The Girl With Nine Lives, The Girl Who Bit Back, The Girl With Ten Claws 3 Book Boxset (The Adventures of Benedict and Blackwell Series)

by E. Earle

  I raised my eyebrows in a mock, ‘yeah right’ and continued shoving rubbish into a rusty wheelbarrow. Ben sneezed as I disturbed even more mess and meowed in complaint.

  “Go outside then,” I said to him. “You’re not exactly helping are you?”

  Actually, I had to take that back. He had already killed a dozen mice since we had started on the museum last week. He had lost his podginess and was now the grand hunter he had been before we had arrived at Craggy’s Peak in the summer.

  He hadn’t mentioned anything about Emily. My friend from the Midlands had given his offspring new homes since I had told him, but I sensed he was nonchalant about it all.

  “They’ll go where they need to go,” he told me calmly. “They’ve all got their part to play.”

  Oh yeah- that’s another thing. Ben can talk.

  Ben had been my childhood cat years ago and had disappeared when I was eleven. He had returned years later when I was on the edge of a mental breakdown and had saved my life from misery. He helped me through my depression at work, and also, ahem- that time when I got shot.

  We tried not to talk about it now. I was still edgy by the fact that Rino, my would-be-killer, had escaped from the prison van escorting him to do his sentence and still hadn’t been caught.

  My ex-boyfriend Calloway had left me messages reassuring me that he would catch him, but I tended to delete them now.

  Detective Arthur Calloway had found me when Rino shot me and effectively was probably the one who saved my life. That didn’t forgive him of the fact that when I came to the Midlands to talk, I found him with a leggy blonde at his local pub.

  He insisted that she was just a work colleague, but I didn’t even care anymore. I had gone to make amends so we could be friends, but to be honest; I just wanted that part of my life over with now.

  I gritted my teeth, recalling the moment in my head and felt my gut twist. Ok, maybe there was something still there, but I was sure that I would squash it down sooner or later.

  Brynn grunted as he threw another plank of wood outside and then stood in front of me with his hand on his hip. “Right,” he said, “you hungry?”

  Rolling my eyes gratefully, I allowed him to pull me up to my feet and glanced up as he towered over me. Brynn was well over six foot, wide shouldered and strongly built. Blessed with a seemingly yearly tan gifted to all surfers, and sharp features, he was admittedly what my friends would call, ‘a hottie.’

  What my friends didn’t know was that he was one of the most frustrating and stubborn people I had ever met. Both joint partners in the museum and Craggy’s Peak, Brynn and I came head to head about a lot of things, ranging from bills, décor, beer orders and what toilet roll to buy.

  He was a control freak and for some reason had promised my mother he would make sure to keep me safe from danger. That made my life a good seventy percent less harmonious than it should be.

  And probably a whole lot safer too.

  Blushing for no reason whatsoever, I pulled my hands away and saw him frown at my scars. He turned his head away just as quickly, as if checking the progress we had made. Brynn and I had run into an outbuilding that had been on fire in the summer to save our friend. I had thrown a gas canister away from the group of people that were surrounding us and had suffered severe burns as consequence. I stopped myself from glancing down at my palms. They were scarred, but I thought they had healed pretty well considering it was now October.

  Even though Brynn and I had never been a couple and never would be, the event made him even more annoyingly protective over me.

  Pulling my eyes away from him as he lifted some planks of wood from one side of the room to the other, I turned to the ginger cat. “Ben, shift,” I said bending down to retrieve my purple coat from beneath his backside.

  Flicking his tail at me, he haughtily walked out of the building.

  “Back tomorrow?” I asked, not looking at my business partner.

  Brynn shook his head and picked up the wheelbarrow. “Nah, we’ll have a break.”

  “Are you going to work more on your stuff?”

  “Maybe,” he said, wheeling it out of the door. “Are you coming? I want to lock up.”

