and fifteen minutes later we’re at the huge gates which block off the drive up to Ennis’s place. There’s an old Land Rover parked in the driveway at the side of the stone gatehouse. Bert’s car – he would have walked up on to the moor to meet me, it’s only ten minutes or so from here. Parked in front of it is a little old-style Mini.

Before Charlie says anything I’m out of the car and knocking at the door of the gatehouse. Well, knocking isn’t quite the word for it… more like pummelling my fists on the door.

Charlie appears at my side. “Go easy.”

“She might be asleep and not hear me if I just knock normally,” I attempt to reason.

“I think the whole of Palstone can hear you,” Charlie mutters as the door is yanked open.

Tina, dressed in pyjama bottoms and a vest top, stares at us, wide awake, fear in her eyes. “What is it? What’s wrong?” She looks at Charlie. “You’re that guy from the police aren’t you?”

“Can we come in for a moment?” I ask. “You don’t know me Tina but I’m a friend of your dad’s. My name’s Amber.”

“What is it?” she repeats. “What’s wrong?” She turns back into the house and then, at the top of her lungs, shouts, “Dad! Are you awake? That police guy is here with somebody called Amber. Dad?”

I put an arm around her shoulders. “Amber, your dad isn’t at home. That’s why we’re here.”

She jerks away, her eyes darted from me to Charlie. “Where is he? What’s happened?”

“He’s going to be OK. He’s at the local hospital,” I say.

“What? No! What happened to him?”

“Why don’t you take a seat on the sofa for a moment?” Charlie says, his voice all calm and soothing as though he’s trying to reassure her.

“Can I get you a drink or anything?” I ask Tina. “A cup of sweet tea might help with the shock.”

She shakes her head, biting anxiously at her lower lip. “What happened?”

“It looks as though your dad went for a walk and some thugs set about him,” I answer.

“He got beaten up? Around here? That doesn’t make sense,” she says wide-eyes looking from me to Charlie.

I know what she means. I find it hard to believe myself. People don’t just attack people around Palstone. There was a reason for this; it definitely wasn’t random. Just like Joel falling into a quarry, it wasn’t an accident.

She looks terrified, poor kid.

“He’ll be fine. Try not to worry,” I say and then realise how silly that sounds in the circumstances. Of course she’ll worry.

“I want to go and see Dad, but,” she pauses, looking uncomfortable. “I might have had a bit too much to drink earlier at the Dog and Duck, I’m not sure if I’ll be legal to drive.”

“Don’t worry. Amber and I will take you to the hospital as soon as you’re dressed and ready,” Charlie says.

Tina is on her feet in seconds. “I’ll go and get changed.”

Once she’s out of earshot Charlie shakes his head, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “I hate this part of the job. Having to tell people that friends and family have been hurt or…” He lets the sentence trail off. 

I walk over and squeeze his arm then slip my own through his, leaning my head against his shoulder. “You really are quite a nice guy aren’t you underneath that tough investigator exterior?”

Charlie looks down at me, a faint smile on his lips but his eyes still worried. “Don’t go telling everyone will you?”

I stay in this position for longer than I probably should, enjoying the feel of his jacket against my cheek and the warmth of his body. And the smell of his aftershave.  Fresh and woody with hints of citrus, I think. Nice.

I force myself to stand upright and step away from him. Is now an appropriate time to be enjoying cuddles and noticing aftershave? I think not.

Tina appears back in the room, dressed in jeans and a hoodie, her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. Dark circles under her eyes suggest a lack of sleep and maybe that she’s been partying a little too much lately.

“Can we go?” she asks impatiently.

Charlie nods. “Of course. Just one more thing. Do you think you could help your dad out by throwing some things in a bag for him? You know, stuff he’ll want when he’s awake - pyjamas, comb, book, anything you can think he’ll need.”

She nods and turns, heading back to the hallway and what we presume to be Bert’s room. A few moments later she’s back with a rucksack, hastily stuffing a grey sweatshirt inside it. “I got some clothes and the book he’s reading and his phone and…”

I meet Charlie’s gaze. Phone? But wouldn’t he have had that with him?

