by Helen Phifer
Taking her elbow, he led her onto the deck.
She whispered, ‘It’s so pretty. I love fairy lights.’
‘I’m glad you like it; this took all afternoon.’
He led her to the bar area, popped the cork on a bottle of champagne, filled a glass and handed it to her. He then began to fill the glasses on a tray ready to offer the noisy party that were making their way down to the marina. His anger at James and Marcus had subsided as fast as it had arrived. He liked Grace. She seemed very down-to-earth, on his level, and he was hoping he could spend a bit of time with her between hovering around with a tray passing out glasses of champagne.
Forty-Three
Cal handed out waterproof jackets, trousers and life vests to Josh and Karen. Then he disappeared into the staff room and came back with three woollen hats. ‘It gets cold on the lake this time of evening, better to be warm.’
He handed one to Josh, who tugged it on his head; Karen took one look at hers and grimaced.
‘I’m not wearing that. I don’t know whose sweaty head it’s been on. I’ve got my own in the car.’ She left them to go and get it.
Josh smiled at Cal. ‘Thanks, I really appreciate this.’
‘No problem, fingers crossed we aren’t actually needed.’
Josh hoped they wouldn’t be; there would be a lot of explaining to do if they were and rocked up unannounced. James might accuse him of harassment and get him in a lot of trouble. Then again, if nothing happened, he would never know that he was being watched, would he? Josh would rather take the chance.
He wondered if Beth was okay. It was getting dark and he should have finished his shift and gone home by now. He hadn’t seen her for two days, only spoken with her on the phone and the last conversation had been strained. Jodie had said she was going to the hospital for treatment and, depending on how it went, she might be there some time. He’d had no missed calls from her, but at least he knew she was in the best place for her while there was no one at home to look after her.
‘So, anyway, what are we having for tea? I’m hungry, I thought I was going to be in my pyjamas watching television now. I reckon it’s your treat, Walker, seeing as how we’re risking life and limb on some stupid whim of yours. You can buy the pizzas or a Chinese.’
He realised she was talking to him. ‘I’m easy, pizza would be better. Chinese is too messy. We can eat slices of pizza. You order and I’ll pay.’ He dug in his trouser pocket and pulled out a bent, misshapen debit card. She rolled her eyes.
‘Does that actually work?’
‘Yes, well the contactless does. It won’t go into the card machines, it gets stuck.’
She went into the office to use the phone.
‘What time is the party?’
He looked at his watch. ‘About now; I suppose they’re not going to be moving away from the jetty until all the guests have arrived. We probably have a bit of time before they sail.’
Cal nodded. ‘I think so. What happened to birthday parties in the room at the back of the pub?’
Josh shrugged. ‘That’s exactly what I said. There was nothing like this when I was younger.’
‘Money talks, I suppose, the rest of us mortals just celebrate in crappy pubs.’
Karen walked back in. ‘You didn’t want the eighteenth or twenty-first I offered, so I hope you’re not being ungrateful.’
‘He wasn’t, we were just kind of saying how the other half live; spending thousands on lavish parties when you could get pissed down the pub and a takeaway for less than twenty quid.’
She began to laugh. ‘When I was a boy…’
They sat around playing cards until the pizza arrived. It was dark now. Josh didn’t know if he was being overly cautious or plain ridiculous about the whole situation. He hadn’t managed to speak to either Marcus Johnson or James Marshall about the second body; he’d been so tied up with Jodie. It was too late now, but he would visit them at home first thing in the morning and catch them off guard. It wouldn’t hurt to speak to Ethan Scales again either. Brushing pizza crumbs from his jacket, he stood up.
‘Should we go? They’ve had an hour to get into the swing of things.’
Cal nodded. ‘I guess we should. Mum, are you sure you want to come? It’s probably going to be freezing cold and boring.’
‘What’s my other option? Stay here on my own in this creepy building that creaks and groans all the time? No thank you. I’d rather freeze my arse off on the boat with you two.’