  I took a quick look before I obeyed his Holy master. We had done a lot in the past week. We had pulled out all of the rubbish from the upstairs and were working on the downstairs now. The place needed rewiring, a new toilet and possibly a new kitchen. I was thinking about having a small area outside where people could buy refreshments, but we would have to see what our budget would say. Times were tough and Old Marley’s will didn’t have much to lend towards renovations for the place. We were working mostly from volunteers, donated supplies and services from professionals. I wasn’t sure how long we could depend on the charity of the locals.

  The pirate antiques were still stored at Brynn’s uncle’s garage after we had stolen them back from Old Marley’s hotelier giant brother. I shook my head as I walked outside to join Brynn. Had all that really happened in one season?

  Brynn shivered as he shoved the key in his pocket and pulled on his hoody.

  “You need some gloves,” I told him as he blew on his hands.

  “So do you.” An awkward pause passed between us then as his face screwed up in a pained expression. “I didn’t mean it like that-”

  “I know,” I said with an upraised eyebrow. A local had bought me a pair of leather fingerless gloves for my birthday to help cover the scars of my hands. Driving gloves they called them, but seeing I had a crappy Fiat Punto, I failed to recognise the purpose other than to hide my skin.

  He nodded, but I knew he was kicking himself. “I’ll get the drinks in,” he said apologetically.

  “Drinks, hey? I should make you feel guilty more often.”

  We sat and ate lunch in comfortable silence. I ordered my usual scallops and Brynn ordered his chicken burger and spicy wedges. Ben sat astutely next to me, watching customers stroll in and out with lazy half lidded eyes.

  The locals were used to him now, and would kick up a fuss on the rare occasion when I would be seen without him by my side. Ben and I were used to it by now. It was good for business and good for Ben’s ego.

  “I’m going to be away next week for a couple of nights,” Brynn said, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

  I looked up in surprise, trying to swallow a chunk of bread in time to speak. “Where you going?”

  “I’ve got a thing up in London.”

  “A thing?” I raised my eyebrows. “What kind of thing?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” he grunted, somewhat defensively. “Just know I’ll be gone for a couple of days.”

  “Sheesh, all right,” I muttered, wiping my fingers free of butter. “Calm down.”

  He shook his head and finished the last of his beer. “Let’s go over some ideas…”

  Rolling my eyes at his attempt of changing the subject, I watched him pull out a few pieces of paper with odd scribbles on.

  “I was thinking we could…”

  I let him talk. He spoke about colour schemes, exhibitions, generating new interest and if we should hire more staff. I was worried about money, but Brynn didn’t seem to think that was an issue.

  “Don’t worry,” he kept saying. “We’ll get it sorted.”

  I’m all up for positivity, but he was making me nervous with his optimism of getting the museum done with the dust left in the vault. But I soon found myself piping up about ideas of paints and positions and allowed myself to stop worrying about money for once.

  It wasn’t as if there weren’t other things for me to worry about.

  It was freezing on the way back. Luckily Craggy’s had a fire going when we walked in and there was already a small crowd inside to lend body heat. We had started doing music nights for local bands, and despite the slow start, it was now picking up.

  Craggy’s is a small surfer shack, dedicated to giving lessons for beginners to the advanced by our two Surf Masters, Brynn and Jack. People
could stay there as well and take advantage of our bundle packages, or if they wanted to do their own surfing, could use our equipment for a small rental fee. Things were going good.

  The place had been left to me by my biological father- sounds nice, hey? Maybe it would have been if the place hadn’t been £60k in debt and he had actually been in my life. He had left me the place so his family wouldn’t be lumbered by the money worries.

  I had no choice. I had to make it into a success. I had promised to share the profits with my sister, seeing as that was only fair, but it wasn’t making enough for me to pay the debts, the wages, pay myself a proper wage and have enough to give her as well. However, I had opened up an account for her son, my nephew, Rowan to put money into. It was a modest amount at the moment, but I always felt good when I put a bit more in each month.

  I saw Jack as I stepped behind the bar to look at the rota book. Brynn had popped off to his uncle’s to do some more work on his photography. He mostly did black and white, and when one of our staff, Donny, had almost died in a fire he had promised him he would do something with it. He had already done a few commissions for people after having a small show in the neighbouring town. I hated to think that he was putting that money into the museum, but I believed he was.

