His wife Ellen had been busy with Lucy discussing the finances of the new scheme as they spread a myriad of papers across the kitchen table. David had been speaking rapid French on the telephone to the notaire looking after their purchase. Everything seemed to be moving forward at an astoundingly fast pace. Paul had begun compiling a list of things he wanted to try out with his new charges and sat discussing equipment and strategies with Joe. The children had all been playing in the corner of the room though Robbie kept on looking up at her with narrowed eyes.
She had felt completely left out and had sat quietly to begin typing up some initial observations at the opposite end of the table but had given up shortly afterwards when Robbie had wandered in her direction and then glared at her furiously after glancing at the screen.
Now she sat quietly in the kitchen and suddenly realized how alone she actually was. Her family was small and far flung. Her mother ran a busy pre-school in England and her brother had moved to Australia to work with their father and step-mother in their furniture business.
She cuffed away a tear as it leaked from the corner of her eye. Paul certainly didn’t need her here, didn’t even want her anywhere near him. She was just that ‘bloody woman’ wasting her time mooning over the gorgeous man while he moved on with his life.
She pushed her plate away angrily and then dragged it back as she couldn’t resist the last of the delicious sandwich. She savoured the final mouthful and then took her plate to the dishwasher and loaded her crockery inside.
As she walked back up to her room she thought about Paul’s muttered words of derision. It was clear that whatever she thought he had been about to do in the château he had been thinking something entirely different. She was acting like a teenager and needed to move on. She would call the office in the morning and then speak to the judge. Public money could be better spent on other things rather than babysitting a man who clearly didn’t need it.
She gulped back another tear as she thought of how she would probably never see Paul again but if he didn’t feel anything for her then she was wasting her time in that department too. Better that she moved on now than have her heart wrenched from her body at the end of four weeks of torture.
Chapter Six
For a long moment Amy thought she must be dreaming. Her mind reeled in shock. She stood up and walked around the bed and then sat down again. She pressed her fingers to her temples and tried to sort out the confusion in her mind.
Twenty minutes previously she had been arguing with the judge. A sleepless night had told her that she needed to distance herself from this case. She should never have become involved and she blamed her own selfish heart for making things worse. She had risen early and was determined to call an end to the whole debacle.
The phone call had been a complete waste of her time and efforts. The judge was adamant that she see the four weeks out. She had agreed to the condition only four days previously and he would demand that Paul be returned home and sent for further evaluation in a psychiatric unit if she didn’t present her report as requested. Not only that, if she didn’t file the report when the month was up, she would be in contempt of court and proceedings would be started against her too.
She gave up arguing with the man and called her office to arrange for a replacement to come and take over Paul’s evaluation. She had wondered at the surprised tone of her secretary when she moaned about having to stay in France at the orders of the judge but her surprise soon turned to horror when Carla interrupted her after a long rant about stubborn and unreasonable men.
“But Amy, your position has already been filled. The head of department said that you had made the decision to leave without giving notice. No one told me a thing after that man with the scars arrived and took charge. I had no idea what was going on and I didn’t get a message from you after the court case.”
She continued to explain that a livid Fiona had called, demanding to know why she had been contacted by the area manager while on maternity leave and after hearing that Amy had walked out of her job had arranged for a new supervisor to take over immediately.
“But I didn’t leave my job. I left messages with the area office. I didn’t have a choice Carla. The judge insisted that I come over here with Paul. If I had refused they were going to lock him up,” a very confused Amy told her colleague.
Carla snorted.
“I don’t think that has anything to do with our department Amy. They are assuming that you deserted your position. There were files backing up for four days and you missed six home visits. You know how bad that can be. Lives were potentially put at risk when you didn’t turn up to the appointments. We had to employ emergency staff to take up the slack. The head of department was furious. He had to use funds we don’t have to call in agency workers.”
Amy dragged in a deep breath as she began explaining frantically.
“But that’s not my fault. What else could I do? I couldn’t leave him to rot in some institution or to be put in jail. Can you imagine what that would be like for someone like him? You should see him here Carla. He’s a changed guy. Honestly, I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. All the men are so comfortable here, it’s as if they don’t have a care in the world. I’m completely wasting my time.”
There had been another derisive snort down the phone at her.
“Well, you’ll be wasting your time coming back here that’s for sure. You’re way too involved in all this. You know that we have to keep our distance in cases. We can’t let them become personal. You broke so many rules just by contacting his friends that you’re finished in this office and you’ll be lucky if you’ll be employed in any of the others around here. Your name is mud and I shouldn’t even be speaking to you. Look, get in touch when the four weeks are up, maybe things will have calmed down by then. Perhaps if the judge is happy with your report he will write in on your behalf. In the meantime as you are officially out of a job I will see what you were owed in holiday pay. You haven’t taken any time off for a couple of years so you’ll have plenty of money coming to you. That should keep you sorted until you get back at any rate.”