Josh smiled at her. ‘Or you could just go home and watch television; honestly, I don’t think anything is going to happen. There’s no point in all three of us being stuck on a boat so late.’
‘If I didn’t know better, I’d say you two were trying to get rid of me. What are you playing at, Walker?’
‘Nothing, I feel bad you’re having to spend your day off doing this.’
‘I’ll be the judge of that; anyway, I’ve got nothing better to do. Why should I let you two have all the fun?’
What Josh was thinking was that if it all went wrong then she wouldn’t get into trouble with them. Cal could blame being pressured by Josh to take the boat out, but it would be harder to do that if his mum was along for the ride. He was trying to protect them both, but he knew it was futile. She wouldn’t be talked out of it.
Forty-Four
The party was in full swing, and despite his reservations, Ethan found himself enjoying it. Claudia, whose birthday it was, had unsurprisingly made a beeline for James. He wondered if there was some kind of unspoken code among women for these kinds of occasions. Did the hostess get first pick of all the single men? The rest of them seemed to be hanging around Marcus like dogs on heat. Grace was different though, not like any of them. He’d spotted her standing alone a couple of times and she reminded him a lot of himself. He wondered if she was on the outside of this friendship circle, just like him.
James signalled he was about to take the boat out, so he untied it from its mooring and jumped aboard.
‘I guess you like sailing?’
Grace was beside him.
He nodded. ‘I do, I’ve always loved the water. Especially this lake, it’s beautiful and the views are incredible.’
‘Yes, I suppose they are.’ They both looked across the water, the hills, mountains and trees forming a shadowy backdrop. The moon was full, its bright light illuminating the middle of the lake in a sparkling path to nowhere. Grace sighed. ‘It is beautiful. I don’t think you appreciate it when you’re brought up around here. I was always dragged on family days out to the Lakes; sailing, rowing, kayaking and fell walking are just not that appealing to a teenager. I’d spend the whole afternoon in a right sulk because I’d rather be in bed watching reruns of Friends on my MacBook.’
‘How old are you? Sorry, that’s rude, I know men should never ask women their age.’
She threw back her head and laughed. It was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. The moonlight glinted off her blonde hair and he realised that Grace Thomas was not just pretty, she was stunning. He had butterflies in his stomach, but maybe it was just lust. What would James do in this situation? Flirt with her until she was eating out of the palm of his hand and then take her below and sleep with her, but Ethan knew he couldn’t do that. He wanted more than a quick leg over with this beautiful creature.
Leaning in close to him, she whispered, ‘I’m old enough.’
He felt a torrent of heat rush through his veins.
‘Ethan, what am I paying you for? Can you refill glasses, please.’
And just like that the moment shattered and Grace pulled away. If he didn’t know better, he would say that James had purposely embarrassed him. Hot rage replaced the excitement that had been fizzing through his veins. He mumbled a reply. ‘Excuse me, Grace, my boss is calling.’
She smiled at him, dismay in her eyes. He wanted to punch James he was so angry with him. This was the last time he was ever doing this, a hundred quid or not; he could be his own sk
ivvy.
He stormed below deck only to find Marcus with the girl he’d been fawning over all night wedged against the wall. Before he could open his mouth to speak, the girl screamed and a loud crack filled the air. The girl had slapped Marcus hard across the face, and Ethan couldn’t hide the grin that filled his face as the girl rushed past him to go back to her friends. Marcus shrugged, rubbing his cheek and making to follow the girl upstairs.
‘You win some, you lose some. Onwards and upwards,’ he joked as he squeezed past Ethan.
Rolling his eyes, Ethan grabbed as many bottles of champagne as he could fit under his arms and took them above deck to the makeshift bar. He could see the top of Grace’s head in the crowd. Marcus had closed in on her, leaning in close so she could hear him above the noise, so he could touch her arm. Ethan looked down, colour filling his face, concentrating on opening bottles and filling glasses until he was brave enough to look up again. Relief washed over him; Grace had rebuked Marcus and was now chatting to two girls as far away from him as she could get. An argument began between another two girls, one of them the girl who had slapped Marcus. She was loud, much louder than the other. James rushed across to try and separate them, Marcus and Ethan too. Claudia, who had been wailing down the microphone to some god-awful karaoke version of ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’, stopped singing and began imploring everyone to calm down. The boat lurched to one side as everyone crowded around to watch the fight unfold. There was a high-pitched scream as the loud girl fell towards the railings, slipped and toppled over into the icy cold waters of the lake.
