StillWaters:Book4oftheSophieGreenMysteries by Still Waters Read Free Book Online Page B

Maria.
    “Hi,” I croaked, and the sound was barely audible.
    “How do you feel?”
    “Like crap. What happened?”
    Her expression dimmed. I could see it more clearly now.
    “We were sort of hoping you could tell us that.” She shook her head. “Sophie. I’m taking you home. I know you’ve only just woken up but there’s nothing they can do for you here we can’t do at home and you know what the NHS is like with beds…”
    I scraped my eyelids closed, and then back open in what used to be called blinking, and I shall now re-christen Ow Ow Fucking Ow.
    “Now?”
    “If you think you can manage it.”
    I tried to breathe in, but my mouth and nose felt polluted. “I don't want to stay here.”
    I wasn’t sure who allowed it, because I could hardly move, let alone stand, but someone had discharged me. Or at least, that’s what Maria said. She helped me into some clothes and propped me in a wheelchair and took me out to Ted, where she lifted me into the passenger seat and drove away, leaving the wheelchair sitting there outside the hospital. No one seemed to care. I guess that’s the NHS for you.
    Ted is not the most comfortable car in the world, but I still managed to drop off to sleep again, everything so tired, waiting and wanting to sleep. And when I opened my eyes again I was in Luke’s bed with the floral duvet, and he was sitting on the other bed, a bucket there to catch the drips from the ceiling, and he was scowling at me.
    “Luke?” I was so tired, I felt hung over, but I knew I’d drunk nothing for months. What had happened? Why was I so ill? “Have I got flu?”
    “No,” he said, and there was no warmth in his voice.
    “What happened? I don’t remember…”
    “Do you remember taking Norma Jean out in the middle of the night? Going for a walk around the harbour when the tide was in?”
    I licked my lips. Boy, did I need some Vaseline. “I checked the paper,” I croaked. “The tide was out. I checked. I had hours.”
    “Well, the tide was pretty damn high when we found you,” Luke snapped.
    “Found me?” I tried to move my head but someone had been hammering at the back of it. Anything other than lying on one side produced extreme pain.
    The door opened and I, unable to move my head, had to wait until Maria spoke before I realised it was her.
    “Luke, I hope you’re not traumatising Sophie.”
    “’Cos it’s not like she deserves it.”
    I frowned tiredly. What did I deserve? I tried to remember. What had I done?
    “Could you step outside with me please?” Maria said tersely, and Luke, glaring at me, got up and stomped over the thin, noisy floor and slammed the door behind him. I listened hard, my ears feeling thick and watery, and caught Luke snapping, “She’s still a stupid cow,” before he stormed down the stairs, and the front door slammed.
    Maria came in, looking at me apologetically.
    “He’s not in a very good mood,” she said unnecessarily.
    “What did I do?”
    “You really don’t remember?”
    “I—no. Maria, what did he mean about high tide when you found me? Where was I?”
    “In the sea,” Maria said, and sat down on the edge of the bed.
    While I lay there, head swirling and bunching nauseously, trying not to chuck up seaweed flavoured bile, Maria explained what she knew about what had happened.
    Luke had discovered I was missing in the early morning. My heart leapt at the possibility that maybe he wanted to talk to me, but of course I wasn’t there. He’d checked all over, and when I truly couldn’t be found he woke Maria who, when her amusement had faded, realised that Norma Jean was gone too. They found her outside, decorating the doormat like a fat, blonde rug.
    She led them, rather grumpily, to the harbour, where Luke was morbidly convinced I’d thrown myself into the still water—God knows what goes on in his mind to have come up with that—so he persuaded Maria to help him steal a boat and come looking for me. Coming across the early