They had finished the conversation quickly as Amy had heard faint but angry tones coming from somewhere in the office and she had been sitting in her room in complete shock since.
There was a sharp tap at her bedroom door and she called out that the door wasn’t locked before she remembered that the rooms were soundproofed. She walked to the door and pulled it open.
Paul stood outside. He gave a small smile and spoke quickly.
“We were worried that you hadn’t come down for breakfast. We’re going back to the château with the team that worked on this place. They’re going to work out some kind of estimate for David and Ellen on what the place will cost to renovate. I thought you might want to come as you seemed to enjoy it yesterday.”
Amy glared at him before she realized that she was wasting her time trying to look fierce. She flung back into her room, grabbed up her bag and shoved on her boots.
“I might as well as I am meant to be keeping an eye on you, though why I am bothering anymore is beyond me now that I don’t even have a job to go back to.” She shouldered her bag and moved back to the door.
Paul blocked her way.
“What do you mean? I thought you were the head of your office.” He stood with his arms folded over his chest looking confident and sure but the tilt of his head registered genuine confusion at her statement.
“Yes, that’s what I thought too but apparently none of my messages went through to the right department manager. My ex supervisor was contacted on her maternity leave and she was livid that I had apparently gone away without giving them notice. I broke a ton of rules contacting your friends and I shouldn’t have become so involved. My name is mud and my job is gone.”
Paul frowned, his dark eyebrows pulling into a line across his forehead and Amy had to keep her hands fisted at her sides to stop herself rubbing the cr
ease away between them. Paul unfolded his arms and reached out towards her. He flapped the air just a few inches in front of her and her anger immediately fled. She sighed in defeat and caught his flailing hands in hers. He gripped hers tightly and pulled her closer.
“They can’t do that surely. The judge ordered you to come here. I don’t see that you were given any more choice in the matter than I.”
Amy shrugged and tried to pull her hands away from him.
“That’s part of the problem. The judge is nothing to do with my work. The office is assuming that I have accepted doing this for the court. I should have realized that it’s way beyond the remit of our department. I don’t think I have a leg to stand on as I was only in a temporary position while my supervisor is away on maternity leave.” She gave another tug on his hands but he refused to let her go.
“Surely you can explain. Maybe the judge will be able to do something.” He gripped her hands tightly, his warm fingers curling around hers and finding their way into her palms.
She sucked in a deep breath as she tried to ignore the tingles running up her arms.
“Not from what Carla says. She’s going to try and organize my holiday pay but that’s as far as they are prepared to go. I’ll have a month’s money to go back to but no job and because I’m stuck out here at the judge’s daft orders I can’t even go back to either fight my case or begin searching for alternative employment.”
Paul stepped into the bedroom with her and closed the door behind him.
“There must be a way around this. They can’t just get rid of you like that. Isn’t there someone else higher up you can go to? There has to be some sort of appeal procedure.” There was genuine concern in his tone.
Amy shrugged and then rolled her eyes as she remembered once again that the movement was lost on him.
“There is an appeal procedure but it won’t be much help. If I go down that route even if I win I look like a trouble maker. No one gets employed easily if they have been to a tribunal. It’s like a red flag going up to any prospective employers. You must know that from the services.” She slumped down onto her bed and sighed deeply.
Paul stood in front of her for a moment thinking hard and then slumped down beside her. He knew what she said was true.
“Hell!” He spat out. “Now I feel bad… This is all my fault. If I had just kept control over my temper none of this would have happened.”
Amy gave a snort of derision.
“Don’t be daft. If anyone is to blame it’s the guy that blinded you. If he hadn’t done that you wouldn’t have been out of work and up before that blasted judge in the first place. He’s the one to blame in all of this,” she finished flatly.
Paul straightened his shoulders.
“That bastard has a lot to answer for. I can’t believe that he was allowed into our country on the excuse of being persecuted. He was the piece of shit doing the persecuting! And I can’t believe that no one else but me knew it was him,” his bitter tone left Amy in no doubt of his feelings on the matter but even though she wanted to believe him she had to question his judgement.
“You don’t know that it was the right man you attacked. He could have been anyone. Nobody else seemed to think he was a terrorist.”
Paul glowered down at her.
“I know who he was. I thought he had been killed when my commander blew up the village as they rescued me but he obviously escaped. I may not have seen him but do you seriously think I would ever forget that pig’s voice? He laughed and goaded me for nearly two whole days as he slowly dripped acid in my eyes. He took away my sight Amy. His vile face was the last thing I ever saw with my own eyes. I would never forget the sound of that man’s voice as long as I live. It’s engrained up here forever.” He touched the side of his temple with a long finger.
Amy was silent for a long moment and then she took in a worried breath.
“Was your accusation reported to anyone in the military? At best it’s a case of mistaken identity but at the worst it means we have a terrorist living freely in England. I wonder if the information was passed onto the relevant authorities. I just assumed that they had checked into the matter.”
