Page 41 of Cosy & Chill
Hiring Help
Leo rejected the idea of offering Roisin a seat on the sofa. Something wasn’t quite right about the woman, and the memory of Finn’s arms wrapped around him was a distraction he didn’t need while they talked.
They ended up sitting at the dining table, Finn and Leo on one side, and Roisin on the other.
“Like an interrogation scene from a cop show.” Leo rolled his eyes. “Let’s do this right. I’m Leo.”
“And I’m Finn.”
“That ye aren’t.” Roisin grinned.
To Leo’s surprise, Finn grinned back. “It’s Finley, actually, but I go by Finn. I know it doesn’t fit.”
“Someone wants to clue me in?”
“In my tongue,” Roisin said, “Finn means blond. Which he definitely isn’t. Which is also why I’m here. Sort of.”
“Sort of?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Why don’t you tell us what we need to know,” Finn said.
Leo frowned at the unusual phrasing. He swallowed his questions when Finn reached out and laced their fingers together.
Roisin shovelled sugar into her coffee and stirred as if she was trying to break the mug. When she took a sip, the corners of her mouth quirked up. “My name’s Roisin. I’m an interior designer. Home makeovers and such, ye know? I have a degree in history of art and made the art side of that my business, but history has always been my hobby. I’m what ye might call an armchair treasure hunter.”
“Yeah? You clearly left the armchair to come here.”
“That I did, and it isn’t turning out well. But I didn’t lie to ye. I believe there’s a hoard of Saxon coins hidden in this house. When I find it, I only want a single coin from that hoard. Ye’re welcome to the rest and all the rewards ye’ll get for findin’ it.”
Finn topped up their mugs. “I don’t understand. Why didn’t you look for your treasure before we moved in?”
“Exactly! This place has been standing empty for months. Why did you wait until now to break in?”
“Do ye know nothing? Ye can’t look for treasure in an empty house.”
“You… what?”
She raised her hand. “I didn’t know precisely which house in this street I needed. I had to rule them out one by one.”
It was a decent enough recovery, but Leo could tell she was lying. “Sounds like so much hogwash to me.”
Roisin planted her elbows on the table and hunched her shoulders.
As an attempt to make herself look smaller, more vulnerable, and less threatening, it failed. Leo had seen his sister perform this very trick too many times to fall for it. He glanced at Finn. “What do you reckon we should do?”
Roisin sat up. “If ye’re asking me, ye could, maybe, rent me a room? Nominally, of course. Let me have a look around this place without upsetting the cutlery?”
“You havegotto be joking,” Leo said. “We should hand you over to the police.”
“What will that achieve? They write half a ream of paper, keep ye awake for the rest of the night, and stop ye from doing yer work tomorrow by barging in and asking additional questions. Then they’ll go away and ye’ll never hear from them again. And I’ll be back the night after.”
“You can’t just piss off and leave us alone?”
“That hoard’s too important.”
“You said you didn’t want the hoard.”
