“Thank you. I really do appreciate it.” I wonder how long it will take before Angie gets back to him. Five minutes? An hour? Tomorrow morning?
It’s only a few minutes’ walk back to Dan’s place but a decent ten-minute stroll to the chalet.
“I’ll walk you home,” Dan says.
“There’s no need, I’ll be fine.”
He smiles. “I know you will be but I’ll be a gentleman and escort you back anyway. Plus I’ll probably have an answer by then from Angie so you’ll get to know as soon as I do.”
Good point. “OK, thanks,” I nod.
“So, I reckon we need to delve a little deeper into Tom’s background don’t you?” he continues as we walk side by side. “In addition to your little chat with him tomorrow I’m going to do a bit of asking around and checking up on him. Have a word with some of the staff at the other chalets if I can. Maybe he’s bragged to somebody about having a fling with Amelia. If they were in that bar together tonight then people must have seen them together before. Maybe doing more than just sharing a drink and having a chat.”
“If Amelia was risking an affair with Tom and somebody had spotted them together then surely the news would have leaked before now? Somebody would have taken a photo and it would have been in the gossip pages and on the websites straight away.”
He nods. “You’d think so, but people have ways and means. They could pay someone off to keep the story quiet. They could meet up in bars and be open about it, saying it’s just employer-employee stuff they’re discussing when really it’s a cover for an affair.”
“I still don’t see it myself. I saw her and Ty together at the hospital and they genuinely looked like a couple in love. I even wondered if an engagement might be on the cards soon. If they are having a fling then does that mean we can cross Tom off our stalker suspects list? Because why on earth would he be trying to scare her and freak her out if he’s involved with her?”
“Maybe we can cross him off our list but we’ll need more information first. According to the info I got on this case Amelia said her stalker knew her. The things he’d said about her clothes, her tattoo. This guy is no stranger.”
Dan’s phone buzzes into life and I hold my breath as he checks the screen. He shoots me a look. “It’s Angie.”
I try to make out that I’m not eavesdropping on Dan’s phone call but fail miserably.
“Right. Yes. Right. Of course.”
He’s not giving much away from his side of the conversation and my anxiety levels ratchet up another ten notches.
“He did? Right. Of course. Yes. Thanks very much, Angie, you’re a star.”
Impatience bursts out of me. “Well?” I demand as he ends the call.
“Charlie has been reporting in to agency allocation regularly just like he’s required to.”
Relief surges through me but then it’s quickly replaced by anger. So Charlie is just ignoring me then? Why? What’s going on?
“And now you’re wondering why he hasn’t been keeping in touch with you, aren’t you?”
I shove my hands deep into the pockets of my coat and stride off towards the chalet.
Dan appears at my side again. “Angie did say the case he’s been appointed to is full on. Usually they would have sent a couple of agents and a support officer but Diva Delilah insisted she only wanted Charlie. Wonder why that is?”
I shoot him a look and then feel guilty. He’s trying to help. Well, he was trying to help. Now he’s just planting uncomfortable thoughts in my head.
Like I need any encouragement on that score.
He reaches for my arm and slows me down. “Hey! I was joking!”
“I have to get back. It’s been a long day.” I free my arm and walk away but Dan isn’t shaken off quite so easily.
“Is something wrong between you guys? I thought everything looked lovey-dovey at the airport. Has something happened and that’s why he’s not returning your calls?”
“No. Nothing happened.”
“OK. If you say so. Look, Charlie is a workaholic right? And Angie just said this case they’ve given him is full on. Enough work for three people and he’s taking it on all by himself. He’s probably barely got time to eat or sleep, let alone keep up with his phone calls.”
“He’s managing to keep up with his calls to the agency just fine,” I snap, feeling embarrassed.
“You know that’s a requirement of the job. He has to report in regularly but to do so all he has to do eight times out of ten is to call a certain number and key in his code which resets his agency clock. The rest of the time he has to physically call and speak to one of the members of the agency allocation team. Just to make sure he actually is still alive and someone isn’t submitting automated texts on his behalf.”
