Squaring Circles by Carolyn Mathews

Author:Carolyn Mathews [Mathews, Carolyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-78279-704-3
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
Published: 2014-09-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Treasure Uncovered

Dinner that night was difficult to get through. I’d made Clarrie promise that she wouldn’t say a word to Rowan about Theo being the traitor in our midst. I asked her to behave normally so as not to make him suspicious. My plan was to tell Charles what had happened and take guidance from him. He, after all, knew Theo best. Indeed, he’d been the one to defend him when I’d questioned Theo’s presence in the house at all.

Clarrie said that now she knew what he’d done, she didn’t want to spend an evening in the pub with him, so we agreed that she’d say she felt unwell and stay with me while he and Rowan went out.

Rowan and Theo did most of the talking at dinner. Once I’d made coffee I decided it was time for Clarrie’s opening scene.

‘How are you feeling now, Clarrie?’ I asked pointedly.

Rowan’s sticky toffee pudding came to a halt halfway to his mouth.

‘Not too bad, thanks,’ she said, doing a fair impression of a dying swan.

‘What’s wrong?’ said Rowan, with a little boy lost look.

‘Don’t worry, Row. It’s just a headache.’

My eyebrows prompted her for more.

‘And I feel a bit queasy.’

‘Are you sure you’re up to going out tonight,’ I said, feeding her a line.

‘Maybe not,’ she said weakly.

But Rowan urged her to rally.

‘You must come, babe, that band’s playing again. You said you loved them. Take an aspirin or something, they’re good. Have you got any, Mum?’

‘She’s already taken some, darling, but they don’t seem to be working.’

This was a lie, but was all in a good cause, so didn’t count.

‘I’ve got some painkillers, if it’s bad,’ said Theo.

Clarrie didn’t answer, so I said, ‘It’s probably best not to mix them, Theo. But thanks anyway.’

Rowan finally gave in to persuasion and left his beloved Clarrie with me, to go carousing with Theo. The only channels on offer on Charles’ TV were terrestrial, so it wasn’t surprising there was nothing on the box to tempt him to stay in.

‘He’s under eighteen, so he shouldn’t be drinking. You won’t forget that, will you, Theo?’

I felt I had to mention it, even though neither of them would take a blind bit of notice.

‘Don’t worry, Sis. I’ll take care of him,’ said Theo, grinning at Rowan. ‘It’ll be Dr Pepper on the rocks.’

Once they’d gone, Clarrie and I relaxed. I told her to sit down while I cleared up in the kitchen, but she insisted on helping.

‘So how’s the assignment going?’ I said. ‘Is there much more to do?’

‘Actually, I’ve got all I need on Beau now. I’ve made all the notes, taken all the pictures. I’ve just got to write it up when I get back. We’d been thinking of staying on an extra night or two – Rowan wanted to visit Charles in hospital. We like it here…Steve and his wife are so nice and Rowan gets on so well with Theo…’

Her eyes welled up, and I hugged her.

‘I hate what’s happened, too. It’s hard on us, being the ones who found him out.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.