Read Online A Soldier's Revenge: A Will Cochrane Novel by Matthew Dunn - Free Book Online

completing the task and returning the demijohns to the boiler room, he briefly considered catching up on the world’s news, though quickly discounted the notion. One of the joys of his new lifestyle was the recognition that what was happening elsewhere didn’t make a blind difference to his day-to-day life. He and Sarah had a TV, but they only used it to watch DVDs. In his capacity as a solicitor, he used the Web, but he was taking a few days off and the Web reminded him of work. It was the last thing he wanted to view right now. In any case, the only news he wanted was from his wife. Her job was their only way out of their debts, though he remained utterly conflicted on that option given it would mean leaving home. Still, he had to man up on that. He had to man up on a lot of things, he’d already decided.
    He called the garage to check up on the status of his crashed car. For now, he had the use of a car on loan, though only for a week. After that, goodness knew what he’d do. He was cut off here, miles from anyone. And he didn’t have the cash to buy another vehicle.
    He prepared himself a late breakfast of bacon, sausages, and beans. It was a bachelor treat, as Sarah liked him eating only healthy food because of his weak lungs. He wondered how he could occupy himself for the remaining twelve hours of waking time. He’d do a meal plan, he decided; something very special for Sarah for her return home. She deserved that after being away for so long, and because he had no idea how to dig his marriage out of the financial crap he and his wife had found themselves in.
    He tried calling her on his cell, but it went straight to voice mail. He sent her a text, but it went unanswered. It would just be good to have an idea when she would be home, if he could make her something special to eat without her throwing it in his face. He hadn’t called her at her hotel, because she’d left James strict instructions not to disturb her while she was trying to rescue their situation. But now he felt an overwhelming need to hear her voice, to tell her that he loved her, to say he couldn’t wait until she was home.
    He looked at Tess. “What do you think, my girl? Give her a call and risk her wrath?”
    Tess rolled in her basket, exposing her belly.
    James smiled, though he felt lost and alone. He breathed in deeply and called her hotel, asking to be connected to Sarah Goldsmith’s room.
    At the other end of the call, the receptionist typed fast on a keyboard. She stopped, telling James to hold, then she started typing again. She spoke inaudible words to a colleague before returning to the call. “Sir, your wife never checked in.”
    James frowned. “What do you mean?”
    “We had the reservation all booked. We were expecting her. She was a no-show.”
    “No-show?”
    “Didn’t turn up. Happens all the time. Probably she decided . . .”
    James hung up, his mind racing. Was she cheating on him, staying with a man? Revenge for her assumptions about his alleged night out in Edinburgh’s strip clubs? His hands shaking, he sent her another SMS.
WHAT THE HELL’S GOING ON? I JUST TRIED YOUR HOTEL. THEY SAY YOU NEVER CHECKED IN.
    T he headhunter who’d set up her job interview would know where Sarah was. Maybe the explanation was simply that she’d turned up at the hotel, didn’t like the look of it, and decided to stay in a nicer place. Yes, that was probably the answer. Nothing worse than that.
    He went to the tiny office she used when she worked from home. Though James would constantly rib Sarah about her meticulous filing systems, now he was grateful for her organizational skills. It took him only one minute to find letters from the headhunter, stored in a labeled drawer. He tried calling the number shown in the company address block on one of the letters. The voice mail said the office was currently closed. Silently cursing, he took the letter to his own ramshackle office, powered up his laptop, and entered the company’s