“I suppose so. I just worry about him, that’s all.”
Dan nudges my arm playfully. “Hey! I’m sorry about that little dig about Delilah. I’m sure you have nothing to worry about on that score. Charlie would have to be an even bigger idiot than I’d pegged him for if he messes around when he’s with you. Even if it is a woman like Delilah who might, or might not, be trying to tempt him.”
“You’re not helping!”
Dan’s face breaks into a smile and he grabs my hand gently turning me towards him. “Hey! Listen to me. The guy is swamped with work. I’m sure he’ll catch up with you as soon as the case and the eight-hour time difference allows. In the meantime, on behalf of a fellow guy and agent, can I suggest you give him a break?”
I sigh then nod. “You’re right.”
“Usually am,” Dan smirks at me. “Well, we have arrived at your chalet so I’ll bid you goodnight and head home. Try to get some sleep OK?”
I toss and turn all night. Visions of Diva Delilah and Charlie are taunting me. I’m woken by the sound of footsteps on the stairs. Turning over I yawn and glance at the digital alarm clock next to the bed.
The glowing red digits tell me it’s nine in the morning.
I’ve overslept. I need to get downstairs now and put in an appearance at breakfast so I look to Amelia like the good agency officer I’m trying to be.
Pulling on some jeans and a sweater I run a brush through my hair, tug it into a ponytail, and head for the door. No time for a shower or checking my phone. I’ll do those when I get back to my room later.
As I push open the door to the temporary dining area in the kitchen everyone stops talking and turns to look at me. A newspaper is lying open in the middle of the kitchen’s oak dining table and they’re all clustered around it. What is in today’s papers to cause so much interest? Something about Amelia perhaps? She’s nowhere to be seen and suddenly I wonder if she’s still in bed or if she has already left for the hospital.
Or maybe she’s with Tom.
“Hi!” I say, heading for the breakfast buffet, spotting the chocolate croissants. “Everything OK?”
“She’s going to see it at some point,” Cara says in a matter of fact tone. “So why try and hide it from her?”
“See what?” I scoot round the chairs and reach for the paper, the chocolate croissants now forgotten. The newspaper is open on the gossip pages and the photo they’ve all been gawking at stares right back at me.
It’s of Diva Delilah at some Hollywood party. She’s dressed in a short and very tight black dress which screams designer from the way it skims her curves not clings to them. Her long auburn hair is piled on top of her head in an elegant chignon and she looks simply stunning.
The problem is not Delilah.
It’s the man next to her in the photo, the one she’s holding hands with, that’s the problem.
Charlie.
CHAPTER TEN
He’s dressed in a black tuxedo and white shirt. Hair perfectly styled, clean shaven. My heart is going at a thousand beats a second as I stare at the two of them. They look perfect together. Diva Delilah and my Charlie.
Only, maybe he isn’t my Charlie any longer.
Perhaps Dan was
right last night when he joked about what Delilah wants Delilah gets.
But Charlie wouldn’t do that. Would he?
Maybe he’s had enough of a support officer girlfriend who could never reach the same dizzy heights on the sexy and glamorous scale that Delilah seems to manage so easily. Maybe he’s fed up with my insecurities and jealousy. Maybe he’s just plain old fed up with me.
I slump into a chair and my hands are shaking as I try to read the caption below the photo but it’s in French.
Cara steps forward and points at the text. “I’ll translate it for you shall I?” she chirps and I get the feeling she’s enjoying this.
Cow.
“It says, Oscar-winning actress Delilah Simmonds attended the wrap party for her latest movie accompanied by a mystery man she would only refer to as the ‘love of my life’.”
I gulp.
“Here you go,” Siobhan says, placing a mug of coffee in front of me and resting a hand on my shoulder. “Are you OK?”
