“Is it?” Esme pipes up.
“Never assume things are what they seem. Assumptions are dangerous. Always question,” Charlie replies. He’s walking up and down between the three of us and Poppy. As he reaches the end of the zone he’s pacing nearest to me, he glances across and briefly meets my eye. “People can play all sorts of games and tricks on you.”
My stomach clenches at the thought Charlie might have lied to me. I know this is all part of the assignment, a test we have to pass, but I still feel a flicker of unease at the idea of Charlie being the bad guy. Even a pretend bad guy.
“You’re not the kidnapper,” Mitch says, getting to his feet. “You’re playing us right now.”
Charlie spins round to face him. “And why do you say that?”
“What’s your motive? Why would you kidnap Poppy?” Mitch asks, taking a step closer to Charlie. “David and Lottie, they both had motive. They also had opportunity.”
“Explain,” Charlie says, standing tall, holding his ground, the rifle hanging down at his side in his right hand.
“It’s clear, isn’t it? Lottie is having a fling with the groom and doesn’t want him to marry Poppy. That’s her motive. David, Poppy’s ex, is jealous, he wasn’t happy about her ending their relationship. He wants her back. He stops the wedding and steals her away. Motive.”
Charlie holds up a hand to silence him. “Ah, motive, yes, but not opportunity. Not in David’s case. I understood he was unable to attend the wedding ceremony because he’s in Spain. Motive, but no opportunity.”
Finally I find my voice. “If David had left the country, then that would be true. But what if he didn’t? His twin brother Arthur could have gone out there instead though. He could have left for Spain with David’s passport.”
A faint smile touches the corner of Charlie’s mouth but it’s gone as quickly as it appeared. He walks towards me. “Can you prove any of that?”
Inwardly, I sigh. We have no proof David is here, other than finding his car in the hotel garage. We still need to talk to Billy to find out who left David’s car there. Taking into account the making out session in the car park last night, it does suggest it’s more likely to be Artie, David’s brother, than David himself, who is here. “No. Not yet anyway,” I reply. “But we could with more time.”
Charlie shakes his head. “Sorry. Your time is up.”
“We’ve still got just over an hour before the deadline we were given!” Esme protests.
“But once you stormed the lair of the kidnapper, you effectively stopped the clock.” He turns and walks towards Poppy, circling her chair. “You’ve found the victim. Now you have to name the kidnapper. Time to make a decision, folks.”
Esme fidgets in her seat. “Does it have to be a team decision or can we say individually? Do we have to all agree on the same person?”
A door opens at the other end of the boathouse and James and two men I don’t know walk in, presumably these guys are the agency assessors who will decide our fate.
“No, you don’t have to all agree,” Charlie replies. “Things don’t always tie themselves up quite so neatly in the real world. You can agree to disagree but we do need to know now.”
The two men stay near the door but James walks across and stands next to Charlie. “I’m going to ask each of you to write the kidnapper’s name on the piece of paper I’m about to hand you. Write the name you think, along with why the evidence points to it being that person, then fold the paper. I’ll collect them from you and we’ll see what the verdict is,” James says.
I’m so nervous my palms are all sweaty as I try to grip the paper and pen James hands to me. I close my eyes and concentrate. What does my gut instinct tell me? Which of the three candidates is the kidnapper? Charlie? No. There’s no motive, like Mitch said. Well, not one that we’re aware of. Yet. We hadn’t even factored him into this assignment. There was no reason to. But what did he say? Sometimes things are not what they seem. We thought he’d turned up after Poppy was kidnapped, but maybe he was here before and didn’t put in an appearance until later. It’s a possibility.
There’s no more time for investigating though. It’s decision time. Out of the corner of my eye I see Mitch fold his piece of paper and hand it to James. I need to make a choice. Now. If I get this wrong then it will be goodbye to a job offer from the agency. All of these months I’ve spent in training will have been for nothing. I’ll have to go home and try to find myself a different job - whilst Charlie disappears off on investigations which I can never be a part of. Jealousy surges up inside of me. I want this job. I have to get this right.
