The flowers were addressed to The Little Blue Boathouse, which meant Carl knew exactly where she was staying. There was only one person who could have shared that information with him – Emmie.
As Nolan walked back through the door with two mugs, he was chatting away. ‘Last night when I arrived back in the storm, I realised something was going on. I could see Drew’s Land Rover and all the villagers were out on the banks of the river and as I anchored The Hemingway, I heard them saying you had gone after Lucas and they didn’t know where you were. I didn’t like the thought of that. I can’t even describe the feeling in the pit of my stomach. I felt physically sick.’
‘It’s good to know you care,’ she said, smiling.
‘You’re a good person, Bea. You have good qualities.’
‘Don’t stop there, do feel free to list them all,’ she teased, winding her hand round in circles to encourage him.
‘We don’t want your head swelling as big as your ankle,’ he said cheekily, ‘But you’re kind, considerate, not to mention beautiful and funny, even if that chin of yours is stitched up in a funny zig-zaggy sort of way.’
Bea liked what she was hearing, but it didn’t take away the fact that soon after the River Festival Nolan would be back on the water. In the meantime, though, she was going to enjoy every bit of his company.
‘Aww, it sounds like you care just a little,’ Bea teased.
‘Don’t go overboard.’ Nolan grinned. ‘And I think it’s brilliant that you want to get Heartcross Rescue up and running on the river. I quite agree that it’s in everyone’s interest to make the water a safer place.’
‘I’ll do everything in my power to rally the community around on Monday night,’ she said, taking a sip of her tea. ‘And I was going to ask, are Hemingway and Fernsby back on the case? Because I think I may have a development…’ Bea was just about to tell him about the painting on Martha’s caravan wall when she heard the crunch of tyres outside on the gravel followed by a slam of a car door, then the sound of voices that Bea immediately recognised. She froze.
‘This is it, The Little Blue Boathouse. That’s the name of the place from her email.’
‘You had no right to go snooping in her emails.’
‘I have every right. Her name is on the rental agreement for our flat, just like mine, and if she’s quit her job how is she going to pay rent?’
Nolan looked through the open hatch and saw a man striding towards the door with a woman struggling to keep up. ‘It sounds like we have customers.’
‘They are not customers. Brace yourself.’
‘We’re looking for Bea,’ Carl announced as he strode inside the Boathouse.
As soon as Emmie saw Bea, she raced towards her. ‘There you are. We didn’t know if you would still be in hospital.’ She flung her arms around Bea’s neck. Bea said nothing as she stared over her sister’s shoulder at her ex. The day had been going so well up until now.
As Emmie pulled away, Bea glanced towards Nolan, who’d probably guessed this was her sister, as there was no mistaking the striking resemblance, but it was possible he’d think the man standing behind her wafting a piece of paper in the air was Emmie’s husband.
‘Nolan, let me introduce you to my sister, Emmie.’
Emmie’s eyes widened as she shook his hand. Bea was regretting telling her sister about Nolan and she prayed that conversation had stayed private. Nolan shook her hand then held out his hand towards Carl.
‘And this is my ex, Carl.’
Nolan didn’t flinch as they shook hands. ‘Pleased to meet you.’
There was nothing pleasing about this situation at all. In fact, Bea hoped she was fast asleep and would soon wake up from this nightmare. Unfortunately, the pain creeping back into her ankle because the painkillers were wearing off told her this was very much real.
‘What are you both doing here?’ asked Bea. ‘It’s a long way to come just to hire a kayak for the weekend.’
‘Always the joker,’ Emmie said, evidently trying to make light of the situation by rolling her eyes in Nolan’s direction. ‘You’ve been caught in a storm, trapped on some rocks and ended up in hospital. Why wouldn’t we be here? We’re family.’
‘This came for you.’ Carl pushed an envelope into her hand.
Bea looked down at the opened envelope then turned it over. It was addressed to her. ‘You’ve opened my mail. Isn’t that against the law?’
‘What was I supposed to do? You went missing.’
‘I didn’t go missing. Ileftyou. Or did you forget that part?’
Carl briefly looked over his shoulder at Nolan then lowered his voice. ‘It’s not as simple as that.’
