“OK,” I say, trying to summon up some belief in my abilities. “I wonder if Esme and Mitch will have passed the test.”
“You and Esme seem to have gotten on pretty well.”
“Yes, she was great to work with. I really hope she’s gets to be a support officer for the agency.” I nervously examine my fingernails. “I think she likes Mitch. If they end up working together perhaps they’ll become more than co-workers.”
Charlie grins. “Like we did you mean?”
“Kind of, just with more arguing in their case. They seem to like to bicker with each other quite a bit.”
“Oh, right, and we never argue, do we?” Charlie flicks some bath suds at me.
“Not very often,” I reply, flicking water back at him as he leaps out of the way. “Only when you’re annoying me.”
“I never annoy you,” he replies with a mock frown before disappearing out of the bathroom door.
There’s zero chance of relaxing in the bath, so I spend ten minutes soaking in the bubbles as my mind works through every possibility. Soon I’ll know if I’ll be the agency’s newest trainee support officer or if I’ll be heading home to Derbyshire and checking the local paper for the job adverts. I wonder if Esme has passed and if Mitch is going to get promoted to the next level of special agent.
At quarter to five I’m standing at the entrance to the Roseby. My palms are sweating and I don’t think I can speak. Charlie opens the doors and I step inside, trying to calm my breathing. We walk hand in hand down to the door of the lounge. Charlie kisses me on the cheek. “Go get ‘em,” he says with a wink and then turns and walks away, leaving me to face my fate.
I knock on the door and James answers it, his face giving nothing away as he nods a welcome and beckons me into the room. That’s part of agency training, learning to show no emotions on your face. James does it perfectly.
“Take a seat, Miss Reed,” the older (and scarier looking) of the two agency guys says. “My name is Victor, this is Colin and, of course, you know James.”
I smile nervously. “Hello.”
“Now, we have gone through all of the information relating to the various stages of your training as supplied by James, your appointed trainer, regarding the various courses you have attended these past few months. We have also assessed your involvement in the kidnapped bride assignment here at the Roseby and noted your levels of input, initiative and much more besides.”
Clasping my hands in my lap, I wish they’d hurry up and tell me their verdict.
“You correctly named the kidnappers and you were very active throughout this investigation. A good team player as well.”
Kidnappers. He said kidnappers – plural. Phew.
“So it was David and Lottie behind the kidnapping?” I check.
“Yes, it was,” Colin replies. “How did you figure out it was both of them, not just one?”
“They both had reason to want to stop the wedding. Lottie because she was jealous of Poppy and she wanted Taylor for herself. David because he couldn’t let go of Poppy, he loved her and wanted her back. I couldn’t decide between them and then I remembered something Dorothea said.”
Colin raises a questioning eyebrow. “Which was?”
“She said David and Poppy had first met at university and then lost touch once they’d finished their studies. Lottie told us she’d known Poppy since they were at university together. Which suggested Lottie also knew David back then as well. That was the link between them. My gut instinct told me they’d planned the kidnapping together. Somehow they were hoping to stop the wedding completely and destroy Poppy and Taylor’s relationship in the hope Lottie would get Taylor, and David would win Poppy back. By getting Artie to do their dirty work - whether for brotherly love or money - they managed to keep themselves out of the picture so Poppy wouldn’t know they were involved with the whole plot.” Pausing for breath I wonder if I should admit the bit I hadn’t quite figured out.
“Is there anything else you wish to add?” Colin checks.
I decide honesty is the best policy. “I’m afraid I hadn’t worked out what they planned to do next. They needed some way for Poppy to go back to her life unharmed and yet ensure she broke up with Taylor, whilst not implicating either of themselves in the kidnapping. David had created an alibi for himself by being in Spain. Lottie had played the best friend card to the hilt, trying to ensure Poppy would never dream Lottie could be involved in conspiring to stop her wedding.”
“It doesn’t matter what could have happened next, especially in this scenario,” he says with a nod of approval. “It wasn’t a part of your assignment to address those particular issues.”
