The Carlswick Affair (The Carlswick Mysteries Book 1)

by SL Beaumont

  There was nothing but silence. Cautiously, she crept through the gate, leaving it open, so as not to make any further noise and carefully wove her way between the trees, shrubs and garden borders towards the house.

  She crept around to the front corner and took up a position beside a row of low trees where she had a good view in one of the rooms. The lights were on and she could hear the murmur of voices. Suddenly Alex sauntered across the room, glass in hand, talking to someone out of her line of sight. She was so focussed on what he was doing that she didn’t hear the crack of a twig to her left until it was too late. It was all she could do not to scream with fright.

  “You just don’t listen do you? Why are you hanging around outside my house after dark?” James sneered. “I don’t think I could have been any clearer, when I said, keep away from us.”

  Stephanie said nothing, she was suddenly too frightened. In the darkness, she realised just how much bigger than her he was. She opened her mouth to speak but the words wouldn’t form.

  “Do you really have nothing better to do on a Saturday night?” he taunted.

  “It’s not like that,” she blurted out, suddenly indignant. You conceited prat.

  Movement in the window momentarily distracted them both. Victoria came into view laughing – glass of wine in her hand. Stephanie groaned inwardly.

  “What’s she doing here?” James murmured, as Stephanie took a couple of tentative steps away from him, readying herself to run. A hand clamped on her arm.

  “Where do you think you are going?” James said.

  Laughter came from the study and they both looked up as Victoria stopped by the tall wing backed chair in which someone was reclining, and bent to kiss them. Stephanie felt James stiffen beside her.

  “What the?” he began.

  The person in the chair rose and pulled Victoria into a passionate embrace. When they pulled apart, he turned his head slightly. James gasped. It was his brother, Alex.

  Suddenly the front of the house was bathed in light. Two dark cars, followed by two police cars, with their lights flashing blue and red, sped up the driveway and around the lake.

  This time Stephanie didn’t miss the opportunity of James being distracted. She violently pulled free from his grasp, shoving him roughly away and leapt over the box hedging at the edge of the garden and began running as hard as she could away from the house and driveway, back towards the gate in the wall. Her heart was racing. She could hear James’ footsteps behind her.

  “Steph. Stop,” he called out in an urgent whisper.

  Yeah, right, she thought, frantically trying to remember the way she had come.

  She zigzagged through the trees at the edge of the garden trying to lose him, but got herself lost in the process. Shit.

  “Stephanie. What’s going on here?” his voice sounded close behind her.

  She made the mistake of hesitating trying to decide which way to go and found herself slammed into the ground.

  “Ouch,” she cried indignantly, struggling under his weight to get free.

  “Sorry – stay down,” he said as a powerful flashlight swept over where they had been standing. “What are the police doing here?” he whispered in her ear. He eased his weight off her onto his elbows and knees, but she could still feel his breath against her cheek.

  There were the sounds of loud voices and running footsteps back at the house.

  “How would I know – I’m just a stalker, remember. Now get off me,” she said.

  “Steph…..” James began, as he loosened his hold on her.

  She pushed him away and scrambled to her feet. Her emotions - anger, fear and frustration all rose to the surface in one hot bubble and overflowed. “No. You listen to me. First the brick through my car window, then a car trying to run me down outside the club in London last night, and now Michael is unconscious in hospital and my great uncle’s memoirs that he had with him are missing.” She paused and took a deep breath. “I don’t know what you and your family are up to, but I’ve had it. I will not be your next victim,” she said in a low sharp voice.

  He leapt to his feet and stood in front of her looking confused. “Wait - Mikey’s in hospital?” he said.

  She saw red. How can he stand there and act so innocent when he is clearly right in the middle of whatever Alex and his grandfather were up to. “Oh sod off, James,” she hissed and punched him in the face. A hard right hook. She was suddenly grateful for having a mother who insisted she take self-defence classes with her. James went down. Stephanie turned and ran for her life. This time he didn’t follow. Somehow she managed to find the gate in the wall again and bolted through it to freedom.

  Stephanie was shaking and out of breath when she reached her car, still parked where she had left it tucked in the farm gateway. She got in and drove quickly home, letting herself in through the kitchen entrance.

  The lights were still on in the guest house and she could hear muffled voices. She crept up the stairs and into her bedroom, and throwing off her coat and kicking off her shoes, changed out of her dirty jeans and top and into a simple wrap dress. Exhausted by the events of the last few days, she collapsed on her sofa, nursing her bruised knuckles and picked up Sophie’s diary to re-read her last entries.

  A little while later she stuck her head into her grandmother’s bedroom. The old lady was back home and tucked up in bed with a book open on her lap, reading.

  “I thought I heard a car, a little while ago. Did you have a nice time in London?” Ellie asked.

  “Yes Grandma, but I’m tired, so I’m off to bed. Who does Dad have here with him?” Stephanie said.

  “Don’t know dear. Some legal matter. Oh, I almost forgot. How’s Michael?” she enquired.

  Stephanie leaned over and kissed her grandmother’s soft wrinkled cheek. “Still unconscious, I’m afraid. Mrs Morgan said that she will text if anything changes.”