“Tina,” Charlie says in that everything-is-going-to-be-fine tone of voice. “Any chance I could borrow that phone for just a minute? Your dad sent Amber a text earlier and we wondered if he’d tried to contact anybody else as well.”

Tina hands him the phone. “Can I take food into the hospital?” she asks heading for the kitchen. “Only Dad hates being without his chocolate digestives. I could take him some in.”

“Yes,” I reply. “Good idea. Go and get him his favourite biscuits.”

I have one eye on Tina and one on Charlie as he’s checking the phone. I watch as he scrolls through the phone which, thankfully, doesn’t require a passcode to access it. He holds the display up for me to see as we hear Tina clattering around searching for the biscuits in the kitchen. The text message I received from Bert is there.

“He didn’t make any other calls or send or receive any other text messages after the one he sent to you,” Charlie says. “You didn’t send him a reply to say you’d meet him like he’d asked?”

I shake my head. “I should have done, was going to but I was bickering with Debs about whether or not I should meet him and then…”

“And then you found the body in the road,” he finishes for me.

“Do you think someone followed him when he left this house to walk up to the moor?” I ask. “But why would they do that? Surely it wasn’t just a coincidence? We don’t have gangs going round beating people up in the middle of country lanes. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Unless they knew he had something to tell you, about the Joel case presumably and they wanted to shut him up.”

“But how could they know where he was going or what he was about to do? Unless they were somehow keeping tabs on him or his phone and saw the message but that doesn’t…”

“All done. Can we go now?” Tina asks, appearing back in the living room.

Charlie heads for the door and Tina and I follow.

When we arrive at the hospital it seems to take an age to locate Bert. Tina spots some public toilets and says she needs to go and wash her face. She looks wrung out from all the crying she’s been doing in the car on the way here. We both tried to reassure her that Bert will be fine but she’s distraught about the whole thing. As we wait outside Charlie dials the local police liaison officer on the case and asks if they have any news on Bert or the attack.

I eavesdrop anxiously, hoping Bert
is
going to come out of all this OK.

Just as Charlie finishes his phone call Tina appear from the Ladies, her hair tidied.

“Good news,” Charlie says as Tina joins us. “Your dad has been admitted and already checked over. He’s been badly beaten but there’s no permanent damage they say. He’s sedated for now but you can go in and see him. He’s been admitted to a private ward so the police can keep him under surveillance. Third floor.” He ushers us both towards the lift.

We locate the private room and I’m relieved to see Bert’s cuts have been cleaned up and he doesn’t look half as bad as he did when we found him up on the edge of the moor. Tina pushes forward and the policeman guarding the door steps across to stop her entering.

He glances questioningly at Charlie who flashes his badge and nods. The man moves aside letting Tina into the room where she takes her father’s hand and promptly dissolves into yet more tears.

Charlie must have requested the speedy treatment, the private room and the police watchman I realise. He knows Bert getting beaten up had something to do with Joel’s death. There’s got to be some connection, but what is it?

Charlie continues to examine Bert’s phone, scrolling through calls made and received but says there’s nothing suspicious.

“What are we going to do?” I ask. “We can’t leave a young girl here like this. I know there’s a police guard on the room but she’s upset and Bert is still out of it. I’ll stay with her.”

“Then I’ll stay too,” Charlie says, slipping into one of the plastic chairs in the corridor.

“There’s no need for either of you to stay.”

We both look up to see Tina standing in the doorway. “Before we left the house, when I was in my room getting changed, I called my mum. She’s just texted me to say she’s in the car park. I’ve given her directions up here.”

“I think I’ll go and get some drinks,” she says, her fingers fiddling nervously with the leather bracelets on her wrist. “Mum likes her coffee.”

Charlie gets to his feet. “I’ll go. How do you want the coffees?”

“Erm, black for Mum, milk and two sugars for me.”

He nods. “Got it.” Turning to me he asks, “Want anything?”

I shake my head.

“Won’t be long.”

“He’s going to be all right,” I say to Tina again as we stand and look through the open door into Bert’s room. “Tina, I know this probably isn’t the right time, you’re upset, we all are. But if you can think of anything which might help us find out who did this to your dad then please just call me or Charlie or whoever you feel most comfortable talking to.”