The Case of Sampson's Leap by Grace Dagnall & Alison Golden

Author:Grace Dagnall & Alison Golden [Dagnall, Grace & Golden, Alison]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: Cozy, Crime, Fiction, Humour, Mystery & Detective
ISBN: 9798752690754
Google: Snm2zgEACAAJ
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services LLC - KDP Print US
Published: 2021-10-24T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FORTY

“I TOLD YOU the truth!” Nozz insisted yet again. “The whole truth, the whole-grain mustard truth, the hole-in-one-on-a-par-three truth . . .”

“Except the bit about you being a jack-the-lad,” Janice pointed out.

“Yeah, but after, I told you truthfully that I lied about it!”

“Big of you,” said Graham. “One more time. Why did you leave Mia Thorne on the cliff top, all by herself?”

“Because she told me to,” Nozz enunciated slowly. “Wanted to walk around. ‘Take the air,’ I think she said.”

“Why do you think she wanted to do that?”

“I dunno! I told you, maybe something to do with her play or whatever; she didn’t say. For all her being something of a chick, she was a bit cuckoo.”

“Is it just possible,” Janice asked him, “that as she was giving you the elbow, she was trying not to hurt your feelings? Didn’t want to walk back with you? That she was going to wait a bit, then follow?”

Nozz’s pride was already severely dented, and this didn’t help. He considered Janice’s idea. “Ah yeah, I mean, maybe.” He frowned. “It’s not the usual way of things, but yeah, it’s possible. But she was so keen, earlier.”

“Girl’s entitled to change her mind,” Janice said, “however Brad Pitt-esque you might appear at first glance.”

Nozz looked over to Graham, just as confused as ever. “Is she serious?”

“The Brad Pitt bit or the being-given-the-elbow bit?”

“Search me, mate,” Nozz said, throwing up his hands. “Who says she wasn’t shooing me away ‘cos she didn’t want an audience for her jump, eh? I’ve been sitting here, starting to reckon with it all, and I’m thinking she had some bad wiring”—he tapped his temple—“up here. On the fritz.”

Narrowly resisting the urge to douse Nozz with pepper spray until he apologized, Janice said, “Is it also possible that she intended to meet someone else that night?”

This stung, and Nozz didn’t mind showing it. “What, like I was the first course,” he asked huffily, “and some other bloke was the entrée? Bit much, isn’t it?”

“No need to take it personally.”

“It got bloody personal when you stuck me in jail!”

“I stuck you in jail,’” Graham reminded him darkly, “because of your harassing and abusive behavior at the hostel.”

“Then why isn’t Zink in here too?” Nozz cried. “You picked on me because you think I’m some evil bastard, that I’d push Mia off a cliff! Nobody ever spent two days behind bars just for asking some Scandinavian girl, a bit too loud, whether she’d like to—”

“That’s enough,” Graham and Janice said together. Graham continued, “Listen, I’m letting you out because I have to. I can’t legally order you to leave Jersey, but I’d like to. I also can’t stop you from surfing, as long as you do it in permitted areas. You’re pretty much free to leave and do as you please, much as it pains me to say so.”

“Too right,” said Nozz, eyeing the bunch of keys in Graham’s hand optimistically.

“But Noah Stimms wants to tear your head off, there’s a

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