Forever Mine: A Fun and Flirty Romantic Mystery (Amber Reed Mystery Book 3) Read online

  Forever Mine

  An Amber Reed Mystery

  by

  Zanna Mackenzie

  Forever Mine, Amber Reed Mystery © 2015 Zanna Mackenzie

  The moral rights of the author have been asserted. All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. All plots, incidents, characters, locations, organisations, names etc. are fictitious, created from the author’s imagination and any resemblance to real persons, incidents, locations, organisations, names is purely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be stored, shared, copied, transmitted or reproduced in any way without express written permission from the author.

  FOREVER MINE

  Stalkers, shootings and special agents. All part of being famous, right? Well, they are for Oscar-winning actress Amelia Kingston when she starts getting deeply disturbing and threatening notes left by a stalker. When her boyfriend Ty is shot she calls in the Celebrity Crimes Investigation Agency (CCIA) the elite agency who specialize in solving crimes for the rich and famous.

  The CCIA send new recruit Amber Reed and her rather handsome special agent partner Charlie undercover to Amelia’s luxury mountain chalet to investigate.

  But circumstances force the agency to pull Charlie off the case, meaning Amber has a new crime fighting partner to try and catch the stalker with – and he’s trouble with a capital T! He throws Amber’s life into chaos, making her question herself and her abilities as well as her relationship with Charlie.

  Can the two of them manage to pull together and stop the stalker before anyone else gets shot?

  FREE DOWNLOAD

  Join my new releases and special offers mailing list and, as a thank you, you can download your

  FREE copy of On Trial,

  The Case Of The Vanishing Bride.

  To get your FREE book visit

  www.zannamackenzie.co.uk

  CHAPTER ONE

  “Who’d want to be famous?”

  Charlie and I are hovering in the airport’s baggage reclaim area, hoping our luggage has managed to find its way to France too.

  “Before I got this job I thought being a star was all glamourous living, oodles of money in the bank and being worshipped by all your adoring fans.”

  The baggage carousel emits several loud clunks closely followed by a high pitched screeching noise before slowly starting up.

  “But now,” I continue, lowering my voice, “I know being famous makes you a target for all the stalkers, murderers and crazies out there. One minute Amelia Kingston is receiving her Oscar for best actress in the blockbuster movie Forever Mine. The next she’s well, you know....”

  Beside me Charlie nods and grabs his battered holdall from the baggage carousel. Then we have to wait for what seems like an eternity before my bright purple suitcase puts in an appearance too.

  “Still not got the hang of this travelling light business have you?” he says hauling my own case from the conveyor belt.

  “We’re staying in a luxury mountain chalet in the French Alps. Who knows what outfits I might need? I can’t pack light for this,” I retort while feeling a tad guilty about just how much I have crammed into my case. I had to sit on it to force the lid closed.

  He shakes his head. “We’re working, Amber.”

  “Yes, but we’re working undercover and the other guests will be glam celebrities wearing designer outfits so I’ll need to have some half-decent clothes with me. I can’t just turn up for dinner every night in jeans and a sweater.”

  “Why not? I am,” he replies as we head for the exit, Charlie tugging my suitcase behind him.

  “It’s different for men,” I reply as I race to keep up with him.

  Outside the wind is bitingly cold and almost blows me off my feet as we exit the airport terminal and head for the car hire offices. We left behind a warm spring day in the UK but here it feels more like February than May. I pull on a jacket.

  See, that’s another reason why I needed to pack quite so much. The weather in the mountains is notoriously fickle. A girl needs to be prepared for sun, snow and rain where we’re going.

  This is my second case as a support officer for the Celebrity Crimes Investigation Agency (otherwise known as the CCIA) and I’m still nervous about the whole catch-a-killer side of my work. OK, it’s mainly for the fully trained CCIA agents to do that side of the job while I provide, as my job title suggests, support on the case.

