End of the Line by Zanna Mackenzie

Author:Zanna Mackenzie [Mackenzie, Zanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-12-31T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Pushing aside the duvet, I sit up in bed and rub at my eyes. Sleep is going to prove elusive tonight, there’s too much going round and round in my head about the case, Mel, Charlie and Martha.

Outside of the window a full moon is lighting up the whole landscape. It is wonderful here in Cornwall. As I’m enjoying the beauty of the moonlit night, my phone rings. Walking over to the bedside cabinet where it is sitting, I check caller ID.

It’s Charlie.

“At last,” he says when I click accept and settle on the bed to take the call.

“It seems like we keep missing each other all the time,” he continues.

How true!

“I got your message,” I reply, injecting positivity and confidence into my voice. “Thanks for letting me know about the agency assessment stuff.”

It seems as though there must be something else in my tone though because Charlie says, “You already knew about it, didn’t you?”

How on earth can he tell that?

“Yes. I already knew.”

“Who told you? I bet it was Stone wasn’t it?”

“Dan rang me and explained the agency were monitoring me on this case, yes.” I shuffle back under the duvet and lean against the pillows. “He said HQ had put me on this investigation with Martha deliberately.”

I’m thoroughly expecting him to sound irritated that Dan beat him to it but he simply says, “I’m relieved he managed to tip you off about the situation.”

What?

“You needed to know as soon as possible and I was... indisposed.”

There’s a pause and then we both speak at once.

“So, how are things going with the case?” he says.

“Are you still working an investigation?” I ask.

“After you,” he says.

“I was just wondering if you were on a case. You know, with us keep leaving messages and always too busy to pick up the phone.”

“I’ve just wrapped up a case and am hoping to get some time off. How about you? Martha isn’t giving you too much grief, is she?”

“I think you already know the answer to that,” I say, knowing this conversation is rapidly veering towards tricky territory.

His reply is a touch weary. “Why would you think that?”

I sigh. “I was dropping a report off at Martha’s hotel room earlier when you rang her.”

“Amber, I can explain.”

“Really, Charlie? It seems this is old territory. Me asking about you and Martha. Me getting all grumpy about it. I’m tired of it. We keep going round and round on this topic like we’re on some carousel we can’t get off of.”

“I rang her about you,” he replies quietly.

“Me?” I wasn’t expecting that!

“Yes, you. I was worried about you and this whole agency thing. They’re watching your every move on this case and I knew Martha would try to make life difficult for you just because that’s how she is. I couldn’t find out from my sources if she knew about your assessment or not. If she didn’t, I figured I might be able to persuade her to ease off on you for this case. Go on, yell at me for interfering.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.