by Olivia Swift
“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life,” he said quietly. “I won’t spoil the makeup,” he added as he brushed her forehead with his lips. They clasped hands, and Carly felt a tear well up with the emotion that she felt. “I would like to sweep you up and run away.” he added.
“It would spoil the whole effect,” she answered with a smile. “But thank you. You are pretty smart yourself.” She looked at him. “I guess the ceremony is about to commence.” He nodded and then pulled her back by her hand.
“I love you, Carly James,” he whispered, and her heart threatened to burst with joy. There was no time to reply as they heard Rob calling from the door. They walked out together to the joy and bustle of the day.
“Evan is in place. The music is about to start when I give the signal,” he said, and Ben held out his arm for Jazz as she stepped into the room looking quite amazing. Kim followed, and they fell into place with Ben proudly playing the part of the father figure. Evan Sutherland saw the vision in white and pink that was Jasmine Summer come towards him and wondered, and not for the first time, how anyone could be this lucky. The smile on her face told him that she felt the same and they took their vows in front of all of their friends. He was allowed to kiss the bride, and the chatter of conversation burst out as everyone crowded to see the photographer take photos.
Jules Callander could take some of the best photos in the world, but not very many there knew who he was. He took thousands of digital images and knew that he could stitch them together in his lab.
He simply shot picture after picture and managed to get all of the guests in various combinations with friends. He had taken the flowers, cake, and planters before people arrived and he concentrated on combinations. Bride and groom, of course, all of the bridesmaids and ushers. There were closeups and distance shots, and he managed to make the gardens a background for a lot of them. There was one girl in particular who seemed particularly photogenic. She had ginger, curly hair that was not unlike his own and freckles across her nose that makeup could not quite hide. Her hair was tied back tightly from the face and only allowed the riot of curly locks to escape at the back. There was a natural feel about her that seemed at odds with the very high-end designer wear that showed off her figure. The two people she was with looked like her parents. The man was quite distinguished, and the woman was stunning in a long and beautiful full-length summer dress. Jules suddenly saw that he had taken about twenty shots of the young woman and pulled himself together. All the same, he managed to reach Evan and ask who the girl was with the ginger hair.
“Surely there are relatives that I haven’t met yet,” he joked, but Evan took the hint and introduced Miller Hollenbeck.
“She was interested in the history of the garden, and that was how we all met,” Evan offered and left the two comparing notes on having unruly ginger curls.
Confetti was thrown, and the buffet was eventually served to background music. When most people had eaten quite a lot, Dex called for attention and gave a funny speech to wish his brother and new sister-in-law a wonderful future together. There was much calling out from the crowd, and then the cake was cut by the happy couple and festivities began in earnest.
Dex pulled Carly to her feet and made his way to where there was space to dance. It was a slow tune. He pulled her close as they swayed to the music but didn’t move very far. With her head resting against his chest, Carly knew that she was home. This was where she wanted to be, but it was not the place to tell him that. They had no more time to be close as the newlyweds made for the car. Jazz came and hugged her sister and her best friend, gave Dex a kiss on the cheek, and they set off with much clanging and clanking of whatever had been tied to the car. The rear of the car had a sign that said, ‘Just married’ and it disappeared out of the gate. It then fell to Dex, Carly, Kim, Rob and Ben to see that the guests could still relax, eat, drink, and be merry. The last ones left as it was dark and Dex pulled her onto the sofa.
“What a day,” he sighed, just as Carly’s phone rang.
13
She almost didn’t answer but picked it up. The name on the screen was Charlene Duval. She answered the call, and a broken and frightened voice whispered.
“It’s Charlene. Help me. Help me.” Her voice trailed away, and Dex and Carly jumped up as one person, grabbed jackets and car keys, and ran for the door. Carly was very glad she had managed to change late in the evening into comfortable jeans. The purple dress would have slowed her down. Even as she slammed the passenger door, Dex was moving the car forward. He kept as much speed as he could until they reached well-lit streets and skidded to a halt in the place where the Duvals lived. As Carly knocked on the door, it pushed open, and she carefully stepped inside.
“Charlene. Are you there?” she shouted as she went into the living room and rushed over to where the woman was lying on the floor. Blood was pouring from a wound to her shoulder, and her neck and her face were a dreadful mess of bruises and blood. She reached out an arm to protect herself from a blow, but Carly told her who it was and grabbed a cloth from the table to staunch the wounds. Dex was calling the emergency services and said they desperately needed an ambulance.
“A woman has been attacked.” The voice reassured that there was help on the way and he came to see if there was anything he could do. Charlene was gripping Carly’s arm with a strength that was painful, but Carly took the strain and talked to her in as calm a voice as she could manage.
“Who did this?” Dex asked, but in his heart, he knew who it was.
“Jed. I told him about his real father, and he went crazy.” The voice was shaky, but they could make out what she said. The woman moaned in pain.
“Hold on. Help is coming,” Dex told her, as they heard the sirens coming close. The paramedics rushed in, and Carly stood back to let them do their work. As the medical help was being given, the detectives arrived. It happened to be Detective Inspector Mallarchy Mackay and Detective Felix Sanchez who had been to Chestnut Hall when the digger unearthed some old bones.