  I looked around at my own talents that I could offer and didn’t see much. My writing had come to a standstill recently. The stress of leaving my position at the college in my native Warwickshire had gotten to me more than I thought. I so wanted to be a success to my family, and I think they were disappointed when they heard I had decided to stay down at Craggy’s.

  My parents live in Australia, so when I do see them, it’s not for very long. They weren’t coming back this Christmas, and I was finding that difficult to process as well. Kayleigh, Ryan, my brother-in-law and Rowan were planning to spend it at Ryan’s mother’s.

  I was spending my first Christmas without family.

  “Stop it, Ellena,” I growled under my breath. “Stop torturing yourself.”

  I watched Brynn drink at the bar as Jack’s band performed. They were pretty good- in fact- they were more than good. Jack was the drummer, whilst the singer, bass and guitar player were unknown to me. Charlotte, our barmaid had gone off on a gap year with her sister. We were struggling to cover shifts, but her frequent postcards from exotic locations made me smile- plus the customers liked to come in and read of her travels. There was a great feeling of family at Craggy’s.

  The rain was pouring down outside and the wind clawing at the windows, threatening to steal the warmth from inside. I shivered and pulled the sleeves of my jumper over my scarred hands, my fingers cold despite sitting next to the fire. I had been praying for Autumn to come quickly after the blinding Summer we had had, but as soon as Winter came down, I was soon rethinking my wishes.

  Brynn and I sat at the bar whilst Jessica, another member of staff pulled drinks for locals. He was drinking a pint of bitter whilst I favoured my usual rum and coke; Ben comfortably curled up on my lap. I saw Brynn frown and pull out his phone. He tapped on the screen for a short while and then shoved it back. His frown deepened when he saw me watching and I looked away quickly, feeling a hot blush crawl up my neck.

  Suddenly the door burst open.

  A man walked in, mid-forties, pale and soaked to the bone. He looked like any other ordinary man but for the look of horror on his face.

  “Please! For the love of all things good,” he called out, “Someone, please help me!”

  Brynn jumped from his seat and the music screeched to a halt as if it had brakes. A hush descended on the inhabitants of Craggy’s like a blanket, sun weathered faces all turned in the direction of the stranger.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, hopping off my bar stool, spilling Ben from my lap.

  The man’s eyes latched onto mine then, and with that terrified haunted look in his eyes, his lips spluttered; “There’s a body on the beach…”

  Hell broke loose.

  “Someone get him a drink,” Brynn growled, sitting him down on a chair. People were standing up, putting on their coats to help and I grabbed mine too. Brynn stood in front of me then, barring my exit from the door, his coat already on.

  “Where do you think you’re going?”

  His voice was low as he stared down at me, making my heart skip a beat. My mouth worked uselessly as heat enveloped my body. “I was going to-”

  “No,” he growled. “You’re not going out there.”

  I blinked in surprise, and took a step back; his height always taking me off guard. “Why not?” I asked, licking my lips. “I can help-”

  He shook his head. “There’s other ways to help.” He turned to Jessica then, who was comforting the man. “Call an ambulance, ok?”

  The man stood up then as if he had been electrocuted. “I have to come with you,” he said, swallowing as if he wanted to be sick. “I know where the body is.”

  Brynn looked like he wanted to argue but then reluctantly nodded his head. “I’m sorry you’ve got to go back out there,” he grunted.

  Something in my body boiled, and I didn’t even know why. “I can help,” I seethed. “Jess- grab me a torch from beneath the bar will you?”

  “Ellena- I said no.” Brynn’s face had turned into an expression I had never seen before. Colour had drained from his usual tanned face and his voice had taken on a tone that sounded almost deadly. “I don’t want you seeing this- You’ve never seen a body washed up before-”

  My mind whirled at his behaviour. “And you have?” I snapped.

  He blinked as though I had stabbed him. He took a second, and his expression was all I needed for an answer.

  Oh damn.

