Page 105 of Joker in the Pack

“Maddie’s making us dinner,” I blurted.

“That’s good, right? I’m hungry.”

“No, it’s not good. If you don’t have any weird food allergies, I suggest you invent some now. Just say you can’t eat solids or something.”

“That bad?”

I nodded, already feeling a little nauseated. “Usually I insist on doing the cooking, but she’s already prepared it.”

I clutched Nye’s hand on the way up to Maddie’s flat. The smells drifting along the hallway were horrific enough to make even the most dedicated foodie turn to anorexia.

“We could get a takeaway on the way back,” Nye suggested.

“I don’t want to hurt her feelings.”

“Too sweet,” he muttered as he knocked on the door.

Maddie yanked it open almost immediately and wafted smoke out with a tea towel just as the alarm blared again. Nye rushed past and dismantled it to save our eardrums from further damage.

“Who are you?” Dave asked Nye, walking into the kitchen.

I rushed to do the introductions. “Maddie, Dave, this is Nye. He’s been helping me get to the bottom of the break-ins.”

“Tell me that’s not the only thing he’s been helping you get to the bottom of?” Maddie whispered as Nye shook hands with Dave.

“Maddie, stop it.”

At least she turned as pink as I did when Nye bent to kiss her on the cheek.

“Want a beer?” Dave asked as Maddie waved us over to sit at the table.

Nye shook his head. “I don’t drink when I’m working.”

“You’re going to regret that.”

I clutched my hastily poured glass of white like it could ward off salmonella as Nye squeezed my leg under the table. I did note he looked slightly nervous.

“I’ve made liver mousse to start,” Maddie said, carrying in a plate of brown jelly.

Liver? I closed my eyes and wished I could close my nostrils too. Yeuch. This was even worse than the salmon mousse she’d attempted last year.

“I might have burned it a bit,” she confessed.

At least the charring improved the flavour. I pushed my portion around the plate as Nye tried a forkful and then grimaced. Opposite us, Dave tucked in with the look of a man who just wanted to get things over and done with.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Maddie asked me.

“I haven’t had much of an appetite lately. You know, with everything that’s been going on.”

Maddie leaned over and patted my hand. “That’s quite understandable, sweetheart.”

Nye didn’t have the same excuse, and he turned a delicate shade of green as he forced most of the plateful down. I caught him glancing towards the door a few times, no doubt trying to think up an excuse to dash out of it.

As Maddie took the plates out to the kitchen, Nye downed half of my wine.

“How did you eat that?” he asked Dave. “What’s the secret?”

“I’ve been with her a couple of years now, mate. She’s destroyed all my taste buds.”

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