“Thank goodness,” Dex said. “The victim is Charlene Duval, and she says her son went crazy.”
“How are you here, Mr Sutherland?” Mackay asked, and Carly butted in to say that Charlene had called her cell and asked for help.
“We came as fast as we could and found this,” Dex waved a hand, and for the first time realized that the room and all of the precious collection of ornaments was completely trashed.
“Oh, her fairy treasures,” Carly called out. “He knew what would break her heart.” The paramedics asked if they could take her to the hospital and Mackay agreed.
“She is Charlene Duval,” Carly told the man as the stretcher was wheeled away. Charlene herself was not saying anything, and for a time Carly feared the worst.
“She’s sedated,” The ambulance man said as he saw the look on Carly’s face and they saw the ambulance loaded and driven away.
“Now tell me the whole story,” Mackay said, and Dex looked at Carly.
“Where do we start?” he asked himself, as the story would sound a bit silly if they said it was a ghost. Dex explained that the history of the shop went back to a hotel and Charlene’s husband was a descendant. Carly had to say that Jed Duval had stalked her at school and seemed to have started again.
“Why on earth did you not report it?” Sanchez broke in.
“We thought it might all just be a one-off thing,” Carly told him. “I’m sorry now. We might have saved her being attacked. Dex was away seeing to his house move, and Jazz came down to pick me up. I’ve stayed at Chestnut Hall ever since.”
“We’ll have to go over this place to see if there are any other fingerprints or DNA for anyone other than the family.”
“She has a husband,” Carly remembered. “But I don’t know where he is. Spends most of his time in the bar.”
“Thanks,” Mackay answered. “We’ll try and find him.” Sanchez was already putting out a request to find Jed Duval. Carly
gave him the timber yard address. The need for the hunt for the husband was wiped out by the fact that an officer brought him into the house.
“This man says he lives here,” The uniformed man said, and Mackay let Dex and Carly leave. The drive home was quiet and uneventful. Carly realized how exhausted she was.
“What a day. A wedding, a party, and an attack where we rode to the rescue,” Dex mused, and they let themselves back into the house.
“I know this is over the top,” he told her, “but we are going to check every room in this house together and make sure all doors and windows are locked fast.” She agreed and the house was covered from top to bottom. Nothing suspicious occurred. With a coffee in her hand, Carly decided that she would never sleep and opted to search for Charley Rose’s grave and death notice instead.
“I just won’t sleep so I think I’ll sit with a drink and the laptop and see if I can find Charley Rose.” She paused. “If I had never set out to find the history, Charlene would not have been attacked.”
“You couldn’t know where the story would lead,” he consoled her and wrapped his arms around to hold her close. “Let’s both try and find the grave and then we can tell Emily and finish the whole thing.” There was quiet as they both concentrated on searching, but Carly stopped and dabbed at her eyes.
“I feel really sorry for Charlene. Poor woman---a useless husband and a violent son.” Dex took her hand.
“We’ll give her a hand when she recovers,” he said and went on. “You know, if he has done this, then he is a much more dangerous person than we thought.” Carly nodded.
“We’ll keep up being careful, but I would think he is on the run or in hiding if he knows the police will be looking for him.”
“Once they pick him up, things will be safe again,” Dex added and took his tablet over to the sofa. Carly came and sat beside him and watched as he went on searching. In the end, they found it. The victim of the runaway horse accident was buried in Three Elms Cemetery.
“When Katarina comes in tomorrow, we’ll run over there and finish the story,” Dex told her and draped an arm around her. She dropped her head on his shoulder and fell asleep. He reached over for a throw that was fairly close and draped it over the two of them. Neither of them had mentioned that he had said those three words to her.
“Even if she doesn’t feel the same,” He thought as he drifted off with the pink tendrils of her hair on his face, “that monster won’t get near her.”
The shop was waiting for them with the beautiful crystals and gifts. As Carly left her bag in the back room, the scent of lavender drifted around her.
“Hello, Emily,” she said. “We found where Charley was buried, and we will go and see the place today.” She called Katarina who said she would come straight away. The girl arrived ten minutes later to hear about Charlene and the attack.
“That is just dreadful,” she said. “He must be really unhinged.”
“I’ll call Ben to come over. Duval is probably in hiding, but he might just be crazy enough to turn up here and cause trouble,” Carly told her. In another ten minutes, Ben arrived to hear the news as well. Carly called the hospital and heard that Charlene Duval was comfortable and stable but was not allowed any visitors.
“They’ll have a guard on the door, I would imagine,” Dex remarked.
“What a horrible end to a wonderful day,” Carly said sadly. “The wedding went so well, and Jazz was just a fabulous bride.”
“We’ll not tell them until they come home. No need to spoil the honeymoon,” Carly added and when she had seen everything was in order, she and Dex set off for Three Elms Cemetery.
It turned out to be a very pleasant place that was well cared for and peaceful. There was an office, and they explained to the lady there what they were looking for.