Phew. Thank goodness for that.
Victor turns towards James. “As Amber has been your trainee, perhaps you’d like to tell her our decision?”
James, face still unreadable, reaches for a piece of paper, walks over and hands it to me. I take it from him but it’s all rolled up with a black ribbon around it. Do I open it or what?
“Go ahead,” he says.
My fingers are shaking so much I struggle to untie the ribbon. Eventually I manage to free the black silk from the paper and it falls to the floor. I unroll the pass certificate and tears swim in front of my eyes. I look up at James.
“Congratulations, Amber,” he says, his face lighting up. “Welcome to the agency. That is, of course, if you wish to accept our offer of employment?”
I nod and, hoping I’m not making a major etiquette faux pas, hug James. “Yes! Yes, please. I’d love to work for the CCIA.”
Victor clears his throat and I hastily step away from James, my cheeks flushing red with embarrassment and excitement. “Excellent,” Victor says, shaking my sweaty hand before I have time to wipe it on my skirt. “We’ll be holding a small gathering in the marquee shortly. Everyone involved in this case is invited to attend. I trust you will join us?”
“I’d love to,” I gush, wanting to hug Victor and Colin right now but managing to resist.
“Why don’t you and Charlie head round to the marquee now?” James says, steering me back towards the door. “The guys who have helped stage this case are all round there already. Everyone else will be there shortly.”
“What about Esme and Mitch? Did they pass too?” I ask, lowering my voice to a whisper.
“Sorry, I can’t tell you,” James replies as he opens the door to the corridor.
Charlie is lurking outside, pacing up and down, as he hears the door open he wheels round, an expectant look on his face. I smile and in two steps he’s whisking me off my feet and twirling me around. “I knew you could do it!”
I laugh as one of my shoes flies off and lands about five feet down the hall. Charlie puts me down and I hobble to retrieve it. Slipping it back on my foot, I turn around to see James and Charlie high-five each other as though some plan they’d hatched up has come off successfully. Icy dread replaces my elation. Have I truly achieved this on my own or has Charlie ensured I’m offered a job? Did he tell me things he shouldn’t have? Did he plant clues in our conversation to help me with the assignment? I want this job so much, but not if I’ve cheated. I don’t want to pass up this opportunity to work for the agency and I don’t want to get Charlie into trouble, but I can’t spend forever wondering…
James and Charlie are chatting ten to the dozen and I look around, debating what to do. There’s a door right next to where I’m standing and I wonder if it’s another door into the lounge. I edge closer and push at it tentatively. It opens, so I peer inside. It is the same lounge, but from the other side. Victor and Colin are chatting over biscuits and coffee. At the sound of my heels on the parquet flooring they look over.
“Miss Reed?” Victor says. “Was there something you wanted?”
Now or never. I step forward decisively. Here goes everything I’ve worked for. “Yes, there is. I wanted to ask who the official people from the agency involved in this case were. Is the woman who played Poppy from the CCIA?”
> Looking a little confused, he nods. “Yes, she is. She works in agency support back at HQ.”
“Were there any other people from the agency who were briefed to casually supply clues, you know, snippets of information to help us solve the case?”
“Most of the other people were actors we hired or hotel staff who volunteered to help out.”
I gulp. “So nobody else was officially tasked with supplying specific clues about the case?”
Victor and Colin exchange glances. “Yes, there was one other person. Charlie Huxton.” Victor pushes his glasses down his nose and looks over the top of them at me. “I believe you know him?”
I nod, and gulp nervously.
“Charlie was brought in as, shall we say, an additional test for you. We are, of course, aware of your relationship with Agent Huxton. He declared, as required by the agency, that the two of you were involved when he first recommended we consider you for support officer training. We thought that, should his caseload allow, it would be useful to have him here whilst you underwent your final assessment. It enabled us to see if you allowed him to distract you from the task at hand. It also allowed us to check if you would blindly believe he was incapable of being the kidnapper. He was instructed to test your commitment to this assignment. He was also told to drop clues into your conversation to help you and the others solve this case. He was told to tell you about the lake, the islands, the fishing and the opportunity to catch all sorts of things out there on the water. I trust that he did that?”