  I do have a tendency to get a little bit carried away sometimes though and find myself in, shall we say, tricky circumstances. Like on my first case when I ended up in a cave on a deserted beach with a murderer who had a knife at my throat.

  Anyway, technically, it’s the agents who are the guys with the special ‘clearance’ to do all sorts of things (sometimes against the law) to solve a case and get murderers put behind bars. Charlie even carries a gun. Which, to be honest, freaks me out a little. Though he says he only ever uses it to ‘disable’ the bad guys and stop them escaping, rather than actually kill them.

  We reach the car hire building and Charlie starts talking to the woman behind the counter in fluent French.

  Show off.

  Eventually, after much checking and signing of documents, we are in possession of our rugged-looking 4x4 vehicle and are heading for the resort where we’ll be staying and working.

  Our mission?

  Hollywood actress Amelia Kingston, the owner of the aforementioned luxury chalet, has found herself on the receiving end of some unwanted attention. She’s hosting a week-long party at the chalet with specially invited family and friends. Unfortunately the whole thing rapidly went from good to bad when she started finding unexpected gifts in her bedroom at the chalet, and not in a good way. These gifts were of the creepy variety and were also accompanied by threatening and equally creepy notes. Then she called the CCIA and well, here we are.

  As Charlie slows the car for a worryingly narrow stretch of road I take in the view. The landscape is basically jagged mountains and miles of pine forests. It’s beautiful. The sun is out and the grass is green in the valley but the tops of the mountains are still wearing their snow caps and the wind is hand numbingly cold.

  We round another tight bend and I grip the sides of the passenger seat as my stomach dips at the steep drop just feet away from the edge of the road.

  A sign tells us we are five kilometres from Montagne Verte, our destination.

  “Montagne Verte, that means green mountain right?” I say to Charlie as he slows for an even narrower stretch of mountain road with an even steeper drop on one side.

  “Yep,” he says glancing across at me. “You speak French?”

  I nod. “Oui. Un petit peu de l'école.” Scrabbling around in the back of my memory I dredge up some more schoolgirl French. “Le chien est sur la table.”

  Charlie frowns. “The dog is on the table?”

  “Oui.” What else can I remember from French lessons? “La poubelle est pleine.”

  “The dustbin is full?” Charlie laughs. “What the hell kind of French teacher did you have in school if those are the phrases you can remember?”

  “A young and very pretty one I seem to recall. All of the boys spent their French lesson trying not to drool on their textbooks.”

  “Well, some French, of any kind, could be very useful over the next week I’m sure.”

  “What do we know about this case then?” I ask. “How many people are staying in our client’s straight-out-of-the-pages-of-Architectural-Digest chalet?”

  “A lot. It has seven double
bedrooms plus staff quarters. Fourteen guests. Besides the two of us and Amelia and her boyfriend Ty and, of course, Ennis and Siobhan, everyone else could potentially be on the suspects list. Plus we have three live-in members of staff and one casual handyman who have access to the lodge as well.”

  Typical Charlie. He’s memorised all of the case information we’ve been given so far.

  “We’ll need to check everyone out,” he continues. “The client insists the place has the latest high-tech security so a stalker shouldn’t be able to get inside, especially not as far as her bedroom, to be leaving these notes and unwanted gifts. So at this stage it suggests this could well be an inside job but we can’t rule anything out.”

  “So basically we have a chalet full of people then, most of whom could be suspects.”

  “Yep. And because of that we’re undercover on this job and can’t go down the conventional route of just cross-examining everyone. We have to do this the hard way.”

  I stare out of the window as I contemplate this fact. Our official cover for joining Amelia’s chalet party is that she invited Charlie along because he’s an old friend. I’m here as his girlfriend. The last part is actually true.

