Chapter 6
Nell gasped aloud at the sight of Mattie’s prone body slumped in the patio chair. What the hell had happened? She rushed to Mattie’s side and dropped to her knees. “How long has she been out for?”
“Less than a minute.” Angie furrowed her brow. “Do you think we should call for an ambulance?”
“We’ll have to if she doesn’t come round quickly.” Nell placed her cool hand on Mattie’s shoulder. Her skin was scorching and clammy. She clasped her narrow wrist and felt for her pulse. Faster than average, but not alarmingly so.
“I’m no doctor,” Angie said, “but I’m guessing she’s exhausted because of the heat and dehydration.”
Nell felt the back of Mattie’s neck to check her temperature: hot but not overly feverish.
Nell had rushed here the moment Angie had texted for advice.
She hadn’t expected to find Mattie in such a bad state.
There was no trace of the commanding and incisive journalist who’d accurately sussed out that there was more to the fire story than at first glance.
Mattie looked utterly spent and broken. Why?
Angie fretted with her phone. “I’m going to ring 999.”
Nell soothed the scorched skin on Mattie’s shoulder and gently shook her. “Mattie?”
Mattie stirred and leaned into the touch.
Nell gasped at the unexpected intimacy. “Ah, you’re back with us.”
Mattie whimpered when Nell took her hand away. At last she dragged her eyes open. “Huh?”
“Don’t worry, Mattie, you’re safe,” said Nell, clocking the panic and fear-stricken look on her face. “You’re at Cove House. Angie’s here with me.”
Angie knelt the other side of Mattie. “How are you feeling?”
Mattie licked her visibly dry lips. “Like I’ve drunk five vodkas too many.”
Nell breathed more easily. If Mattie was with it enough to attempt a wisecrack, it was unlikely she’d need an ambulance. But Nell hadn’t ruled out driving her to A they were acquainted.
There was a distinct difference. In her work role, she was used to studying CCTV footage of people experiencing the most traumatic moments of their lives.
Why should watching Mattie be any different?
Nell got up and paced the room, but it didn’t help.
She made a mug of soothing fresh mint tea.
Then she returned to the laptop and closed the website.
She couldn’t watch the footage, not now.
It would feel too personal and somehow intrusive, although she couldn’t explain how.
Mattie would take tomorrow easy, if she had any sense.
Not that it was any of Nell’s concern. Mattie was a grown woman, perfectly used to taking responsibility for her own decisions.
She worked in war zones, for goodness sake.
Yet the way Mattie had leaned into Nell’s touch when she’d come around lingered in Nell’s memory with an undeniable warmth as she washed the day away under a lukewarm shower.
It was a precious moment she’d hold dear, albeit as a guilty secret.