Spare Ribs, Secrets and a Scandal by Sherri Bryan

Author:Sherri Bryan [Bryan, Sherri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
Goodreads: 26127803
Publisher: Sherri Bryan
Published: 2015-08-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Charlotte rubbed her eye. She knew she shouldn’t, but the itching was driving her crazy. As the pharmacist had recommended, she’d tried to sit quietly and rest it, but since seeing Drew with his fancy woman earlier, she was so worked up, sitting still was the last thing on her mind.

She paced up and down the living room, Pippin’s eyes following her like a tennis ball at the Wimbledon men’s final.

As soon as she’d left Nathan’s office, he’d gone looking for Drew. She would have dearly loved to have gone with him, but instead, had to be content with going home and waiting for news.

Trouble was, she couldn’t wait. The urge to do something instead of just sitting around was pushing her to do a little investigating of her own.

She stopped pacing and looked at Pippin. “Sorry, Pip. You’ll have to entertain yourself for a while. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

She pulled the front door shut behind her and walked the short distance to The President. If she had a nosey round and hung about for long enough, surely she’d see or hear something that would be useful as evidence in the case.

The reception area was swarming with guests; checking-in, checking-out and generally keeping the desk staff busy. No one even noticed Charlotte snooping around.

I’ll wait here for a while and see if Drew comes in or goes out.

She sat on one of the designer bucket chairs and picked up a magazine, realising as she pretended to read it that she still had her sunglasses on. She took them off and an elderly gentleman on the next table who had tried to cover his entire head with a wispy comb-over, exclaimed in horror.

“Oh, my gawd! Your eye looks dreadful! What on earth’s wrong with it?”

“Oh,” said Charlotte, immediately self-conscious. “I thought it was looking better. Um, apparently, I’ve got non-infectious conjunctivitis. Never had it before, but there’s always a first time, I suppose.” She put her sunglasses back on and picked up the magazine again.

“We’ve just got back from a day trip to St. Matlock,” said the man. “Oh, it’s wonderful there – they have the most beautiful gardens that you can walk around or just sit and watch the world go by ... are you staying here?”

“No, I live here. I’m just waiting for someone,” said Charlotte, wishing the man would leave her in peace.

The man didn’t take the hint and flagged down a passing waiter. “Could I have another coffee please. Would you like to join me in a coffee, love?”

Charlotte screwed up her nose at the thought. “Thank you, but no.” She shook her head at the waiter. “Nothing thanks.”

The man continued. “You must have heard about the poor girl who fell from the roof a couple of weeks ago?” He looked disappointed when Charlotte nodded, but undeterred, he pressed on, determined to engage her in conversation.

“I’ve been staying here for months. We always arrive in June and stay until November. There’s a group of us.

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