  Charlie and I met when he was sent to deepest darkest Derbyshire where I live. He was on a mission to figure out who murdered the brother of heartthrob actor Ennis McKarthy. Ennis, in the days long before he was famous, was my boyfriend at university and we’re still friends after all these years. Nowadays Ennis is heavily involved with a woman called Siobhan who used to hate me (long story) but now we’re all friends. Which is a good job because Ennis and Siobhan, as Charlie mentioned, are amongst the guests at this chalet. At least we can cross both of their names off the suspects list. They, of course, know the truth about the agency Charlie and I work for, but they have been sworn to secrecy. On this occasion though, even they think we’re here just as guests of Amelia and purely for a holiday. Amelia wanted it that way. She’s not keen for her guests to know what’s going on with the whole stalker thing.

  “Right, this is the start of the resort,” Charlie says as we drive along a road with picturesque traditional wooden buildings on either side. “Amelia’s chalet is through the town and up another mountain road.”

  The buildings are the usual mix of bars, shops, cafes and restaurants. The town is bustling with people, some in brightly coloured ski suits and woolly hats, others looking strangely dressed up in what I hope are fake fur jackets and boots. Montagne Verte is apparently one of those trendy posh resorts where people go as much to be seen as to actually strap on some skis and venture onto the slopes.

  “They’re still skiing? In May?”

  “Glacier skiing,” Charlie replies. “Get the ski lift to the top of the mountain and there’s an area with specially prepared and groomed pistes so people can ski almost all year round if they want to.”

  Ten minutes later we crawl up the drive to Amelia’s chalet.

  “Well, this is the place,” Charlie says as we pull into a parking area off to one side, which looks as though it is packed with an A to Z of the most expensive cars on the planet. “Pretty impressive, huh?”

  I stare up at the huge wooden chalet. Impressive? It’s far more than impressive. It’s built in the local traditional style with overhanging eaves but in a grand way. It’s four storeys high and each level has its own balcony.

  Charlie is out of the car and pulling our luggage from the boot. I clamber out and breathe in the fresh mountain air.

  Mmm. Great. It’s even more bracing here than it was at the airport.

  As we make our way across to the entrance the door of the chalet is flung open and a man in jeans and a jumper comes running across to us. “Mr Huxton and Miss Reed?”

  “That’s right,” I reply as Charlie gives up trying to haul my misbehaving case on wheels across the driveway and just picks it up instead.

  “I’m sorry but you have to go!” the man pretty much shouts at us, waving a hand back in the direction of the road we’ve just driven up.

  Charlie puts my case down. “Why do we have to go exactly?”

  “Hospital.” The man pauses for breath. “Amelia said to tell you to go straight there.”

  I glance at Charlie, instantly on alert. “Has something happened?” I say to the man.

  He nods. “Yes. Mr Dawson, Ty…”

  “You mean Amelia’s boyfriend?” Charlie cuts in.

  “Yes. Mr Dawson, that’s right,” he nods, looking distraught. “He’s been rushed to the hospital. Ms Kingston, she just got the call and raced over there.”

  “Why has Mr Dawson been rushed to the hospital?” I ask as Charlie throws our luggage back in the boot of the hire car.

  “Because he’s been shot!” the man replies, his eyes wide with shock.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “This is the place,” Charlie says as he throws the car into the first vacant parking space we spot at the hospital.

  We dash inside, following the directions we got from the woman manning the main reception. Too impatient and concerned to wait for the lift we head for the stairs. Thankfully it’s only the second floor we need to get to so we can track down Amelia and find out how Ty is doing and the seriousness of his injuries.

  The second floor seems to stretch on forever. Eventually we locate the waiting area we need and see Amelia sitting all by herself.

  Charlie strides ahead of me. “Amelia?”

  She lifts her head at the sound of her name and pushes to her feet. “Charlie!”

  “We came as soon as we heard.” Charlie envelops Amelia in a quick hug then steps back and turns towards me. “Amelia this is Amber. Amber, meet Amelia.”

