Page 110 of He's the One

“We’ll see. Think about my offer.”

“I don’t need to. Whatever the amount, the answer would be no.”

Theo’s father stared at him a moment, then walked away. Col sagged.Jesus Christ.As if he didn’t have enough to deal with.

Col didn’t bother going to the hut for lunch. He stayed where he was. While his mood was still low, he called to ask how Dominic was. Being told his brother was doing well should have cheered him up but Col wasn’t sure what that really meant. Was Dominic still pretending or not?

By the time Theo turned up, Col had the wooden support archway in place and had almost finished building up the stones.

“Wow, you’ve been quick,” Theo said.

Col put down his trowel, took off his gloves and walked into Theo’s arms. Theo pressed his forehead to Col’s shoulder. One moment with Theo improved his mood.

“Are you okay?” Theo asked.

“Yes.”I am now.“I have to keep working before the mortar goes off. Tell me what happened while I carry on.”

Theo kissed his cheek, let him go and perched on a pile of stones.

Col put his gloves back on. “Are you tired?”

“Mentally exhausted. Accountants are not fun people. At least this one wasn’t.”

“How did it go?”

“We’ve been defrauded. I’ve spoken to my father. The trustees are keen that he informs the police but he’s delaying that. When Dastardly and Muttley come in tomorrow, they’ll be given a chance to explain, which they won’t be able to do, and be asked to pay back at least part of what we worked out they took—probably won’t be willing to do that either, though maybe threatening to call the police will persuade them to cooperate. They’ll be summarily dismissed. Their keys will be taken from them, along with any papers they’re carrying, and they’ll be escorted off the grounds. Codes will be changed on alarms, gates etcetera. A summary dismissal means no notice or pay in lieu of notice. Fortunately, there was no clause in their contracts to prevent that or they’d have to be paid until they were proven guilty.”

Theo gave a heavy sigh. “I do appreciate the concept of innocent until proven otherwise but when it’s clear what’s been done, I don’t see why people should get paid while something is being further investigated. My father’s having all Asquith’s accounts looked at and the former land agent is coming out of retirement to help until someone else is appointed. I was relieved about that because I can’t do it.”

“How is your father?”

“Blaming himself for taking his eye off the ball. Furious that he let Dastardly pull the wool over his eyes. Ooh, let me think of another cliché. He feels sold down the river. Not that he said any of that. He’s pissed off with himself for not paying sufficient attention. Hey, is that Felicity’s rabbit?”

Theo pushed to his feet and crouched down in front of it. “Is it the same one? You didn’t drive around a million garden centres looking for an identical one?”

“That’s exactly what I did.”

Theo grinned. “You can’t even see where it was broken. What magic is this?”

Col laughed. “Mine. Your father saw it.”

“Did he? He didn’t tell me he’d come down here. What did he say? He must have seen you’ve done an amazing job already. Losing the ivy off the roof has made a big difference. Oh, you can see the weathervane now. I’d almost forgotten that was there. So…what did my father say?”

“Quite a lot.” How much was he going to tell him? “That the folly didn’t collapse accidentally, that he and his brother used to fire arrows through the slots, that there’s a window that backs on the garden, that the folly has a secret, and…” Col hesitated.

“And what?”

Col decided he didn’t want it to come out at some later date and Theo be upset he’d kept quiet, but he still worried. He didn’t want Theo to fall out with his father, especially if the two were starting to get along.

“Did he warn you off?” Theo clenched his jaw.

“He offered to pay me off.”

“The shit!”

Col tossed his gloves aside and wrapped his arms around him. “You’re worth more than two hundred pounds. But if he’d upped it a fraction. Well…I might have been tempted.”

And like that, Theo’s anger fell off his face and he grinned. “How much did he offer?”

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