Who is the kidnapper? Is it the David and Artie combo or Lottie? Both seem to have motive and both could have had opportunity. Both appear to want to put a stop to Poppy and Taylor’s wedding. My mind conjures up Lottie and the way she’s been behaving since we arrived. Her body language. The things she’s said and, perhaps just as importantly, the things she hasn’t. Any markers for suspicious behaviour? Anxious looks? Yes to both for Lottie, I think. Plus, there’s the bracelet she stole from Poppy’s room. Then there’s the fact she was having a fling with the groom and how jealous she seemed of Poppy being the one, for once, getting all of the attention. I’ve never even met David so I can’t use the same checks there. True, he could well be a kidnapper, but I can only go on what my gut instinct says. His car is here, but he’s supposed to be in Spain. Would his brother actually agree to drive up here and kidnap Poppy? That would really be brotherly love, if he’d agreed to do that. Was Poppy perhaps involved with David behind Taylor’s back? Were they just friends and it was all innocent on her part, but David thought otherwise and misinterpreted the whole thing, imagining that she wanted the two of them to get back together? What if it’s neither of them and Poppy’s estranged father is actually the kidnapper? He didn’t want to miss out on his daughter’s big day, so he came up here to persuade her to let him walk her down the aisle, she refused, things got fiery, and he kidnapped her to stop the wedding whilst he tried to reason with her.
Beside me Esme gives her bit of paper back to James. It’s just me left to complete this last hurdle of the assignment now then. I let my gaze fall on Charlie. He’s standing next to Poppy’s chair. His face is expressionless. The rifle still in his hands. I fidget and hope to attract his attention but he stands perfectly still and stares at the wall above our heads. He won’t look at me. James however clears his throat and looks at me expectantly. I have to go with what I feel is right. Taking a deep breath I scribble my answer, fold the paper and hand it to him. It’s a long shot, but it felt like the right solution to the case to me. Crossing my fingers behind my back, I get to my feet and hope and pray I’ve got this right.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“OK, guys.” James takes the three pieces of paper and hands them to one of the agency men lurking in the corner of the boathouse.
“Now what?” Esme asks, looking around nervously.
“Now you can go,” James replies simply.
“But you haven’t told us who the kidnapper is,” she says, getting to her feet. “Or even if the three of us agreed on who we think the kidnapper is.”
“That’s right, we haven’t told you who the person is, but we will later, and regarding the other thing, we don’t intend to share that particular piece of information. We will go away and consult on your performances over the past two days, plus how you have fared throughout your training these past few months in the cases of the trainee support officers. Things will, of course, be approached differently for Mitch as a qualified agent seeking to move up the rankings.”
“So what does happen next? How do we…er…” My mouth goes dry at the thought of waiting to hear whether or not we have passed this assignment.
“Get your training results?” James says, finishing my sentence for me. “We’ll be in touch soon. For now, I suggest you take some time out. You’ve had a hectic twenty-four hours.”
“And do what?” Mitch scowls.
“We’re in a beautiful part of the country,” James says, gesturing around us. “Why not go and enjoy it?”
Across the room, Charlie is chatting to the two agency men. I’d love to know what they’re saying. Poppy, now untied thanks to Charlie, has joined them and they’re all talking in low voices. Is Poppy (or whatever her real name is) from the agency too? I thought she was hotel staff or an actress, but maybe she’s another special agent playing a role in this assignment.
I follow Esme and Mitch outside into the dark and quiet night. It feels as though there’s an emptiness inside of me. The assignment is over. My training is over. Well, the initial part of it. If I do get offered a support officer role, then the training will be ongoing, on the job and via various day or week courses and career development stuff.
“Come on,” Esme says, linking arms first with me and then with Mitch. “It’s over, let’s go and celebrate.”
