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

a sugar bowl up in that cupboard.’
    Maddie cocked her head to one side. ‘Well?’
    ‘Well what?’
    ‘Do you want me to stay?’
    ‘What about your dad?’
    ‘He’ll be fine. Perhaps we could do some brainstorming
later? See if we can come up with a plan of action?’
    Ben didn’t feel he had much of a brain left to storm. ‘If
you’re sure.’
    ‘Of course I’m sure. I wouldn’t offer otherwise. You go on
through. I’ll see to this.’
    They all sat around the dining table in silent
contemplation. Pastor Tom sipped his tea and smiled at Anne. ‘You have a lovely
home.’
    Anne ignored the compliment. ‘I always knew something like
this would happen. I always said to Aunt Mary that he’d wind up getting hurt.’
    Ben thought that if you always erred on the side of
pessimism, you were bound to be vindicated one day.
    Like you , a voice whispered in his head.  
    Anne banged her teacup down on the saucer. ‘It’s beyond me
why he always has to do dangerous jobs. First the police force, and now this
stupid detective work. It’s just asking for trouble.’
    Ben massaged his temples. Why did painkillers take so long
to get into the system? ‘I’m sure he’ll be all right.’
    ‘Do you remember that time he fell out of a tree?’
    Ben did. How could he forget? His father had spent a week in
hospital with a broken ankle, and then three months recuperating at home with a
foul temper to accompany his injuries.
    Anne kept looking out of the window as if her husband might
pull up at any moment with a bag of fish and chips and a guilty grin.
    ‘He was trying to get pictures of some floozy in a bedroom,
if I remember rightly.’
    Ben’s headache gnawed at his nerves. ‘It was a bloke, actually.’
    Maddie handed Anne a cup of tea. ‘If it’s all right with
you, Mrs Whittle—’
    ‘Anne. Please call me Anne.’
    ‘Of course. Anne. If it’s all right with you, I could stop
over for a while to help out.’
    Anne took a sip of tea and lowered the cup. ‘I think we
should just call the police and let them deal with it.’
    Ben silently begged God for some of that strength Pastor Tom
talked about. ‘I’ve already told you. Dad doesn’t want us to call the police.
He wouldn’t say so without good reason.’
    ‘What if he’s fallen out of a tree again and banged his
head?’
    ‘Would you like me to stay, Anne?’ Maddie asked again.
    ‘I’d like my husband to come home. That’s what I’d like.’
    Pastor Tom finished his tea and turned to Maddie. ‘It might
be better to let these folks have some time on their own.’
    ‘I want Maddie to stay,’ Ben said.
    Pastor Tom didn’t look convinced. ‘Anne?’
    Tears spilled onto Anne’s cheeks. ‘It makes no difference to
me whether or not she stays. I just want my husband home.’
    Pastor Tom stood up and put his hat back on. ‘I’ve got to
make tracks. You call me tomorrow, Madeline.’
    Maddie nodded.
    ‘I want you back for Sunday service.’
    ‘Of course.’
    Ben showed Pastor Tom out. ‘I really appreciate this, Tom.’
    ‘Take care of your mother, son. She’s in shock.’
    Ben didn’t have a clue how a gangling, useless geek like him
was supposed to look after his mother and rescue his father. ‘We’re all
in shock, Tom.’   
    ‘God bless you, son. I shall pray for you.’
    Ben closed the door and returned to the front room. His head
felt like a block of concrete. Someone was trying to dig up that concrete with
a pneumatic drill. Maddie was sitting beside his mother on the sofa, comforting
her.
    Ben sat down with them. ‘We’ll find him, Mum.’
    Anne stood up and walked over to the window. She looked left
and right several times, putting Ben in mind of a dog waiting for its master to
come home. She turned back to face Ben. ‘When did he phone you?’
    Ben looked at his watch. ‘About an hour ago.’
    ‘Have you tried to ring him back?’
    ‘Yes. There was no answer.’
    ‘Try him now.’
    Ben did. Same result. ‘He called on