James bellowed, ‘Stop.’ Ethan rushed to the side of the boat. He couldn’t see the girl in the water. He needed help, but where was Marcus? Grabbing the spotlight, he shone it down into the lake and saw the girl had resurfaced a few feet away and was struggling to keep her head above water. He kicked off his shoes, readying himself to jump into the lake for the second time that week, when the sound of a powerboat revving its engine broke through the darkness. Ethan saw a bright light zooming towards them and before he could even remove his jacket, two men were grabbing hold of the girl and dragging her out of the water and into another boat. Marcus, who had now appeared beside him with James, stared, horrified. Everyone on the boat fell silent as they watched the men throw a blanket around the shivering girl and speed off back towards the shore.
‘Jesus, she could have drowned,’ James whispered to Ethan, finally acknowledging just how dangerous this whole thing could be. Alcohol, teenage girls and a huge lake were definitely not a good mix; for once Ethan actually felt sorry for James and the huge mess this would put him in.
‘Take the boat back, James, we need to make sure she’s okay and get these girls home.’
‘But—’
Ethan hissed, ‘Take the fucking boat in, enough is enough.’
James nodded as he was dragged away by Claudia, who was seething over how that silly bitch had ruined her night and she wasn’t paying James a penny. Marcus grabbed her arm and said something in her ear. Ethan had no idea what he’d said but it shut Claudia up. The boat was eerily quiet now; everyone had sobered up in an instant.
From nowhere, Grace approached Ethan, took hold of his arm, took an eyeliner from her bag and wrote her phone number on the inside of his arm. He nodded at her, and she walked back to the girl who had been arguing and was now sobbing into her hands. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, she began to console her, and Ethan watched in awe. This had turned into a complete disaster, yet it was still the best night of his life up to now.
Forty-Five
Josh and Cal had watched in horror as they’d heard the loud scream followed by a splash. Cal slammed on the throttle and sped the boat over to drag her to safety. She was now sitting shivering wrapped in a foil blanket. Karen was trying to coax her out of her wet clothes.
‘I’m a police sergeant, this is my colleague who is also a policeman, and this is Cal, one of the lake wardens. We’re going to get you to safety now, but you need to get those wet clothes off. They’ll turn the other way. Do you want me to help you?’ She shook her head from side to side. ‘I’ll shield you with the blanket and we’ll wrap you in several layers of foil blankets so you don’t get hypothermia.’
The girl conceded and once she was done Karen sat next to her, wrapping her arms around her to share what body heat she could. Josh and Cal had been rendered speechless. Josh had wondered if he was being ridiculous by asking Cal to take the boat out; now, he was relieved. There was one thing for sure: he would shut down that bloody party boat for good after this. He turned to the girl.
‘What’s your name?’
‘Tamara.’
Josh felt a pang of relief; he was pretty sure Sam’s kid was called Grace.
‘I’m Josh. Can you tell me what happened on the boat?’
She shook her head once more. He didn’t know if she was embarrassed, shocked or scared.
‘Do you feel okay? We’ll call an ambulance and get you checked over.’
‘No, please.’
‘We have to, you went into the water. We need to make sure you’re okay.’
‘I’m fine, apart from my new shoes being ruined and my dress is a wreck,’ she said through chattering teeth.
Karen squeezed her shoulder. ‘I know you are, petal, but it won’t hurt to give you a once-over. If you want, we can drive you to the hospital if you don’t want the fuss of an ambulance. How old are you?’
‘Eighteen. I just want to go home. Please, just get me away from here.’
Minutes later, they were moored to the jetty in the marina. Cal helped Tamara off the boat, and then Karen took her arm and walked her towards the car park.
