by Adam Melrose
Through her partially open eyes, she could see a white figure moving about, it was a nurse. She was telling Bella to rest and assuring her all was OK.
Bella wanted to ask how the others were doing and were they OK; but everything went dark and she fell into a deep sleep.
Bella slowly woke up again, she had no idea how long she had been asleep for, but this time she felt much more rested. The room came into view much quicker, and she didn’t feel as groggy.
She looked around; all the beds were full, but there was no one visiting any of them. From the angle she was lying at, Bella could not see who was in the beds. She assumed it was the rest of the team. Turning her head to look in the other direction, she realised she was on a small ward. On her right was the wall containing the windows. It was dark outside. Various machines hummed and clicked, but there was no talking. Opposite the doors to her ward was a small reception desk with a nurse. Bella raised her hand and waved. The nurse noticed and came over.
‘Hey there, how are you doing?’
‘I am OK thanks, what’s wrong with me?’
‘I am pleased to say nothing is wrong. You were unconscious when you were discovered, and you looked like you had been thrown a long way, so we took you for an MRI and other tests to make sure you didn’t have any internal injuries. I am pleased to say you don’t have anything seriously wrong; you are fairly battered and bruised though. – What you need is plenty of rest.’
‘Is everyone OK?’
‘As far as I am aware, everyone is doing fine.’
‘And we all made it out alive?’
‘As far as I am aware, yes.’
‘Where is everyone?’
‘Mostly they are in the ward next to yours. We just could not get everyone in the same ward.’
Bella sank back into her bed and let the pillow embrace her, ‘Ah, OK’
‘What time is it?’
‘It’s five-thirty in the morning.’
‘Ah, that’s why it is so quiet. Has Max the man that was sitting with me gone home.’
‘No, he’s next door, he’s in one of the guest rooms, catching some much needed rest. He sat with you for a long time waiting for you to wake up. Try and get some sleep for the next few hours. When he is awake he will be in to see you straight away. I know that much.’
Bella felt her energy levels draining again. She did not seem to be holding her charge for long. A sign she needed to do as the nurse advised.
The nurse turned to leave.
‘Thank you,’ it was all Bella could manage. The nurse turned back towards Bella and smiled.
Chapter 28
‘Are you OK?’ Evo was asking the question as a battered, wet and dazed Norton climbed into the front seat of the small car.
‘Of course I am, but no thanks to you, you idiot. What were you thinking? You realise what you’ve done?’
‘No, what have I done?’
‘By releasing a Shadow Tide onto the team, if any of them have survived, they will never in a month of Sundays let this drop – you have basically just attacked a hornet’s nest – well done mate.’
Evo began driving, heading back to the manor.
‘Calm down, they are all fine. We checked. A couple are unconscious, the rest are dazed. I think Mrs Stone was coming round, so I had to whack her on the head with a stick to ensure she didn’t see me, or any of the team rescue you.’
‘And I strongly urge you to remember Norton, I have not done anything, not really. Now stop being so melodramatic; let’s get you back to the manor, dried off, and hidden whilst we come up with a plan to get you back into the fold.’
Norton put his seatbelt on slowly, the movements of which were exasperating the pain in his shoulder.
‘Oh I have a plan to keep them occupied and distracted mate, don’t you worry about that. Can you drive faster, I am in serious need of some of your stupidly expensive whisky.’
Chapter 29
The speed with which Bella felt herself waking up this time told her quite how knackered she had been before. She came to, sat up in bed and stared out of the window; she was desperate to speak to the others and to get back to the hotel. Obviously, Bella was extremely grateful for what the hospital had done for her; but she did have an extremely comfortable hotel room down the road waiting for her that was paid for.
The morning procedures of the hospital came and went, as did various members of the team, everyone was being discharged this morning. By some complete miracle no one had sustained even a broken bone. The nurse that had joined in the conversation with Bella, Max, Joe, Ava and Bruno commented that she thought it was a combination of Matt’s instructions in how to best protect themselves when the wave hit, the life jackets, and as she put it, the luck of the devil.
As they were all being escorted to the hospital exit in their respective wheelchairs; Matt came towards them. Bella wanted to get up, but knew she should not.
‘How great to see you, you survived also.’
‘Morning Bella, you too, yes I did.’ His smile seemed forced.
I wonder what’s up? Thought Bella. We are all here – oh wait, no we’re not.
Matt was talking to Ava and Bruno in a hushed tone. Without waiting for him to finish talking, Bella blurted out, ‘Where’s Norton? Where is he, is he alright?’
No one spoke. Bella felt herself begin to panic. Matt turned directly to face her.
‘Now Bella, I really – we really do not want you to panic, Norton is missing; but let me quickly stress he isn’t dead. I have helped the police and emergency crews search the whole area, and his body is not there. We have also been back into The Portal and he is not there either.’
Bella’s mood began to darken.
‘This is all my fault. I should never have pushed things so that you all came with me into that bloody portal.’
Against instruction, Ava got out of her wheelchair and wandered over to be with Bella. She rested her hand on Bella’s shoulder.
