Chapter One
Nathan offered the chair and Jack Dawson accepted. They both sat, Jack with his back to the setting sun, the warmth soaked in by his skin. He shivered slightly. The warm tingle pulsed through him as he welcomed the heat. The bottle of beer felt cool in his hand and a sliver of water rested against his forefinger as it ran down from the neck.
‘Nice place you got here Nathan’ sipping on the cold liquid.
‘Jack, I don’t think you flew out here to admire my house, what’s up?’
Jack swallowed the mouth full and placed the beer down on to the brown wooden table. He watched as Nathan attempted to read him, the bottle raised to his lips and his eyes fixed on his guest.
‘You know me too well, but I also believe you already know why I’m here Nathan…………how much do you know?’
‘Just what I’ve seen on the internet, I tend to avoid the news now Jack, we like the peace and quiet’
Jack scanned his surroundings. The villa’s cream walls soaked in the sun’s rays and amplified the brightness. The ivy clung to one corner and snaked from left to right at the base of the roof, the decking where they sat was a dark brown wood. It supplied the occupants with a warm seating area and a breath taking view.
Jack imagined Nathan and Elle, his wife, enjoying a meal and sharing a bottle of wine whilst the sun decided to call it a day, the slow rhythm of the resting waves crashing upon the golden sand.
Nathan noticed his old friend pondering and admiring the building, ‘You should have called first!’ he distracted.
‘I know, but honestly, would Elle have been happy with me stopping by?’
‘Probably not no, but she has earned the right to intervene Jack, I hate to bring it up but last time I helped you on a case, I ended up with sixty four stitches and endless nightmares. Elle had to deal with it as well as me. It was hard Jack, for both of us!’
Jack nodded an acknowledgement to sympathise.
‘So, what have you got?’ he pushed
Jack removed a brown A4 envelope from his travel bag and placed it down upon the table, making sure to avoid the slow growing pool of water from his beer. Nathan noticed the crispness that the envelope still held. It had been stuck in that bag since Jack had left the office, man handled through customs at Heathrow Airport, squashed into an overhead storage cabinet on the plane and now sat, looking new, in front of him. Nathan reached forward and gripped the package with his thumb and forefinger.
‘Nathan, I’ll leave you with the information. It’s up to you if you take a look or not although I would appreciate it if you did, I have a feeling that we only have a short space of time to act before the next one is found’ Jack stood and poured the remaining beer down his throat, the bottle made a low thud as he placed it down again.
‘How long do I have Jack?’ staring at the envelope.
‘Tonight mate. I’m flying back tomorrow morning. You can get me on my mobile’, he gave Nathan a slip of paper with the contact information.
‘I’m staying at the hotel next to the airport’. He collected his bag from the floor and descended the wooden stairs onto the beach. Nathan sat still, his eyes closed. He could hear the waves as they struck the white sand. The roaring of a car engine and the high rev’s as Jack left in the rented vehicle, the gravel on the courtyard crunched under the strain of the wheels.
Elle poured another glass of red wine. She hadn’t answered Nathan’s question and he chose not to force her. They sipped quietly as the sky burned with an orange glow. He admired her beauty, her kind eyes glazing over as she thought about the recent proposition. Nathan stood and moved towards his wife, he ushered her forward with his hand and climbed onto the chair, slotting in behind her. She laid back, her hair sticking to his lips as her head rested against his shoulder.
‘I’m sorry babe’ he whispered
‘Good’ her reply holding a slight tint of forgiveness.
‘I won’t go. If you want me to stay then I won’t complain!’
‘I know. But you want to do this don’t you? If you don’t you’ll be wandering about the house, not knowing what to do and being an unsociable pain in the arse!’
She was right. Nathan knew it and so did Elle. It was in his nature to help, it was what he was good at. He had missed being part of the police force, the label it held and position he had reached. But the thing that played on both their minds was the result of the last offer from Jack. The days they spent in hospital, the months of nightmares they both endured and the time they spent apart. Nathan had promised her that he would stay put and that he would never offer or agree to help Jack in any way. They both knew that when the time came, he would crumble and the urge would fill him once more.