Joker in the Pack (Romantic Suspense, Completed, Watty Winner)

Chapter 27

Another night passed with little sleep. I kept thinking of Nye on the floor in the lounge and wishing I could turn the clock back. Why hadn't I just laughed off the "delicious" comment? I should've known he wouldn't have wanted to get involved, but no, I just had to lay my cards on the table and make a complete fool out of myself.

My only consolation was that when I got downstairs, bleary eyed and dopey from lack of rest, Nye looked the same.

"Sleep well?" he asked.

"Nope." I couldn't be bothered to put a brave face on things anymore. "You?"

He shook his head. "Coffee?"

"Make it strong."

After two cups of liquid caffeine, Nye pulled a sports jacket on over the top of his customary black jeans and T-shirt instead of his usual leather one.

"What?" he asked when he caught me looking. "I can do smart."

I wrinkled my nose. "Sort of."

"I'm not wearing a tuxedo to visit Carol."

"Do you even own a tuxedo?"

He flashed a smile. "Of course. Every man should own a tuxedo. I tie my own bow ties too."

It surprised me, finding out those little things. Nye didn't seem the type to go out to posh functions, although that hardly mattered to me now. Not after last night.

We rode to Carol's in silence, but not the comfortable silence we'd shared on the trip back from the supermarket yesterday. No, this was a yawning chasm of awkwardness that stretched between the two front seats.

At least Carol didn't seem to notice. As with last time, she only had eyes for Nye as she served up coffee and Danishes. Plural for Nye, singular for me.

"I ground the beans myself," she told him as she put his cup down.

He managed to muster up a "terrific."

"So, what can I do for you today? I still haven't managed to get to the bottom of those awful rumours, but I've started a few of my own." She gave me my first smile. "All complimentary, of course."

"We're very grateful," Nye said. "But today we're trying to find out more about Olivia's Aunt Eleanor."

Carol sucked air in through her teeth. "Not a very nice woman, was Eleanor Rigby. That's probably why the tales about Olivia were swallowed so easily."

"Why? What did she do?" I asked.

"It wasn't so much what she did. She mostly kept herself to herself. It was more about who she married and who she gave birth to."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Eleanor married Harold Rigby." Carol spat the words as if they were poisonous. "A petty criminal through and through, and the apple didn't fall far from the tree with their son. Eleanor turned a blind eye to all their misdemeanours. Worshipped the very ground they walked on."

Could that be why my mother fell out with her? Something to do with her husband? I'd never know for sure, but my mother wouldn't have been one to tolerate a criminal in the family.

"What sort of misdemeanours, Carol?" Nye asked.

"You name it, and Harry Rigby probably had a finger in it. Shoplifting, burglary, running illegal poker games. A con artist, too. That's what he got sent to jail for. He swindled a lady in Sandlebury out of her life savings."

I could almost see Nye's mind working. There was money involved. Did someone think Harold Rigby's ill-gotten gains were hidden in Lilac Cottage?

"How long ago was that?" Nye asked.