‘This is not on you Bella. It was either just an accident or a wilful act of violence, but either way it isn’t on you, OK?’
Bella nodded, ‘OK. I understand.’ But inside, the guilt still lingered.
Matt spoke before Bella had time to add anything else.
‘What we think happened is he may have been washed further down the canal than the rest of us. There is a door-to-door search going on at all the properties nearby, barns and farm outbuildings, and other hospitals in Cheltenham and Gloucester are being checked.’
Bella nodded, ‘Where are we then?’
‘Swindon.’
Bella nodded again.
A man walked into the reception area where they were all waiting and walked over to them.
‘Are you the Holland party?’
‘We are.’
‘Good, then your taxis are ready.’
In a very short matter of time they were heading North West along the A419 back to their hotel.
Until now, the hotel had been great, but at no point had it felt like home, now it did though. Everyone was looking forward to a rest and a decent meal once they knew that Norton was safe. Matt went off to call DCI Stimpson for an update.
The others all gathered in the Operations Room. It was beginning to feel very familiar. The hotel staff, as efficient as ever had brought a tray of sandwiches and fresh dispensing flasks of tea and coffee. Everyone took a hot drink, and waited for Matt to return from his phone call, hopefully with some good news.
He did indeed return, but with no news. He was able to share that an extensive search had been made of the vicinity, but that Norton was nowhere to be found. They had even used thermal imaging from a helicopter. The police had called a halt to the search for now, but were running requests for help on TV, papers and local radio. That was all they could do for now.
‘Right everyone, we need to make a plan. I know everyone is worried about Norton as am I, but I think the best thing we can do for him, and ourselves is rest and re-charge our bat
teries for the rest of today and tonight. Then – hopefully tomorrow we will be in a better place to help find him. It is eleven am now. Let’s all grab a couple of hours of sleep then we can begin with at least some…’
Matt’s sentence was interrupted with a crash as the door to the Operations Room burst open. Everyone swung their heads round to see what the commotion was; the commotion was Norton, standing in the doorway looking exhausted.
Everyone got up and made their way over to see him, asking him how he was, and encouraging him to come and sit down. Matt followed up at the rear, having first closed the door.
Matt let Norton and the rest of the team settle down, and the questions die down a little before he spoke.
‘I am glad to see you back with us in one piece. We have been looking for you everywhere, as have the emergency services. Have you talked to anyone in the emergency services?’
Norton pursed his lips and sat back into the sofa, ‘I have actually. DCI Stimpson and two of his lackeys are downstairs. They are just having some breakfast before they come up and speak to us all.’
Matt took himself a seat on the opposite sofa.
‘So, what happened to you? Where have you been?’
Norton rubbed his hand across his chin left and right, tilting his head on one side looking across at everyone.
‘Bristol.’
‘Bristol? How did you end up there?’
‘After that fairground ride from hell, thanks to our friendly hedge fund manager; I literally did end up in a hedge by the way, I stumbled up the steps towards the road. I think I blanked out a couple of times. I finally made it to the top of the stairs and fell into the road. The next thing I knew I was in the back of a car with this kindly couple arguing about where the nearest hospital was. The driver – a man I think was talking about asking a local, but the woman with him said they should take me back to a major hospital, one they knew how to get to quickly. They took me back to their hometown, Bristol.’
Matt rubbed his head, ‘That was really kind of them. I don’t think it dawned on any of us to look that far afield. We were going to rest then re-focus on this area, especially the lower sections of the canal.’
Norton spent the next twenty minutes providing any small details he could remember, not that any of it was relevant or revealing; and in turn the rest of the team filled him in on what their experience had consisted of. The hotel concierge brought in two large, fresh jars of rice, so that Matt could finish drying out both the car keys and various mobile devices. Matt thanked him again for arranging the safe return of the cars to the hotel car park.
Matt gathered them all around.
‘Look, I want a quick word before Stimpson arrives. Something is seriously off with that guy. We were nearly killed, and he hasn’t done a damn thing about looking into who is behind these Shadow Tides; he doesn’t seem the least bit interested, other than making sure we were all found. When I told him about Evo, and that this was essentially attempted murder, he told me “Not to be so hasty and to calm down.” Let’s just keep him out of things for now, at least until we have had a chance to review things ourselves, OK?’
A few moments later, there was a firm triple knock at the door. Matt got up to answer it. It was who they were all expecting, DCI Stimpson and two colleagues. His manner was a little less relaxed this time, not that it had been overly welcoming the first time they had all met. He asked if everyone was well and recovered. As he did so, he glanced at the whiteboard that had been pushed back to the wall with a bed sheet covering it.
‘Much as I am glad you are all OK and no one was badly hurt, I am afraid I am not here just to check up on you. Mr de Varley has expressed concern that he specifically asked you not to go into the portal as it is unstable and unsafe. He is…’
Bruno interrupted, ‘That portal is indeed unsafe, but that has nothing whatsoever to do with it being unstable. In fact, it’s been a while since I have seen such an old building in such superb condition. It’s dangerous because he wants it to be. He has something to hide.’ Bruno’s voice got louder the more he spoke.