A noise makes me turn and I see James and Charlie standing in the doorway.
“Miss Reed?” Victor prompts.
I turn back to him and nod. “Yes, sir, that’s exactly what he did.”
“Excellent. We wanted to throw in some red herrings and additional complications to add layers to this assignment. Now, perhaps you’d care to go and join the little celebratory party in the marquee? We’re expecting Agent Hargreaves at any moment to discuss his assessment.”
I scurry out of the room, past Charlie, head down. He knows what I was doing in there. He knows I was checking up on his involvement in the whole kidnapped bride case. I’m out of the hotel and taking deep calming breaths of fresh air on the lawn before Charlie appears at my side.
“I’m sorry,” I say, looking everywhere but at him. “I had to be sure I’d got the job on my own merits.”
“Even if it meant losing the job as soon as you’d been given it?” he asks, his voice surprisingly soft.
Is he mad at me or not?
“Yes,” I reply, still avoiding direct eye contact.
“You actually thought I’d fed you clues I shouldn’t have to help you pass? You thought I’d rigged it so you’d get offered a job?”
“Yes,” I say again, more quietly this time.
He takes my hands in his and turns me to face him. I finally look up and into his eyes. “I’m sorry. I know I could have got you into all sorts of trouble but I had to do it. I had to ask the question.”
“I understand why you did it.” He smiles and relief floods through me. “You don’t shy away from a challenge. It’s one of the many things that makes you excellent for this job. Of course, I might have been tempted to try to blackmail somebody, but I knew there was no need, not with you. Luckily for me, I got myself involved with a brave, smart, sexy, resourceful and honest woman. So, am I forgiven for trying to distract you on behalf of the agency?”
For a moment I don’t reply, looking thoughtful. “Maybe…” I eventually say. “I think you’re going to have to make it up to me though.”
“Anything you want, name it,” he says, leaning forward and whispering in my ear, making me go all goose bumpy.
As he steps back I stand on tiptoe and move to plant a kiss on his cheek.
Charlie turns his face at the last second so my kiss lands on his mouth rather than his cheek. What I’d intended to be a quick peck swiftly turns into a full blown kiss. The wind swirls around us and it starts to rain, but neither of us takes any notice. We are lost in the moment. All the pressure, the worry, anxiety, the nerves are gone now, replaced with relief that I’ve got the job and that I did it without Charlie’s help.
“Break it up, you two,” a voice says behind us. Reluctantly we end our kiss.
James is grinning at us as he pulls me into a hug. “Congratulations, Amber. My record of trainees that I’ve worked with being offered employment with the agency remains intact. Thank you for that.”
“You’re very welcome,” I laugh. “Joining us for a celebratory drink?”
“Sorry, no,” James says, pulling two envelopes from the pocket of his jacket. He hands one envelope to me. “Can you sign this?”
“What is it?” I take the envelope and open it. “My contract of employment? Already?”
“Yep.” He hands me a pen. “It’s all pretty standard, nothing untoward. Charlie will vouch for that. We’d like you to sign it straight away.”
“Now?” I say. “What’s the rush?”
James waves the other envelope in front of us. “This is the rush. I have your first case.”
“What?” I gasp, taking a step back and stumbling slightly as my heels sink a little in the damp grass of the lawn.
“It just came in and we thought it would be perfect for you guys,” James explains.
Charlie moves to take the assignment envelope, his fingers closing around the edge. He shoots a questioning look at James, asking, without words, if he is allowed to open the envelope or not. If Charlie has been assigned to this case with me, then he can open it. If he hasn’t, he can’t read what the note says. This is where we’ve now got ourselves involved in a whole other level of complication. Whether we’re working cases together or apart, life is definitely not going to be a picnic.
