Page 10 of Four of Hearts

Harry saw shock in Matt’s eyes, the memory of what had happened now coming to him hard and fast. Then the colour drained from his face.

‘Harry ...’

Harry caught Matt before he fell, pulling him in for an impromptu bear hug.

‘Doctor’s,’ Harry said.

Quickly, he helped Matt over to the Rav and clipped him into the passenger seat.

‘Where are the keys to your car?’

‘Still in,’ said Matt.

Harry jogged over to Jen.

‘I’m taking him to get checked over. Keys are still in his car. Still going to be interesting to see how Mike gets it back to the garage, though.’

‘Let me know how he is,’ Jen said.

And with that, Harry jogged over to the Rav, dropped in beside Matt, and had them both heading back up to Hawes.

FIVE

Having called Joan to let her know what had happened, Harry drove Matt home. The doctor in Hawes had given him the once over, said he needed rest, and should take it easy for a couple of days. He also wanted to check him again the following day, and instructed that, should he start to feel rough in any way, he was to call immediately.

‘We’ve only got one vehicle,’ Matt said, as they left the surgery, heading back towards Bainbridge. ‘No idea what I’m going to do now.’

Harry had already thought of that and sent a message to Mike. He showed Matt the reply.

‘He’s lending me a car?’

‘I asked if he had any ideas about what we could do, and that was his response. So, yes, he’s lending you a car.’

Matt fell silent, clearly taken aback by Mike’s kindness.

The road to Bainbridge took them back past the crash site. Ahead, Harry saw Matt’s vehicle being winched onto the back of Mike’s recovery truck. He slowed down, opened his window.

‘All good?’ he asked, pulling up beside Mike.

Mike leaned in.

‘Now then, Matt. Interesting approach to parking, like. How the hell did it happen?’

‘That’s what we’re still trying to figure out,’ said Harry.

Matt thanked Mike for the loan of the vehicle. Mike waved it off.

‘No bother,’ he said. ‘It’s at the garage, so I can bring it over with Ben tomorrow, if that’s okay?’

‘Amazing, Mike, thank you,’ said Matt.

Harry called over to Jen, just to check everything was okay, then with a nod to Mike, continued onwards.

‘This four-by-four, then,’ Harry said.

‘Big black thing it was, that’s all I can tell you,’ said Matt.

‘But I don’t see how we’ve not found it smashed into a wall or in a ditch or something further on,’ said Harry. ‘If it did that to you, it must be almost a write-off itself.’