DCI Stimpson waited quietly for him to finish. He appreciated they were all still suffering from shock, so he would permit this emotional release without countering it, and stamping his authority.
‘That is as maybe sir, but at the end of the day, it is private property, and you were specifically asked not to go in there by the owner. Trespass is mostly a civil matter, but that is what the law will initially focus on. Unless you are saying that someone deliberately tried to hurt or kill you, in which case that is obviously a criminal and therefore police matter. Is that what you are saying?’ DCI Stimpson stared unblinkingly at Bruno, then after a moment he slowly looked at the rest of the team, inviting them to comment.
‘No – that’s not what we are saying, though if we were, is it something you would give credence to?’ said Matt.
DCI Stimpson shook his head, ‘No, not on the face of it. If you were making an allegation of that nature, would you have anything to back it up with?’
‘Not in theory or in fact yet,’ retorted Matt.
DCI Stimpson gave a sharp nod of the head, ‘Good.’
‘So, are you all still investigating the death of Mr Stone? Is that why you were down at the Nalebury Portal?’
‘It is,’ Matt tilted his head in the direction of the DCI.
‘And have you found anything concrete yet?’
Matt was about to speak but Bruno chipped in first.
‘Concrete, that’s an odd choice of word isn’t it?’
DCI Stimpson gave an almost imperceptible shake of the head, ‘No, not really.’
He continued, ‘So can you give me an idea of how much longer you are going to be here?’
Matt was becoming irritated. His thought was that DCI Stimpson was extending himself beyond his powers.
‘No, we can’t. Partly because we are not sure and partly because, to be honest, it’s none of your business.’ Matt wanted to provoke the DCI and see if he could rattle him.
For his part DCI Stimpson just smiled and spoke in a more friendly tone.
‘God no, of course it’s not, I just don’t want to see you guys hurt. If you are going to stay here poking about, please refrain from trespassing anywhere from now on. Mr de Varley is a powerful man around here. If he phones my boss and gives him grief, then I get a call and get the grief and I do not need more grief. Am I clear?’
Stimpson took the stony silence to mean everyone understood.
‘OK then, well enjoy your stay and remember; if you find anything that warrants further investigation, then please get hold of me. Like I said before, my door is open to anything like that. I am not a stupidly proud man. If you find evidence that shows I got it wrong, I hope you will bring it to me first.’
Matt felt it would be in the team’s interest to show some willing. He changed his persona to also be more open and friendly.
‘Of course we will, that has always been our intention. If we find anything – concrete as you put it – we will be sure to let you know straight away. Do you have a business card?’
DCI Stimpson reached into his pocket and handed Matt a card with his contact details.
Matt took it, ‘Thank you, you have our details?’
‘Oh yes.’
DCI Stimpson turned and walked towards the door, his two colleagues in front of him led the way, one of them opening the door. Just as he was about to pass through the door, he stopped and turned back to face the team.
‘I really do request that you leave Mr de Varley alone, and stay off his land. It’s going to make my life a lot easier, and I think he may well press charges next time. Please don’t take advantage of his hospitality.’
Matt furrowed his brow and looked directly at the DCI.
‘His hospitality?’
‘Yes, he had you all to dinner.’
‘You know about that?’
DCI Stimpson continued to walk out of the room, the male collea
gue still holding the door.
‘Yes I do, down to the menu, the wine list, and the guest list. You name it, I know about it. Goodbye for now.’
With that DCI Stimpson was gone and the door was closed very gently with a quiet click.
Chapter 30
Ava was the first to speak after Stimpson left.
‘Wow, you’re right Matt, something is off with him. How can he be more interested in trespass than attempted murder?’
Matt put a finger up to his lips whilst he crossed the room and put his hand out to grab the door handle. As he fully extended his arm, to his great annoyance and an instant internal flash of rage, he noticed his hand was shaking badly. The PTSD that he had spent the last few weeks conquering was back. Channelling his instant seething anger into the effort of ripping the door wide open; Matt stepped out into the corridor. He had expected to find Stimpson eavesdropping, but there was no one there. At the end of the corridor, the slow closing fire door that could not be rushed was also closed, so no one had lingered.
Walking back into the room, Matt closed the door remarkably gently; a demonstration to himself and his PTSD that he was still in charge, and ultimately calm. He was refusing to succumb to the hyper-vigilance that his condition was trying to initiate. The others all remained quiet, waiting for him to speak. Matt paced the room a few times, rubbing his hand up and down the base of his neck.
Walking up to the window, he looked out across the lake. He was trying to get his PTSD back under control and trying to make a plan. He reminded himself he was in charge of these people, he was ultimately responsible for their wellbeing at work, and he nearly got them all killed; not to mention their client. What the hell had he been thinking.
‘I am sorry to have put you all in such danger, it’s a miracle we are even alive. I made a bad judgement call and I am sorry.’
The others all began to protest verbally that of course it was not his fault, but he raised a hand to stop them. The room fell quiet again.
‘I appreciate your support guys, I really do, but this is on me.’