I don’t answer. I can’t. My mouth feels as though it’s been glued shut. Below the image and the caption is a short article. This all has to be part of the case he’s working on. It’s a set up surely. I force myself to breath and try to read the article.
“Let me,” Cara smiles and proceeds to translate the piece at super speed.
It seems as though stunning actress Delilah Simmonds hasn’t been alone for long. The twenty-eight-year-old actress spilt from her fiancé only last month but since then has been seen out and about with several men. At the time of the split she told one reporter that she had her eye on somebody special, someone from her past she had reconnected with, but in the meantime she was delighted she had so many good male friends available to accompany her to various formal events and relaxed nights out. The world speculated who the man she was talking about might be and several of her actor ex-boyfriends were mentioned. It seems though that we were all wrong. The ex-boyfriend she has been waiting for has finally juggled his work commitments enough to join Delilah at her Hollywood home for a while. The man in question is a former lover, introduced only as Charles. She said he’s a top behind-the-scenes guy in the showbiz industry but nobody seems to know his exact line of work. When asked to introduce her companion Delilah simply said, “Charles and I go way back. Work commitments meant we grew apart before but now we’re back together and we’ve vowed we won’t let work get in our way this time around.”
“Amber? Are you feeling OK? You’ve gone really pale,” Siobhan says, her hand still rubbing soothingly at my shoulder. “Amber?”
Across the table Ennis shoots me concerned looks.
I drop the paper and dash from the room. I need to get out of the chalet. I need some fresh air and some space. I walk and walk. My head in a spin, tears in my eyes. The rational part of me reminds myself it’s all just a cover for the case he’s working on.
The irrational side of me is convinced Charlie and I are through. He’s left me for a woman who has everything. Including him. Did Charlie once date Delilah? Is that why she insisted he was the one who worked her case?
Ten minutes later I find myself at Dan’s door.
“You’d better come in,” he says. The heavy stubble on his chin and dishevelled hair suggest he’s not long got out of bed.
Judging by his expression I’m guessing he’s already seen this morning’s newspapers though.
“Coffee?” he asks, standing in his kitchenette. He’s in black jeans and a faded blue T-shirt.
I shake my head. “It’s all part of the case right?”
He nods slowly. “Probably. You’ve not spoken to him yet?”
“No. Right now I’m not sure I want to either.”
Dan sits down on the sofa and I perch next to him, my knees twitching nervously. He pats them in an it’ll-all-be-fine kind of way. “In my experience, no matter what he says right now, you’re not going to believe him anyway are you?”
I shoot him an explain-yourself look. “Meaning?”
He shrugs. “I’m just saying. Right now, he’s in trouble no matter what he does. He could phone you as soon as he finds out about the photos, allowing for the time difference of course, and you’d be thinking he’s only phoning you out of guilt, making excuses. You won’t believe anything he says. If he doesn’t phone you it’s because he’s avoiding you because he’s guilty. See? A guy can’t win.”
“Had a lot of experience in cheating and lying to women then have you?”
Dan sighs, shakes his head and raises and drops his shoulders in a see-what-I-mean gesture. “See? You’re doing it now to me. It must be some inbuilt female thing. I’m just trying to help, which, in the circumstances, is, I think, pretty generous of me.”
His words register and I frown. “Circumstances?”
“Look, I’m just saying, don’t go jumping to conclusions. We all know what the press is like. The whole thing is probably made up.”
Probably.
“But she was quoted in the article. He’s supposed to be the love of her life!”
“It’s all just some ploy connected to the case. Relax OK?”
I glare at him and he lives dangerously by leaning closer and taking my hands in his. Part of me wants to pull my hands free but another part finds the warmth of his hands strangely comforting so I don’t move. “Amber, it will all sort itself out. Now, I believe we have work to do. It’ll help distract you from all this nonsense.”
The thumb of his right hand starts gently caressing my fingers. Belatedly I do pull my hand away.
“Have you ever been in love?” I surprise myself by asking.
