The Missing Party-Girl: A Rags-to-Riches Cozy Mystery Romance by Nhys Glover (read after .txt) 📗

Instead of complaining or being annoyed, he shifted her to the edge of the bed and pulled the duvet up around his waist more securely. Meanwhile, Jig had decided to get in on the party and jumped up on the bed as well.

A gruff order had the disappointed animal jumping back down again. He reminded Adie of a naughty child who’d been reprimanded for jumping on the furniture.

“So tell me,” Cage demanded, once Jig was where he belonged.

“I couldn’t get what Roland said out of my head. The not then thing. So I started looking into murders in Lewes. And after a lot of false starts I discovered a serial killer was operating in the area in the late 60s and 70s. He was a farmer, but guess what he did to make ends meet?” She looked at him excitedly, waiting for him to make the leap to the correct answer.

“Taxi driver?” he answered after only a moment.

“Exactly! He died in 1980 and his farm fell into disrepair because he died without a will. When the legalities were finally sorted, the place was sold and developers bought it. While they were digging up the place they discovered skeletons. I’ve only read a couple of newspaper stories so far, but it looks like at least ten young women were buried in the farmyard.

“No local women went missing over that period so I bet he targeted lone women, strangers to the area. Tourists, backpackers, girls like that. They get into Lewes late at night and have no choice but to take a cab when the cabbie promises to find them a B&B in the area. And in Georgie’s case, promises her a trip out to Roland’s place.

“He may even have taken her out there in mid-March. If she was his first, he might have felt the urge when he was taking her out to Roland’s country home that time, but not acted on it until she turned up the next time. By then, he’d have known how easily one missing guest would go unnoticed in the crush of a house-party at Roland’s place.

“The only hitch is that the murders seem to have started late in the 60s. But maybe he started earlier and disposed of Georgie’s body elsewhere.”

Cage shook his head in wonder. “It’s not a smoking gun, but it’s a good possibility. The fact that it wasn’t until the late 80s that the bodies were found makes it more likely they never identified them. I’ll get onto DCI Adams in the morning. He should be able to find out more about the investigation, even if it was outside his area.”

For a few long, embarrassed moments, as the last of the thrill evaporated, Adie and Cage stared at each other. Adie was only too aware that she sat on a bed beside a half-naked man. A man she dreamed of almost every night.

Cage cleared his throat. “I think you better go back to bed. You need to get some sleep tonight, if we’re to be hot on the trail of a serial killer in the morning.”

Adie slid off the bed; glad to be told what to do, but mortified she hadn’t made the move herself first. This could be construed as sexually inappropriate behavior by an employer, she was sure of it.

“Sorry. Sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking! Yes, I do. I was thinking I’d solved the mystery. But it could have waited…”

“I’m glad you told me now,” Cage interrupted. “I’m glad you got so excited about what you found. No harm done. But we do need to sleep. Okay?”

She headed for the door, Jig at her heels. “See you in the morning. This is it! This has to be it!”

And now her embarrassment was over, she literally danced out of the room with Jig jumping and yipping at her crazy antics beside her. She heard Cage’s laugh, deep and mellow, as she closed his door behind her and made the short trip across the landing to her own door.

Chapter 16

The following morning, Adie danced down the stairs to the kitchen, the high from the night before no less diminished. If she had bags under her eyes, it hardly mattered. She had solved the mystery. Or was close to it, at least. Winsley hadn’t won this one!

As soon as she entered the kitchen, Cage handed her a coffee with a big grin. She grinned back.

“Good to see you still have a bounce in your step. Get any sleep at all?” he asked good-naturedly.

She grimaced guiltily. “Yeah, no such luck. I was too wound up. But I rested, which is something, right? And there’ll be time to sleep tonight. What time can we ring the detective?”

“Eight? I don’t think cops work nine to five. Anyway, we won’t be waking him up by that time, even if he’s not at work yet.”

She nodded her agreement and sat down to enjoy her coffee. Outside, the morning was shaping up to be lovely. And Jig, who had come down earlier than she had, was romping in the morning sunshine. It was a beautiful sight.

“I’m sorry I came into your room and hugged you last night. It was inappropriate. It will never happen again, I promise. I didn’t even think about what I was doing. I just needed to tell you what I’d discovered.”

“I know. It’s fine. I said that last night. You don’t have to keep apologizing all the time. Huh,” he grunted as if he’d just thought of something. “You’ve stopped doing that. Apologizing for every little thing. I hadn’t noticed until you started doing it again now. I think that’s progress.”

She grinned at him. “I can learn, you know. You don’t have to keep telling me.”

“It’s not about learning. It’s about you starting to claim your