  Amelia envelops me in a hug as well, squeezing me so tightly I’m amazed her slim frame is capable of inflicting such pressure. This woman looks nothing like the one I see on the front pages of gossip magazines or in the movies. Understandably she looks tired and stressed out. Dressed in jeans and a sweater, her hair pulled back in an elastic band, she looks more girl next door than glamourous film star.

  “Charlie, it’s good to see you again. I was so relieved when the agency said they were able to send you out here for my case.” She tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear looking nervous. “Sorry, that’s not to say… I didn’t mean to imply the other agents aren’t up to the job. I know they are. It’s just that I know you and you were brilliant on that case for Pamela. She told me all about it.”

  Charlie smiles. “Relax, Amelia. I know what you meant. So, do you want to fill us in on all the details of what’s going on around here? How is Ty?”

  Typical Charlie. Straight in there with questions for the case. No asking how she’s coping with being stalked by some crazy guy. No checking if she’s feeling up to answering some questions.

  I give Amelia what I hope is an encouraging and reassuring smile. “Is there any news?” I ask gently. “Have they said how Ty is doing yet?”

  Amelia nods. “A few moments ago a doctor came to see me. Thankfully whoever shot him…” she pauses and swallows.

  Resting a hand on her arm I wait for her to continue. “Take your time.”

  “Well, the bullet just grazed his right leg. He’s going to be OK. They’ve dressed the wound or whatever it is they do. I’m useless at medical stuff. Makes me come over all squeamish.” She shudders. “He’ll be kept in here for a few days though. They want him to rest.”

  Relief flashes briefly into her eyes and I get the feeling it’s not just relief that Ty is going to be OK but also relief that he’s being kept in for a while because she’s thinking he’ll be safer here than back at the chalet.

  Amelia clearly thinks this was no random shooting accident. She thinks her stalker did this. Whoever he is he’s progressed from breaking and entering and leaving her threatening notes to shooting her loved ones.

  “Can we see him?” Charlie asks. “I’d like to talk to him.”

  “No, I’m so sorry, I don’t think so, not today,” Amelia repl
ies. “He’s sedated at the moment.”

  “Where did it happen?” Charlie asks, pulling a notepad and pen from his jacket pocket.

  Amelia takes a seat again and Charlie and I join her, sitting each side of her. “Ty went out for a hike with a local mountain guide. He got a little group together, you know, some of the guys staying at the chalet.”

  “What’s the name of the guide?” Charlie asks, tapping his pen against his pad.

  “Tom Williamson. He’s OK. I know him well. He does handyman stuff for me at the chalet.”

  Charlie frowns. “Sorry but we don’t know if anybody is OK or not, Amelia. Not in these circumstances. We’ll still need to get him checked out. So was Ty with the others when he was shot?”

  “No. Tom told me that Ty said he needed to erm, answer a call of nature. Tom told him to go off the hiking trail and into the trees. Said he’d carry on ahead with the rest of the group to give him some privacy.”

  “And that’s when he was shot?” Charlie asks with a quizzical raising of an eyebrow.

  “Yes,” Amelia replies.

  “And what did the others do when they heard a shot?”

  She frowns. “I don’t know, Charlie. Look, I’m sorry my head is all over the place.”

  “Do you know where this Tom guy is now? I want to question him.”

  “I think he said he’s got a ski lesson to teach, up on the glacier. He had to rush off.”

  Charlie and I exchange glances.

  “Do they do hunting out here?” I ask. “You know, shooting pheasants or stuff like that? Could this have been an accident?”

  “They do but it’s way outside the shooting season,” Charlie replies. “Nobody should be out hunting in May around here.”

  “Poachers?” I venture.

  Charlie shrugs. “Possible. I’m thinking as this is a big adventure sports area there are probably people offering leisure shoots of some kind, clay pigeon stuff, but that wouldn’t be going on in the forest in a hiking area. Somebody might have got carried away on a leisure shoot though so that’s a possibility as well.”