Page 55 of He's the One

“You remember me telling you Nyman had written about unforeseen issues with the roof, as well as needing more masons?”

Col nodded.

“Well, I’ve been wondering if that was true. Maybe there were no unforeseen issues. My father paid out another ninety thousand pounds. Admittedly, it only brought the cost up to the level of the most expensive quote, but I thought—how do we know it was necessary?”

“Do you have a copy of what Nyman wrote?”

“No. I saw it in the office. I should have thought to take a picture.” He huffed. “The other thing I saw, and I should have taken a picture of that too, was Nyman handing Dastardly a thickish envelope.”

“I saw that. The day I was fired.” Col sipped his drink. “You think there was money in it?”

Theo nodded. “I know I could be making something out of nothing. Too much time spent watching or reading thrillers, but I neither like nor trust Dick Dastardly. What sort of guy is Nyman? The type to come to some shady arrangement in which he and Dastardly benefited?”

“He was an easy going boss and I always got on okay with him. I never noticed any corners being cut. Then again, I wasn’t involved in any of the admin stuff. I just did what I was told.”

“If you saw the additional quote, might you be able to tell if it was genuine?”

“Maybe, though I didn’t spend long working on the roof before he let me go. But the others might know. I have a mate I could ask.”

“Once you start work for James, you have an excuse to be at Asquith. You need to speak to your friend before the job’s finished.”

“What’s Dastardly’s job?”

“Estate manager, in charge of more or less everything except the garden. Basically, he runs Asquith. And me.”

“You said he doesn’t appoint the garden staff but might he object to me if he wants to piss you off?”

“He won’t go against James. My father gave the gardens to James to deal with so Dastardly won’t be able to stop him offering you a job. James is…”

“What?”

“A really nice guy. I’ve known him since I was a little kid. He taught me all about nature.”

“You ought to have signs saying what the trees are. Or tours to tell visitors what’s what.”

“James is going to curse you. He loves the gardens and really wishes they had no visitors at all.”

Col laughed.

The pub lunch was good, but Col hardly cared what he was eating because just being with Theo made him happy.

“Should I be practising for the interview?” Col asked.

Theo’s head shot up. “You can’tnotget it.”

“The guy knows I’m a stonemason. He might think I’ll disappear if I get offered a job doing that.”

“Will you?” Theo’s voice was small.

“No.”Unless it’s as a carver.Then he wasn’t sure.

“You will,” Theo said glumly, twirling a fork in his pasta. “You should. Why would you turn down a job you’ve been trained to do for one pulling up weeds?”

“This is why I need to practise what I’m going to say.”

“Okay. Pretend I’m James. Why did you apply for this job?”

“Because I don’t have one? I’m assuming that was what you told him.”

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