  I stared at him then, no idea of what to say, how to proceed or even what to do. Jessica’s hand was still outstretched towards me holding the torch and I couldn’t even bring myself to grab it.

  “Nothing to say, Ellena?” he said coldly, his eyes burning into me. “What a change.”

  I watched numbly as he snatched the torch from Jessica and headed out with the other men who had volunteered. He didn’t even look back as he opened the door and allowed himself to be swallowed up by the black.

  “I’ve never seen him like that,” I said, pacing the floor in my room. “God! I should have kept my mouth shut.”

  Ben watched me with glowing orange eyes, his tail flicking with every direction change I made. “You weren’t to know,” he said, quickly giving a back leg a lick.

  I growled in annoyance and kicked a rogue shoe across the room. Pacing to the window for the hundredth time, I peered out but could see no sign of anything happening. Time had been called, the locals had gone home and still no news of Brynn. I was getting worried, despite still being furious at the way he had spoken to me.

  “Don’t worry,” Jack had told me. “He’ll be home soon enough. You know what he’s like- he won’t leave a job until it’s finished.”

  I winced at the thought of retrieving a dead body as a ‘job’ and sat down on my bed with my hands over my head.

  It was nearly 3am when he came home.

  I was out of bed like a flash as soon as I heard the door open and flew down the several flights of stairs that Craggy’s had over its four floors. It was too late to remember that I was wearing a silk slip my sister had bought me for my birthday but I didn’t really care. I caught him in the hallway as he pulled off his coat, soaked to the bone.

  “What are you doing still up?” he asked not even looking at me as he yanked off his boots.

  I swallowed, nervous and pushed my hair from my face. “I wanted to see how you were…”

  “Yeah well,” he said looking up at me finally and then did a double take. “Jesus, Ellena, what are you wearing?”

  I blinked, looked down and crossed my arms over my chest hurriedly. “Don’t get excited,” I grumbled, squirming under his summative gaze.

  “This is how you wait up for me?”

  I scowled at him.

 
He quirked an eyebrow as he pegged up his coat and shrugged. “If this is a way to apologise for being so bloody stubborn then I’m all up for it.”

  “Apologise?” I took a breath then before I launched into attack mode and decided to take the high road. “I just wanted to make sure you were ok.”

  He looked at me, and I could see his mask of control slipping. He tore his eyes from mine and pretended to concentrate on throwing his mucky boots in a nearby cupboard. “It was all you could expect it to be,” he said rather matter-of-factly, still not meeting my gaze. “A man had been washed up; ambulance took him away, end of story.”

  “Was he dead?”

  Brynn looked at me, and it was a look of pity at my naivety. “Yes, Ellena,” he said and then paused with a sigh. “Come on, it’s late, I’m tired- and you look like you’re expecting King Kong to sweep you away. We’ll talk about this in the morning.”

  He made a movement with his arms as if I was a goose needed herding and I turned to walk back up the stairs, letting the King Kong comment slide. Not hearing him follow, I looked behind. He was watching me, face drawn and serious. “You’re not coming?” I asked him.

  He shook his head and waved me off. “No, go on up,” he said tiredly. “I’m going to sit down here for a while.”

  My hair fell back around my face as I nodded, not knowing what else to say and continued walking up the steps to bed.

  I could tell despite his no-nonsense nature, he had just had to relive something horrifying.

  I doubted either of us would sleep tonight.

  There was a strange feeling at Craggy’s the next morning. People came in serious and sober, quiet and reserved in their discussion of last night’s events.

  I hadn’t slept. I suffer with awful nightmares, and for some reason dreamt that I was lost out to sea. Shaking my head, I caught a glimpse of myself in the bar mirror. My hair was long, mostly dark except from the highlights from the summer that travelled halfway down the rest. My eyes were grey, set in a pale face with dark circles; the blusher, mascara and natural slick of lipstick only going so far to disguise I was exhausted. The baggy jumper I was wearing did nothing to disguise the fact that I had lost weight since arriving in the Summer. I sneered at my reflection before emptying the washer of glasses. I had been asked out a few times at the pub but as soon as they set eyes on Brynn, they scuttled off.