Murder on the High Seas - The Devereaux CaseFiles Book 3

Chapter 7

Just as Reed had expected a quiet evening with his wife, forgetting about the dead body she had seen first hand, Gideon didn't expect his lunch to be disturbed ten minutes later by a phone call from Ayah herself. At first she sounded happy, asking about the shop, how he and Anita were getting on and hoping for some gossip, but he knew something more was going on. To be polite, and because she was always like his best friend, he told her the truth about everything, even about the shops first customer. "How's the holiday?" He wondered, trying to make her remember that she was supposed to be relaxing and enjoying herself, not fretting about the shop and whether they could cope without her. There was a moments silence and then, to his surprise, Reed spoke.

"Everything's fine here. What did you say to Ayah?" He asked gruffly, making Gideon wonder what was going on and if he should be worried. Why had Ayah handed the phone across? She had called him. Unless there was something important...or bad...that Reed had to tell him. He tried not to think about it as he explained.

"I only asked how the holiday was going." He confessed.

"Oh. Well, she burst into tears, dropped the phone and ran into the bathroom." Reed explained why he was now talking to someone else. He could hear her being sick in the bathroom and hoped that it was just inconvenient morning sickness rather than the recollection of Eddie's dead body making her sick. "I guess it's just the hormones and everything that's happened. Ayah made a rather gruesome discovery tonight. She and her new friend Brigit found a dead body. She was worried my work was beginning to follow me across countries and oceans but I know she won't rest until it's solved and she knows that it's got nothing to do with us. I offered my services but I'm not sure what I'm going to find."

Reed explained the situation briefly, hoping that at least if Gideon knew, and he called or Ayah called him again, she had someone else to talk to who was a little more removed from the situation then they all were. And the best of it was, they were trapped on a floating island, with no authority, no way of escape and no chance of just walking away and letting someone else deal with it. And that didn't even take into account the fact that Brigit seemed to be a target for something.

"If you need any help, you know I'll do anything." Gideon vowed, making Reed smile at the reminder that the kid really would do anything for Ayah. He had lost Molly as a girlfriend, protected her at all costs and been her best friend for more than a year, all because she needed him and no-one could know why or how they had become so close.

"Thanks kid. I'm sure everything will be fine. I'll solve the case and in a few days we can get back to our holiday. Until then, I'm going to have to hang up on you and go make sure Ayah's alright." He apologized for the short phone call but the kid understood that Ayah's health came first.

"Course." Gideon agreed quickly.

Reed could hear that she had stopped being sick and a quick glance over his shoulder let him know that she was exhausted and very emotional as she sank onto the bed and started to cry again, this time quieter. He could see that she wasn't yet entirely convinced that Eddie's death wasn't her fault and so he said goodbye to Gideon, hung up and went across to the bed to console his wife. Not for the first time that night. He felt guilty seeing her that way, knowing that until he solved Eddie's murder, there was nothing he could do to make her feel better. It was all fine and well tormenting her and taking her mind off things with romance and kisses but in the end, it would always be there in the back of her mind that they might never have a peaceful life together because of their past.

"Are you alright?" He wondered gently, sitting next to her on the bed until she looked up at him sadly. There was a deep thoughtfulness in her eyes that said some new horrible thought had occurred to her that she couldn't dispel with his words of comfort. He wasn't sure what was on her mind but it looked more serious than they should have had to deal with on their holiday.