  “Oh dear.” Ellie laid a hand on one side of Stephanie’s face and smiled indulgently. “I’m glad you are home safely.”

  Instead of going straight to her room, Stephanie skipped downstairs and out across the driveway to the guest house. She was surprised to see a man standing to attention outside the closed door. He looked as startled as she was.

  “Who are you?” he demanded.

  “I could ask you the same thing?” she replied matching his tone. “Is my father here?”

  He stared at her for a few seconds and said, “One moment.” He turned, knocked and opened the door. Stephanie peered past him into the room. Around the large oval oak table were seated at least twelve men. She recognised none of them, except Vince, who was standing writing on a white board. Stephanie shuddered. What was that creepy guy doing here?

  “….and without a search warrant, we couldn’t find anything,” a bodiless voice spoke from a speaker on the centre of the table.

  “Excuse me, Mr Cooper. Your daughter?” the man on the door said, interrupting.

  The room instantly went silent and Max appeared in the doorway. He nodded to the doorman and the door was immediately closed behind him. He took Stephanie’s arm and led her away from the meeting and back across the driveway towards the house.

  “What are you doing home? I thought you were spending a few days with Anna,” he sounded slightly annoyed.

  “I was, but Michael’s had a car accident, so I came home to visit him in hospital,” she replied thinking on her feet. “What’s with the meeting – must be pretty serious for a Saturday night?”

  “Oh yes, you know how negotiations go sometimes. Now I have to get back in there – so they don’t make any decisions without me,” he laughed humourlessly. “Was there anything in particular that you needed?”

  “No Dad just thought you’d like to know that I was home. Goodnight,” she said as she reached up her tiptoes and kissed his cheek and walked back inside, leaving him looking warily after her.

  She suddenly wasn’t sure that she wanted to share the result of her investigations with
her father. It was a strange sensation, but she felt as though she didn’t completely trust him anymore. All those years of visiting as a child and actually, I don’t really know anything about him, she mused sadly.

  Chapter 24

  There was a quiet knock on Stephanie’s bedroom door a little while later.

  “Come in,” she called expecting it be her father or grandmother. James slipped in quickly; breathing heavily as he quietly shut the door behind him and leaned against it.

  “Shit. This place is worse than Fort Knox,” he complained.

  “Well I guess you would know, Mr Knox,” she said, shocked to see him standing there.

  James chuckled.

  “What are you doing here? Are you stalking me now?” Stephanie asked.

  He saw fear flicker across her face, along with the defiant tilt of her chin, as he strode over to where she sat. Stephanie jumped up knocking over a small table with a glass on water on it. She moved away from the sofa, feeling the sudden need to put some distance between them.

  “I am not involved with whatever it is that you think my family is doing,” he said bluntly.

  Her eyes flashed with anger. “Really? Then why have you been threatening me?”

  James sighed. “Alex said he had a deal on that you were putting in jeopardy with your snooping around. He said I had to warn you off or he would. And believe me – you would rather it was me,” he said.

  Stephanie didn’t answer immediately. She couldn’t decide whether to trust him or not. All her instincts where screaming No, but there was measure of sincerity in what he was saying. “Why didn’t you just explain that?” she said eventually.

  “Like that would have stopped you,” he said quietly.

  “Oh so now I am unreasonable too,” she said.

  “Come on Steph. I haven’t come here to fight. This is doing neither of us any good,” he implored.

  They stared silently at one another for a few moments. James’ cheekbone was shiny and red from where she had hit him earlier. It looked like he would have a bruise on it the next day. She knew she should be feeling frightened, but for some reason, she no longer did. The image she had built of him in her head over the last few days had been of some monster out to hurt her, but instead it was just James standing in front of her; the same James that she had kissed passionately a week earlier, but then had argued so bitterly with. He seemed to bring out such strong emotions in her.

  “Steph there’s a lot more going on here than either of us realise. It’s more than just bitterness over what happened all those years ago,” James said.

  “Yeah, I know. Have they sent you to extract everything I know, before they kill me too?” she eyed him suspiciously, only half-joking.

  “Yeah, just call me Bond,” he said laughing quietly.

  “No James, I’m serious,” she said. “I’m a bit out of my depth, here, so I’m really not sure who to trust. You aren’t very high on the trustworthy scale right now and the one person I did trust has ended up unconscious in hospital.”

  James moved towards her holding out his hand in a gesture of peace. She looked at his hand, torn with indecision. Her instincts were telling her not to trust anything he said, but her heart was betraying her by thumping loudly and excitedly in her chest.

  A loud knock on her door made them both jump. James looked at her in alarm.

  “Stephanie – are you ok. Can I come in? It’s Vince,” a voice called.

  “Shit.” They both froze.

  “Quick – in here,” she whispered, making a hasty decision and pushing him towards her walk in wardrobe. “Get behind the curtain.”

  “Hang on,” she called. “I’m not decent.” She quickly pulled off her dress and pulled a light summer dressing gown around herself.

