Page 41 of The Girls in the Lake
‘You really need to get checked out,’ she pleaded.
‘No, I just want someone to take me home.’
Karen offered. ‘Fine. But we need to know what happened?’
Tamara stayed silent.
Cal looked at his mum. ‘I need to take the boat back and write up an incident report. My car is at the Ferry Nab car park.’ He lowered his voice and spoke to Josh. ‘Please can you get her details for my incident report?’
‘Of course, thank you so much, Cal. It was a good job we were there.’
He nodded. ‘It was, glad to have been of some use even if she doesn’t seem that grateful.’
Josh laughed.
Karen turned towards them, shock in her eyes. Then said, ‘She thinks she was pushed overboard.’
Josh’s smile faltered as alarm bells begin to ring inside his mind; he turned to look at Tamara and realised that although wet and bedraggled, she had long, blonde hair just like the other two victims.
Out on the water, the party boat was docking, the music had been turned down and the decorative lights switched off.
He pulled out his phone and rang the control room.
‘This is DS Walker, I need a couple of available patrols to Bowness Bay Marina as soon as possible.’ He wanted the boat locked down and every single person onboard interviewed.
Forty-Six
Sitting at the computer in her office, Beth sighed; there was only one new email, and it wasn’t from the Forensic Science Service in Chorley with the results of the fast-tracked samples she’d sent for the paint chips. The only new email she had was a long-winded one from Charles, informing her that he’d completed Robert’s post-mortem. His closing words were:I hope there’s no hard feelings between us, Beth, I was only doing my job. You would have done the same.She pushed her chair back, the realisation she would have done the same hitting hard. What had come over her? She should apologise to him for putting him in a difficult position, in person. She would much rather deal with situations, especially ones she’d caused, face to face and not hide behind a keyboard.
She stared out of the small office window which looked out onto a staff car park and nearby memorial garden area lit up by the dull orange glow of street lights. It was time to lock up and go home.
Her phone was where she’d left it, tucked into the driver’s side pocket of the car and she checked to see if Josh had rung. Nothing, not even a text message. She didn’t understand what was going on with him. Deciding to stop being so needy, she pushed it into her trouser pocket. Two could play that game. If he wasn’t going to bother with her, she damn well wasn’t going to bother with him.
Back at home, she poured herself a generous glass of wine, while asking herself,Is wine the answer to your problems?She knew that it wasn’t, but it made them a whole lot more bearable. She collapsed, exhausted, onto the sofa. She didn’t watch television very often, preferring to lose herself in a book, but tonight she needed a distraction. She brought Netflix up and settled onStranger Things; Abe had been telling her to watch it for months. Before she knew it, she was absorbed and rooting for the kid who had been brought up as a scientific experiment. It had been months since she’d had a Netflix binge and she was enjoying every minute.
Her phone vibrated on the kitchen side and she paused the TV; she’d almost forgotten about everything she’d been so sucked into the 1980s. Crossing the room, she picked up her phone to read a message from Josh.
Sorry, work is crazy. There was nearly another drowning, but we saved her. Will tell you about it later, but it might be late. Don’t wait up xxx.
A sigh escaped her lips. All she wanted was to see his face and have a conversation with him about what was going on. Part of her wished she’d gone to find Jodie; at least then she’d have known one way or the other instead of waiting around trying to pretend everything was okay when it clearly wasn’t. What did he mean there was nearly another drowning? Did that mean he thought the other two were more than just tragic accidents? For the first time in a while she had no idea what was happening, or why. She hated the feeling of being out of control. Instead of texting back, she pressed the call button, not expecting him to pick up. She was so relieved to hear his voice whisper, ‘Hi, you.’
‘Josh, is everything okay?’
There were muffled voices in the background, which sounded as if they were getting agitated and louder.
‘Not at the moment. You were right to be concerned, I… Tamara, where are you going?’ He yelled so loud she pulled the phone away from her ear.
‘Oh shit, she’s a bloody nuisance. Got to go!’
He ended the call and Beth smiled, feeling a little better. She knew something was suspicious about a pair of bodies turning up on the same day, in the same lake. She’d felt it in her bones and was suddenly glad she’d pushed to question it. Charles wouldn’t have. Maybe it was fate that she’d been called to deal with them. It didn’t matter; the main thing was Josh believed her and they had averted another drowning, a third victim. She wanted more than anything to drive to the marina to help, but she’d been drinking. Instead, she refilled her glass and returned to her show, confident that Josh and his team would be doing everything they could to get to the bottom of this.
Forty-Seven
Josh ran after the girl, who was heading back towards the boat. He caught up with her and gently took hold of her arm.
‘What are you doing? We need to get you home and dry if you won’t go to the hospital to be checked over.’
‘I don’t want to go just yet and I don’t want to go with her.’ She pointed at Karen.