Paul grunted miserably.
“I wouldn’t be so sure. They all thought I was either on drugs or a raving lunatic to begin with. I told the police who he was when they arrested me but they never asked me about him again. I asked my lawyer if he was being questioned but he said it wasn’t in his remit to find out. The case wasn’t about Samadi being a terrorist it was about me nearly strangling him. A fact that I readily admitted so there was really nothing else to add. I couldn’t prove that the man was Samadi, after all it’s my word against the bastard’s as he appears to have a new identity now but you can believe me that I am not wrong. I’d know his voice anywhere.”
Amy looked up at the big man beside her. His jaw was tense and she knew that he was telling the truth. Her mind ran over the immediate implications.
“You know that means that you could be in danger from him if you go back to the U.K. If you really can identify him then he’s going to want you out of his way.”
Paul grunted.
“Well, I don’t think he’s going to come over here to look for me. I mean, why bother? No one believed me when I told them who he was and he has everything he needs in England and all at the tax payer’s expense. I don’t think he’s likely to turn up any time soon.”
Amy thought about his words for a few seconds.
“But he thought you were going to prison. I didn’t realize that it was even him you had jumped on when I first arrived with Patrick. He must have known something was going on because he left while Patrick was talking to the judge. When I think about it, he looked very relieved that you had admitted your guilt but he was furious when Patrick began speaking to the judge. More furious than he should have been. It wasn’t as though he suffered any permanent injury when you jumped on him.”
Paul laughed grimly.
“I must be losing my touch then. A few years back that bash I gave him would have had him seeing stars for a week. I had best get Joe to help me work on my fitness.”
Amy laughed for the first time that day.
“Huh!” She looked his huge, muscled frame up and down. “You look pretty fit already to me.”
Paul suddenly grinned widely, the smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. He stood up quickly and preened in front of her, flexing the muscles in his arms.
“Ha! You think I’m fit eh? Well, thank you kindly ma’am, you don’t look so bad yourself.” He gave a mock bow in front of her before he straightened up again. “Now, as there’s nothing you can do about your work situation at the moment, why come on down to breakfast. I think Dave wants to get going as soon as possible. He worried about Geraldine and doesn’t like leaving her for too long. She’s staying here and resting again today.”
Amy stood up again. She picked up her bag and moved towards the door.
“She’s not staying here on her own I hope,” she sounded worried. When they had collected Geraldine from the hospital the day before Amy had been alarmed by the size of Geraldine’s stomach. It looked as though she were about to have her baby any moment.
“No, Lucy will be here all day. Patrick says he has some emails to catch up on so he’s staying here and Joe is working on some of the equipment today so there will be someone around. Dave wants you to come with us. You had some good ideas yesterday. He’s very keen on the idea of family units and I think he wants you to give your insight to the builders. That way they can come up with a more accurate estimate.”
Amy walked through the door as he stood back to let her out.
“I’m not sure I’m the best person to ask. I don’t know how you can set out a building and I don’t speak any French to get my ideas across. I don’t think I’m going to be much help.”
Paul pulled the door closed behind them.
“Well, that’s where I come in handy. I speak a load of languages incl
uding French so if you just tell me your ideas then I can tell the builder, though Jean-Paul speaks fluent English anyway so there shouldn’t be a problem.”
Amy looked up at him as they walked along the corridor together. She could tell that he had shortened his stride to accommodate her smaller steps.
“I wish I had learned languages. I think it’s easier when you’re younger.”
Paul shook his head.
“In some ways it might be but I didn’t learn most of the languages I know until I had left school. I was lucky that I learned both French and German while there but the others came later. Being in the Army and working in different countries helps too of course. When you have to speak to locals it’s essential to know a few words and I picked up the rest just by being there. I was translating coded messages in my last job before they kicked me out.”
Amy glanced at him as he strode along. She could see his fingers flicking slightly as he walked along and it took her few moments to realize that he was counting his steps as he talked to her. As they turned the corner and walked towards the stairs she wondered if he had compensated for her shorter stride. She watched his face as they came nearer to the top step and was about to mention her shorter legs when he suddenly stopped a couple of strides short of the treads.
He smiled at her.
“Two more should do it. Wouldn’t want to be falling down the whole flight. Might muck up that report you’re preparing to send in,” his voice had dipped slightly.
Amy stopped with him. She checked the distance and smiled up at him.
“I’m not taking any notes from here on in, so you can relax for now. I won’t be doing any checking up on you.”
Paul raised his eyebrows in surprise.
“But you said that judge told you that you would be in contempt of court. You have to make the report.”
She chuckled.
“Of course I’m going to send it in, but it’s absolutely clear that given the right circumstances you don’t need any help at all. I’ll make something up just before I go home.” She swallowed as she realized what that meant.
Scarred Horizon (Scarred Series Book 4) Page 7