Cal asked Josh, ‘Now what?’
‘Well I’ll be filing an incident report and letting the licensing committee know what’s happened.’
‘I’ll see if we can get his licence suspended; between the pair of us we should be able to keep that boat from sailing for the foreseeable future.’
‘Good.’ He looked over at the sound of Karen mid-argument with Tamara.
‘You really need to get checked out,’ she pleaded.
‘No, I just want someone to take me home.’
Karen offered. ‘Fine. But we need to know what happened?’
Tamara stayed silent.
Cal looked at his mum. ‘I need to take the boat back and write up an incident report. My car is at the Ferry Nab car park.’ He lowered his voice and spoke to Josh. ‘Please can you get her details for my incident report?’
‘Of course, thank you so much, Cal. It was a good job we were there.’
He nodded. ‘It was, glad to have been of some use even if she doesn’t seem that grateful.’
Josh laughed.
Karen turned towards them, shock in her eyes. Then said, ‘She thinks she was pushed overboard.’
Josh’s smile faltered as alarm bells begin to ring inside his mind; he turned to look at Tamara and realised that although wet and bedraggled, she had long, blonde hair just like the other two victims.
Out on the water, the party boat was docking, the music had been turned down and the decorative lights switched off.
He pulled out his phone and rang the control room.
‘This is DS Walker, I need a couple of available patrols to Bowness Bay Marina as soon as possible.’ He wanted the boat locked down and every single person onboard interviewed.
Forty-Six
Sitting at the computer in her office, Beth sighed; there was only one new email, and it wasn’t from the Forensic Science Service in Chorley with the results of the fast-tracked samples she’d sent for the paint chips. The only new email she had was a long-winded one from Charles, informing her that he’d completed Robert’s post-mortem. His closing words were: I hope there’s no hard feelings between us, Beth, I was only doing my job. You would have done the same. She pushed her chair back, the realisation she would have done the same hitting hard. What had come over her? She should apologise to
him for putting him in a difficult position, in person. She would much rather deal with situations, especially ones she’d caused, face to face and not hide behind a keyboard.
She stared out of the small office window which looked out onto a staff car park and nearby memorial garden area lit up by the dull orange glow of street lights. It was time to lock up and go home.
Her phone was where she’d left it, tucked into the driver’s side pocket of the car and she checked to see if Josh had rung. Nothing, not even a text message. She didn’t understand what was going on with him. Deciding to stop being so needy, she pushed it into her trouser pocket. Two could play that game. If he wasn’t going to bother with her, she damn well wasn’t going to bother with him.
Back at home, she poured herself a generous glass of wine, while asking herself, Is wine the answer to your problems? She knew that it wasn’t, but it made them a whole lot more bearable. She collapsed, exhausted, onto the sofa. She didn’t watch television very often, preferring to lose herself in a book, but tonight she needed a distraction. She brought Netflix up and settled on Stranger Things; Abe had been telling her to watch it for months. Before she knew it, she was absorbed and rooting for the kid who had been brought up as a scientific experiment. It had been months since she’d had a Netflix binge and she was enjoying every minute.
Her phone vibrated on the kitchen side and she paused the TV; she’d almost forgotten about everything she’d been so sucked into the 1980s. Crossing the room, she picked up her phone to read a message from Josh.
Sorry, work is crazy. There was nearly another drowning, but we saved her. Will tell you about it later, but it might be late. Don’t wait up xxx.
A sigh escaped her lips. All she wanted was to see his face and have a conversation with him about what was going on. Part of her wished she’d gone to find Jodie; at least then she’d have known one way or the other instead of waiting around trying to pretend everything was okay when it clearly wasn’t. What did he mean there was nearly another drowning? Did that mean he thought the other two were more than just tragic accidents? For the first time in a while she had no idea what was happening, or why. She hated the feeling of being out of control. Instead of texting back, she pressed the call button, not expecting him to pick up. She was so relieved to hear his voice whisper, ‘Hi, you.’