Page 38 of The Damaged Hearts Bargain

She was still pondering the problem when she got back and Mrs Gupta sent her out for her own lunch break.

“I just got back!”

“But that was an errand,” Kashvi said. “Not your break. Go on, off you go. I won’t have it said that we’re breaking the labor codes.”

Lucy rolled her eyes but turned around and walked straight back out and down the street to the bakery.

The bakery that turned out to be oddly empty.

“Where is everyone?” she asked George who was sitting with a cup of coffee and a book at one of the small tables.

He put his book down. “Just me. Pen went to the supplier to get eggs, Ash had to go to the bank. I figured it was good practice for next week when they’re gone on their honeymoon. So I’m running the joint now.”

“Mmm. Not terribly busy though, is it?” Lucy said, sitting down opposite him.

“Because it’s like half eleven. Things’ll pick up soon,” said George. He pouted at her. “Anyway, aren’t you supposed to be working? Or helping whats-her-name pack boxes.”

“Cal, and I’m on my lunch break, thank you very much.”

George sniffed but didn’t say anything.

“What?” asked Lucy.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing my eye, what do you want to say that you’re not saying, George?”

“Nothing,” he said again, but he wiggled in his chair.

Lucy sighed. “If you do not tell me what it is that you’re so gleeful about, I swear to god I’ll come into your room tonight and shave off your eyebrows while you’re asleep.”

George stuck his tongue out at her. “I’m not gleeful.”

“You look like you’re sitting on the secret of the century andit’s giving you hemorrhoids.”

He sighed. “Fine. But just so you know, this isn’t me gossiping. This is Doris Renton gossiping and me listening.”

Lucy had a horrible idea that she knew where this was going. “Go on then.”

“I know why your Cal is being treated like the plague.”

It was Lucy’s turn to sigh. “So do I.”

George looked disappointed. “You do? I thought I was the only one clever enough to run background checks on your potential girlfriends. Oh well, at least you know, I suppose. So, do you need me to send Billy over there to give her a talking to, tell her to stay away from you?”

“Billy is more likely to bake her scones,” Lucy said. “And no, thank you very much. Firstly, because I don’t need your approval for who I date, and secondly, because Cal herself told me about the money, and she says that she didn’t do it.”

“Obviously she says that,” said George. He frowned. “But… I mean, how could she not have done it? From what I heard, she got caught red-handed with the money in the club rooms.”

Lucy was struck with a thought. “You’re right, she was. But doesn’t something strike you as odd about that?”

“Er… like what?”

“Well, if she’d already stolen the money, then why was she breaking back into the club rooms with the money still in her pocket?”

George’s eyes opened a bit wider. “Huh, didn’t think of that. Maybe… maybe she was trying to put it back before she got caught?”

“Maybe, and if she was, at least that’s a point in her favor, isn’t it? But she says she didn’t steal it, she just found it.”

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