“Celebrate what?” I ask, as we make our way back to the rowing boat and Lee, who amazingly, is still waiting patiently for us on the Lady Charlotte. “I’m too worried if I’ve got the identity of the kidnapper right and whether or not I’m going to pass this training and get a job offer.”
“Don’t be daft,” she says. “Of course you’ve passed. You haven’t put a foot wrong. Plus, of course, you have the added advantage of having sexy special agent Charlie in your corner. I’m sure he’ll put a good word in for you with the agency guys.”
I gulp anxiously. Is that what people think? That Charlie will ‘ensure’ I get a job? I don’t want that. If I have got a job, then I want to know I’ve achieved it on my own and because the agency believes I will be an asset. Charlie’s words come back yet again to haunt me. He told me about the lake and the islands and gave me a clue about fishing for things out here. Was he telling me things he shouldn’t have?
“So, what name did you put on the paper then?” Mitch surprises me by asking.
“Oh no,” Esme interrupts. “No sharing. At least not until after we get our assignment results. Deal?”
“Deal!” I say and Mitch reluctantly grunts his agreement too.
We reach the edge of the bank where our little rowing boat is moored and Mitch tugs on the rope to pull it closer so we can climb in. Esme goes first and just as I’m about to step onto the bobbing boat a hand snakes around my waist. I step back and into Charlie’s arms.
“You two go ahead,” Charlie says to Mitch and Esme. “I’ll take Amber back across the lake.”
Mitch clambers in to join Esme, and Charlie pushes the boat back for them with his foot.
“I’m so proud of you,” Charlie says once the others are out of earshot. “You’ve completed this assignment brilliantly.”
“It was all about team work,” I reply, enjoying the feel of his hands at my waist. Then an unnerving image of Charlie bursts into my head and a shiver runs through me. I step away and look at him.
“What?” he asks, tilting his head to one side as he returns my questioning gaze.
“You, the rifle, the…”
“This whole assignment is a fake, Amber, you know that. I was just doing my job, like they asked me to. Playing a role. OK?”
Slowly, I nod. “OK.”
“I was just the go between on this case. The intention all along was for you guys to find me in the boathouse, then you’d have to name who you each thought the kidnapper was. You finding the boathouse as the place where Poppy was being held would only have solved one aspect of the case. The agency guys also needed you to pin down who kidnapped her, and it was my job to play host whilst you made your final choices on that front.”
A thought suddenly occurs to me. “Dorothea called Poppy’s phone when we started this investigation. The person who answered used that special software to disguise their voice. Was it you on the other end of that phone?”
Charlie shakes his head. “No, it wasn’t me. I think that was Colin, one of the assessors from the agency. He was keen to engage with you all in some way as part of the investigation.”
“Oh, right, I see.” I shiver again, this time from the cold night air wrapping itself around me.
“Anyway, it’s getting late and it’s freezing, so let’s get out of here, shall we?”
I peer out across the dark water of the lake. “How are we getting back to the hotel? Do you have a boat? Hang on; I probably shouldn’t travel back with you and the agency guys. That wouldn’t look right.”
“We’re not with the others. I have a small motor launch just on the other side of the island, we’ll use that. Besides, the others are heading to the Roseby, and we’re going somewhere else entirely.”
“Oh? Where are we going then?”
“I’m booked into a bed and breakfast in town so I thought I’d see if I could tempt you to share my room for the night.”
“I don’t know,” I say with a frown. “I don’t want to be accused of fraternising with somebody from the agency who is involved in the decision on whether or not I get offered a job.”
Charlie holds both hands up in a gesture of innocence. “If you’re planning on seducing me to get a job then part of me would love to take you up on the offer. However, the honest part of me feels I should declare you’d be wasting your time. I hold no such sway with the agency on that particular matter.”
“You don’t?” I ask, wondering if that is actually true or if he’s just covering his tracks, knowing I’d be mad with him if he did interfere.
“I don’t.” He leans in for the briefest but sweetest of kisses. “Have I just blown my chances of you seducing me?”
“I would never have resorted to those kinds of tactics anyway,” I tease. “I’m a good girl.”
