Page 98 of He's the One

Theo tucked the portable hard drive into the pocket of his hoodie and they set off for the hall.

“I’ll be able to help you all of tomorrow,” Theo said. “Dastardly’s out. On Thursday, I have to go with him to collect rent from one of our tenant farmers. I feel really sorry for Kaleb. His wife left him and his two boys. Dastardly isn’t someone who listens to excuses.”

“Do you know how much he owes?”

“No.”

“We can get that information off the computer. Maybe you can draw up a repayment schedule, get it approved by your father and Mr Heavy won’t need to get nasty. Or even better, we find fraud and your father sacks him.”

Theo unlocked the office and switched on the light. “I’ll check the safe first.”

It opened to the new code and Theo took out the contents.

“What’s the password for the computer?”

“Kris10 Upper case K, lower caseris.” Theo took the key to the cash box out of the desk drawer and opened it.

“Wow, that’s a lot of money.”

“I was hoping for that envelope but… Oh well.”

“Count it, though, and make a note. I’ll start downloading.”

Once Theo had done that, he went through the safe’s paperwork, in case he’d missed something, but it all looked legitimate.

“It’s going to take a while to copy everything,” Col said.

“If I wasn’t so paranoid about being discovered, I’d think of something we could do to pass the time.”

As Col laughed, the door opened.

Chapter Sixteen

Col’s heart jumped into his throat when he saw Theo’s father glaring at him.

“Who are you? What are the pair of you up to?”

Theo was opening and closing his mouth like a struggling fish. Col thought only the truth was going to get them out of this, but he wanted Theo to speak.

“I’m waiting,” the marquess said.

“I’m Col Hammond…sir. I’m one of the gardeners.”

“The stonemason?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And what are you doing in here?”

“We… We…” Theo mumbled.

“We’re copying the contents of the computer onto Theo’s external hard drive,” Col said.

“Why?”

“Because it’s always good to have a copy?” Theo whispered.

God, Theo!“Because we think Darnley might be defrauding you.” Col waited for the explosion from either Theo or his father, or both.

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