James nods his approval and Charlie grabs the envelope and opens it. I step closer to read what it says but James places a restraining hand on my arm. “You can’t see that until you sign the contract and officially become an agency employee.”
I scribble my signature without so much as attempting to scan through the five page contract of employment. I trust James, and I trust Charlie, if they say the contract is fine, then it’s fine. I push the signed document back at James, excitement bubbling inside of me. This is it. My first case. Even better, I’ve been assigned to work with Charlie. For now, anyway. I read though the details of the case.
“Dynamo Monsoon? I love their music!” I say, as I see their name mentioned on the piece of paper. Then I read the rest of the note. The band’s former lead singer Flynn Garrison has been found dead on a beach on a remote Scottish island. My stomach dips and whirls. No more playing at cases with fake kidnapped brides. This is real. A man has been murdered. “When do we leave?”
“You should already be on your way,” James replies. “You’ve got five minutes to pack and get out of here.”
Charlie grabs my hand and we sprint through the drizzle to the hotel so I can get my things.
“What about Esme and Mitch?” I ask, stopping in my tracks. “I can’t leave without saying goodbye to them, and I want to know how they got on. Did they pass the test too?”
“There’s no time for that,” Charlie says.
“I have to know.” I turn to spot James heading into the marquee. “James!”
He jogs back over. “What’s up?”
“How did Esme and Mitch get on? I haven’t got time to speak to them now.”
James sighs. “I shouldn’t be doing this but, between us, Esme passed too and has been offered a job. She’s still in with Victor and Colin.”
“And Mitch?”
“Sorry,” James shakes his head. “The powers that be thought he needed to do some teamwork training. They think he’s a good agent but just needs to polish up his people skills, with colleagues and with his clients. He’ll stay as the same level agent he is until he completes the allotted extra training, then we’ll assess him again.”
I nod. “OK, thanks for t
elling me. Will you say goodbye to the others for me?”
“Yeah, sure. Good luck,” James says. He nods to Charlie. “And you look out for her, OK? You’re her mentor on this Flynn Garrison assignment. You know the drill. Keep her safe.”
Charlie tilts his head in agreement. “Will do.”
Soon, we’re whizzing along the motorway on our way to catch a ferry to the remote Scottish island of Farra. My emotions are all over the place. Excitement about my new job is mixed with sadness that somebody has been murdered, and regret that I didn’t get to say goodbye to the others before we left. We didn’t even get to spend five minutes at the marquee party. I wonder if that cake I saw when we first arrived for this assignment is real or not. It looked delicious. Ah, well, even if it is real, I won’t be getting to sample it. I suppose this is how my life will be from now on. Having to dash off to help on a case at just a moment’s notice. Beside me in the car, Charlie changes gear then reaches across and squeezes my knee in a gesture that is both comforting and encouraging.
“OK?” he asks.
“I’m nervous, terrified and excited all at once,” I reply.
“You’ll be fine. We’ll do this together, every step of the way.”
I nod and reach for his hand, relieved I’ve got Charlie by my side to help me face whatever scary stuff lies ahead of us as we track down a murderer.
The end… for now!
Find out what happens next in Precious, Amber Reed Mystery Book Two
Precious
Amber Reed Mystery Book Two
PRECIOUS
Who would want to murder pop star Flynn Garrison?
That’s exactly what Amber Reed needs to find out. As the lowly support officer and newest recruit at the Celebrity Crimes Investigation Agency’s (CCIA), she has a lot to prove. She’s desperate to get to grips with her first assignment and show that she’s up to the job with the elite agency who specialize in solving crimes for the rich and famous, but there’s a lot at stake… and it’s not only her new career that’s on the line.
Amber Reed Mysteries Volume One: Romantic Comedy Mystery Series Box Set (Amber Reed Celebrity Crimes Investigation Agency Mystery Box Set Book 1) Page 31