Charlie wraps an arm around my shoulders and leads me to our waiting boat. “Yes, you are good, very good indeed,” he says with a cheeky grin. “Come back to my room and remind me just how good you are.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The custard slice on the plate in front of me looks delicious but, no matter how much I try, I can’t bring myself to eat it.
“Come on, Amber, you need to eat something. All you had at breakfast was some orange juice. I thought bringing you here and putting your favourite cake in the world in front of you would mean you at least had some food inside of you.”
I push the plate away. “Sorry, I just can’t face it.” We’re in a little café down on the lakefront in Delamere. The sun is out and it’s a beautiful autumn day. People bustle past with all their hiking gear on, ready to tackle a few hours of hill trekking. Pretending to turn to look at the view I glance at my phone in what I hope is a discreet way.
“That’s the tenth time you’ve looked at your phone, hoping for a text from the agency guys, since we arrived here,” Charlie says, then finishes off the huge slice of chocolate gateau on his own plate.
“It’s been eighteen hours since we all left the boathouse,” I say, tapping a fork irritably against my plate. “Shouldn’t they have decided by now?”
“Yeah, it’s been eighteen hours, but the agency guys will probably have been sleeping for about eight of those hours. There’s a lot of information for them to go through today. I doubt they’ll be ready to make their final decisions until late this afternoon.” He sips his coffee. “I’d say relax and enjoy a well-earned break but I know I’d be wasting my breath.”
Charlie’s phone buzzes into life and he glances at the screen before answering it. “Yep.”
Ever since Charlie arrived in Cumbria I’ve been dreading the call from agency allocation which will mean he has to leave immediately, heading off who knows where on a new case. Is this that call? Will he have to leave before I find out my assignment results? Will I be celebrating or commiserating alone?
He glances across at me and winks. “Yeah, OK, thanks. I’ll get that sorted.” Ending the call he reaches across the table and takes my hand, squeezing it gently. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. It was just a little reminder from agency admin to sign some docum
ents about my last case.”
I smile weakly. “Right.”
“If you’re not going to eat that custard slice then we may as well get out of here. We could have a wander around the town, if you fancy that?”
“Sounds good and it might help distract me for a while.”
A waitress arrives at our table to clear away the plates and mugs. Charlie beams her a winning smile. “I don’t suppose there’s any chance of getting the custard slice to go is there? Amber’s not feeling too good at the moment but she might fancy it in a bit.”
“Of course, sir,” the woman says, blushing slightly as Charlie sends another smile her way. “I’ll go and get a box for it.”
We walk around town, exploring the little flower-filled stone mews with their intriguing art galleries and shops selling hiking gear and camping equipment. Just before three in the afternoon we head back to Charlie’s bed and breakfast. We’ve checked out every nook and cranny of Delamere, and spent ages sitting down by the edge of the lake throwing bits of bread, purchased especially for the job, at the greedy swans. And I still haven’t heard from the agency guys with their decision.
I’m about to step into a bath of rose scented bubbles when I hear my phone buzzing. I left it in the bedroom on the dressing table. I think a part of me was hoping if I actually parted company with the phone it might, somehow, magically make it ring. Maybe my idea worked. Charlie walks into the bathroom, grinning from ear to ear, and hands me the phone. “It’s them.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“Well?” Charlie asks, raising a questioning eyebrow. He’s sitting on the rim of the roll top bath.
“I’ve been summoned back to the Roseby. I have to report to the lounge at the hotel by five o’clock.”
“OK. Great. You’ve still got time for your bath and then we can head up there.”
I nod but don’t say anything. Charlie softly tilts my chin up with his finger until he can see my face. “There’s nothing to worry about, Amber. Believe in yourself. I believe in you. The agency would be crazy to pass up the chance to have you on board, OK?”
Amber Reed Mysteries Volume One: Romantic Comedy Mystery Series Box Set (Amber Reed Celebrity Crimes Investigation Agency Mystery Box Set Book 1) Page 30