The Revelation Room (The Ben Whittle Investigation Series Book 1) Read Free Page A

into the front
room. She muted the telly. ‘Well?’
    ‘Sit down, Mum.’
    Anne plucked at her blouse. ‘I’d rather stand if it’s all
very well with you.’
    Ben looked at Pastor Tom.
    ‘It’s your husband,’ Tom said.
    ‘Geoff? What about him?’
    ‘We think something may have happened to him,’ Ben blurted.
    Anne frowned. ‘What in tuppence is that supposed to mean?’
    Pastor Tom removed his trilby. ‘We don’t really know, Mrs
Whittle. He phoned Ben and asked him to help him.’
    Anne’s hands flitted around her face like nervous birds
looking for somewhere to roost. ‘Help him? Why? Where is he?’
    ‘He may have been abducted,’ Tom said.
    ‘Abducted? Who the hell by?’
    ‘You know the missing girl he was looking for?’ Ben said.
‘The one that joined a cult?’
    Anne nodded.
    Ben took a deep breath. ‘We reckon the cult’s got him.’
    Anne looked at her son as if he’d just told her that his
father had piloted a space shuttle to Mars. ‘I knew something was wrong. I told
Aunt Mary that he hadn’t phoned all day. He always phones. Even when he’s busy.
Aunt Mary joked that he was having an affair.’
    ‘I’m sorry, Mum.’
    Anne walked over to a mahogany coffee table and picked up
her mobile phone. ‘I knew something was wrong. We always get fish and chips on
a Friday.’
    Ben watched her fiddle with the phone. ‘What are you doing?’
    Anne looked up from the screen. ‘We have to call the
police.’
    ‘We can’t call the police.’
    ‘Why in heaven’s name not?’
    ‘Because Dad said not to. And he meant it.’
    Anne’s mouth opened and closed like a broken gate flapping
in the wind.
    Ben walked over to her and took hold of her hands. ‘Sit
down, Mum. It’s been a huge shock to all of us.’
     Anne sat down on the edge of the sofa. She plucked at
her lips as if trying to pull a reason from her mouth. ‘I don’t understand.’
    Maddie offered to put the kettle on.
    ‘Good idea,’ Pastor Tom said.
    Anne stared at Ben. Her eyes looked glazed. ‘He always gets
fish and chips on Friday…’
    Ben watched Maddie walk out of the room. She seemed to
bounce as she walked.   
    Anne’s lower lip trembled. ‘Can’t you just go and get him?’
    Ben wanted to hug her and promise her that everything would
be just fine. But he couldn’t. Not when he didn’t believe it himself. ‘We don’t
know where the cult is.’
    ‘So how are you going to help him if you don’t even know
where he is?’
    Ben needed painkillers. His knee had joined the growing list
of casualties demanding attention. The damned thing always flared up when he
was exhausted. A constant reminder of his childhood humiliation and shame.
    A tear hatched from the corner of Anne’s left eye. ‘Well?’
    Ben remembered the awful noises accompanying his father’s
call for help. ‘I don’t know yet, Mum. That’s what we need to figure out.’
    Anne smoothed out imaginary creases in her skirt. ‘And you
think you’re going to figure it out, do you?’
    Ben sighed. ‘I’m going to try.’
    Pastor Tom looked at Anne. ‘Would you like something
stronger than tea?’
    ‘I don’t drink alcohol.’
    Maddie called out and asked Ben where the teapot was. Ben
went to the kitchen, grateful for the distraction. He took a teapot from a wall
cabinet and handed it to her.
    ‘How do you like your tea?’
    Ben rubbed the back of his neck. ‘My head’s throbbing. I’ll
just have a glass of water and some paracetamol.’
    ‘Your mum took the news quite well, considering.’
    Ben swallowed three painkillers. ‘It’s going to be a long
night.’
    ‘I’ll stay over if you want,’ Maddie offered.
    ‘You don’t have to do that.’
    ‘I want to. I could help your mum.’
    ‘She’ll be all right. She’s got sleeping tablets.’
    ‘I’m not doing much until Sunday service.’
    ‘I—’
    Maddie put the teapot on a tray. ‘I want to.’
    A hand squeezed Ben’s heart. ‘The milk’s in the fridge, and
there’s