  James raised his eyebrows appreciatively, before ducking behind the curtain. Stephanie glared at him, her cheeks burning and rushed to the door.

  “What’s up, Vince? I was just getting ready for bed,” she asked as she opened her door and stuck her head around it, trying to keep her voice calm.

  “A security alarm went off and your father asked that I check on you and your grandmother,” he said looking past her into her bedroom. “May I come in for a look?”

  Stephanie hesitated, but stepped aside to allow him into the room, “I didn’t realise that we had such high tech security,” she said.

  “Who were you talking to?” Vince asked, ignoring her comment

  “Was probably the internet – I was just downloading some new music,” Stephanie waved her hand toward her laptop and iPod lying on the sofa.

  Vince’s trained eyes scanned the room. His eyes stopped on the spilled glass of water and upturned side table.

  “Are you ok?” he mouthed silently to her.

  Stephanie felt a shiver of fear. “No, I mean yes. You banging on the door startled me and I knocked it over when I jumped up,” she explained. She walked as calmly as she could over to the small table and righted it, picking up the now empty glass. “I’ll just get a towel to mop this up,” she said walking into her ensuite bathroom. Vince followed looking behind the door and in the shower. He paused to look into her walk in wardrobe. He walked directly to the curtains covering the window of the small room and pulled them back. Stephanie gasped, but it was empty behind them. Vince visibly relaxed and smiled at her.

  Where was James? Stephanie could barely look.

  “Ok – all clear in here. I’m sure it’s just a false alarm,” he said walking back to the door of her bedroom. “Lock yourself in though – just in case.” He nodded to her and went out into the hall.

  Stephanie closed the door behind him and quickly turned the key in the lock. She momentarily lent on the door and let out the breath she had been holding, before rushing over to the walk in wardrobe and pulling the curtains back herself. “James?”

  “Here,” a low voice sounded from behind her. She spun around and stumbled into him.

  “Thanks,” he said quietly not taking his eyes off hers.

  Stephanie stood still, her heart beating furiously. She wasn’t sure if it was from the fright of nearly being caught in a lie or from the fact that he was standing so close to her - probably a bit of both. He left his hands gently on her shoulders where they had steadied her a moment earlier. They stood like that for several moments, looking into one another’ eyes, each trying to assess what the other was thinking. Stephanie lowered her gaze to his lips and before she realised what she was doing, she reached up on her tiptoes to kiss him.

  The kiss was gentle at first, until James ran his hands down her back and pulled her firmly up against him. She responded by winding her hands around his neck and into his hair. He flicked his tongue over her bottom lip and with a low moan in the back of her throat she opened and kissed him back. Their bodies pressed together, the pent up feelings of the past weeks spilling over.

  When they finally pulled away, they stood silently gazing at each other, their breathing uneven.

  Wow, Stephanie thought, quickly trying to gather her scattered thoughts.

  “Um,” she said eventually breaking the silence. “How are we going to get you back out of here undetected tonight?”

  Stephanie took a step away from James, trying to physically put some distance between them to allow her to think clearly. What had just happened here? Why am I kissing someone that I don’t completely trust? Is it because it feels a little dangerous? Yet strangely, it somehow felt right, at the same time.

  “I don’t actually think I’ll be going too far tonight – even if I wanted to,” he smirked.

  She took his hand and led him to the sofa.

  “You wait here, while I get changed,” she instructed pushing him onto it.

  “You really don’t need to,” he called quietly to her retreating back, with a smile in his voice.

  “Oh no, I really do,” she replied, pulling on dark blue jeans and a rose pink hoodie. She needed a couple of minutes alone to regain her composure. Caref
ul Steph, she warned herself, you don’t know what he is up to.

  She came back into her bedroom and sat cross legged at the opposite end of the sofa, studying him.

  “You know it’s not just my family guarding secrets,” James said leaning towards her and gently pushing her hair back where it had fallen over her face.

  Stephanie flinched slightly at his touch. A hurt expression, at her reaction, flashed across James’ face and then was gone. “Well, why does your 85 year old grandmother have an ex-SAS officer here?”

  “What? Vince? He works for Dad,” Stephanie frowned. “Actually, that does make sense. He is very military isn’t he?”

  “Check him out Steph and you’ll see I’m right. He served two tours in Iraq and two in Afghanistan,” James said.

  “So now you’ve been looking into my family,” she stated frowning at him.

  “He’s not your family,” James replied evenly.

  “What about Victoria, James,” she asked unsuccessfully trying to mask the bitterness in her voice. “Do you and Alex take turns?”

  James flushed and blew out a breath. “Long story – but I was as surprised as you to see her with Alex tonight. She and I were finished months ago. Not terribly mature I know, but I was just trying to make you jealous after seeing you with Sam. She doesn’t care for me – too busy being in love with herself or maybe Alex,” he said. “Although how anyone could love Alex is beyond me.”

  “Yeah, but why this sudden change of heart? You’ve ignored me for days, you were really quite nasty at the café last Saturday, you threatened me at the club in London and frightened the hell out of me earlier tonight,” Stephanie said.

  “You are actually very hard to ignore,” he said laughing.