“Wow. Where did that question come from?” he says.
“Just wondered.” I risk a quick glance at him. The usual cheeky sparkle in his eyes has gone to be replaced by a glimmer of sadness.
“If you were about to hit me with some garbage about how I don’t know how it feels to have someone you love turn your life upside down then you can save your breath. Been there. Done that. Even got the T-shirt,” he says bitterly.
Now I wish I’d kept my mouth shut. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realise.”
Just because I’m upset doesn’t mean I have to go around putting everyone else in a bad mood as well. My mind flutters back to the last case I worked up in Scotland with Charlie and the aforementioned Martha, also known as Miss Beautiful CCIA Agent. Charlie and I suspected Martha might have been involved with Dan. I wonder if Martha is the one who broke Dan’s heart?
“So, we have a bit of time before your ski lesson with Handyman Tom,” Dan says, thankfully changing the subject. “Why don’t you accompany me back to Amelia’s chalet and I can do my fake architect act, have a snoop around, make some casual conversation with your fellow guests and see if we can find anything to help us get this bloody case sorted so we can go home.”
I remember the kitchen and everyone clamouring around the table reading the papers. “Amelia wasn’t at breakfast this morning.”
Dan is on his feet in a second. “Do you know where she was? Still in bed? At the hospital? With Tom?”
“I don’t know. I was going to ask the others and then…” I leap up, feeling guilty. “Well, the whole newspaper thing happened. Sorry. How could I have been so stupid? I should have checked she was OK. We’re here to keep her safe and catch the stalker, and I didn’t even make sure she was OK before I left the chalet fuming over that stupid photo.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it,” Dan says, grabbing his phone from the coffee table. “I’ll ring her now.”
I wait and watch for signs Amelia has answered her phone. What if she was kidnapped in the night or something?
“Amelia? It’s Dan. Sorry to bother you but Amber mentioned you weren’t at breakfast this morning so I just wanted to make sure you’re OK.”
Phew. She answered. Thank goodness for that.
“You are? Well, like I said, sorry to bother you. I was going to drop by the chalet this morning in my official guise as architect, check t
he place out a bit. Would that be all right? Great. Thanks.”
“Where is she? Is she OK?” I clamour.
“She’s at the hospital. I could hear announcements in the background and sirens. She’d just arrived and was in the foyer. Apparently Ty might be coming home later today. She said if it isn’t today they release him then it should be tomorrow.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “That’s great news.”
“Yeah, it is. She mentioned she’s thinking of having a little party for him at the chalet. A bit of a welcome home kind of thing. Maybe she’s thinking as well that the more people there are around her and Ty at the moment the safer they’ll be.”
I get to my feet. “You don’t seriously think there could be something going on between her and Tom do you?”
Dan picks up his keys and ushers me towards the door, grabbing a coat on the way. “Who knows what goes on in people’s relationships? Life is complicated.”
I wonder if that comment is aimed at Charlie and me, but I don’t feel as though I have the energy to pursue that particular line of conversation at the moment.
We reach the chalet and head inside. I go upstairs to shower and get changed. My phone is still lying on the sofa where I left it last night and a thought pops into my head. Maybe Charlie has left me a message explaining all about the photos of him and Delilah. As I make my way over to check the phone I hear noises upstairs. The only room on the floor above is Amelia’s. And she’s at the hospital with Ty.
It could just be Bethan or Hannah doing housekeeping-type stuff. To be on the safe side I cautiously creep up the stairs. I can hear drawers and doors opening and shutting. Who is in Amelia’s room?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
At the top of the landing I press myself against the wall and edge my way cautiously around towards the half-open bedroom door, just like you see them do in the crime shows on TV. I suppose I should have gone downstairs and got Dan but I don’t want to fetch him and then it turns out to be nothing and I’ll make even more of a fool of myself than I have already today.
Forever Mine: A Fun and Flirty Romantic Mystery (Amber Reed Mystery Book 3) Page 11