“What a romantic story,” she said with a smile. “If you have the name it should be easy. The graves are laid out to a plan and notes kept of the people buried. Instead of taking a book and thumbing through it, she flicked on the computer and typed in Charley Rose.
“There he is,” she pointed and ran off the plan on a printer. From the door, she pointed to the far corner of the grounds.
“It should be easy because it is the corner plot at the far end. If you cannot find it, come back, and I’ll go over there myself.”
They thanked her for her help and set off for the distant part of the area. Some of the graves were hard to define, and many had no headstones. These were all older graves. The grass was kept cut, but there was no new activity in that part of the grounds. The lady had been right though because, where the two rows of graves joined, the corner grave was almost a marker for the rest. It did have a rough stone on the site, and Carly knelt down to rub at the surface. The moment she felt the stone beneath her fingers, there was a connection of some sort. She saw the initials---a roughly cut C and R.
“It’s him,” she said with a smile. “I can feel it, and his initials are here.” Dex dropped down beside her and placed his hand on the stone as well.
“You’re right. I can feel something as well.”
“Well, well, well,” a male voice said mockingly, and with a chill, Carly turned to see Jed Duval with a large and wicked-looking knife in his hand. Dex stood and pushed Carly behind him, but she stepped out and shouted at Jed Duval.
“You nasty, wicked man,” she pointed her finger and took a step forward. Dex tried to hold her back, but she was furious and not frightened. “How you could attack your mother like that, I do not know. She loved you and brought you up. She defended you when you did things you shouldn’t and then she told you the truth.” She took a breath and another step forward. “And what did you do, you worthless excuse for a man. You attacked your own mother with a knife and smashed all of her things. Come on, big man with your knife. Come and attack another woman.” She stopped a few feet in front of him and held her hands out with her feet spread determinedly apart and ready for the lunge.
Instead of the attack, Jed Duval dropped the knife on the ground and started to cry. He fell to his knees and sobbed. Carly looked at Dex and then dropped beside the crying man on the ground. She kicked the knife away, and Dex came beside her.
“Jed. It will be all right. She’ll get better. Come on. Let’s find a safe place for you.” She laid a hand on his shoulder and Dex took a step forward in case the man suddenly charged again, but he slumped there. “You’ve got a successful business to run. You have so much more to do than worry about what she told you.”
“All these years and I never knew,” he whispered. Dex heard someone approaching and half turned in case it was another attack but, with relief, he saw Mallarchy Mackay and his partner, Sanchez, moving quietly but swiftly to take over the situation.
14
Dex inspected his furniture and left it exactly where it was. Jazz and Evan heard the details about Duval, and he said he would keep an eye on things the next day. Jazz had another garden design to plan but nothing to physically work on. The four of them ate together, and Dex explained everything they had found out about the Charley Rose family.
“The son born at the hotel had two children, and one of them was a girl. I guess we could trace her eventually, but she would not be a Duval.” Carly explained.
“We can follow up the next generation and see where that leads, but really we need to find Charley Rose, so at least we can tell Emily what happened,” Dex added and Carly smiled.
“You see, you have accepted that we can talk to thin air.”
“Sweetly scented thin air,” Jazz added.
“Anyway, we’ll take tomorrow and see if the house and the people there now can add anything,” Dex went on. “Mapplin is only an hour’s drive away.” He paused and looked at his brother. “Just to prove I can think about other things, I have mapped out in plans the main stud wall and ordered the wood we need. We can make a start as soon as it arrives.” They talked about the house plans for some time, and Dex decided to move some of the newly
arrived furniture. Evan said that Jazz was not allowed to help and they went for a walk in the gardens. Jazz was still keeping a keen eye on things out there.
“If we move what is left of the old furniture to the door, we can put your things in place,” Carly suggested and went to help him. “It is true that you and I would choose the same sort of things.” She added and put her hands on her hips to catch her breath. “I love your desk.”
“Do you think we could get that into the other room that will be my office?” he asked. They heaved and dragged between them with the desk on its side until it was in place to work beside the window. “I draw plans,” he told her, “and I need the light.”
“We can come back in,” Evan called to Jazz. “I think most of the heavy stuff is done.” Dex threw a cushion at his brother.
“Some of those cookies and coffee might make up for the lack of muscle power,” he answered, and the four of them tried out the newly arrived sofas.
“Now that I have moved in permanently, I’ll get a kitchen fitted. We can put up the wall ourselves to make a separate part of the living room and the people who made your kitchen can come and do the clever stuff,” Dex said as he looked around.
“What sort of kitchen?” Jazz asked, and he told her he liked white.
“All white with a few splashes of color,” he finished. “Those people can do the bathroom and extra shower room as well.” The plans were laid out and looked at, and Carly realized that Dex was very good at drawing plans. He had calculated the wall and materials but also drawn up the whole house as an architect would do, and they looked very smart.
“I like these plans,” she said. “If you had some that were not used anymore, they would make lovely pictures in frames to sell.” He stared at her with disbelief.
