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

Adie nodded, encouraging her to keep going. This was information she needed to hear. Anything that concerned Winsley concerned her.

Nodding, the old lady resumed her story. “Then, just as he was leaving, he got a call. He stood there at the door swearing like a sailor at you and his aunt, saying you weren’t going to get his money. He called you an ignorant Yank, of all things. The nerve! And he told whoever he was talking to that you weren’t going to solve the mysteries. He was going to make sure of it.”

Adie’s mouth fell open. This was the kind of proof they needed. This was evidence. Up until now they’d only suspected he was the one trying to break into the farmhouse. Though nothing actually tied him to the bait placed out for Jig.

“He said he’d make sure I wouldn’t solve the mysteries?” Adie checked.

 “He ranted and raved for quite some time. Not quite sane, if you ask me. Said his aunt was a gold digger who’d cheated him out of his inheritance. And her guilty conscience had made her offer him these crumbs. Crumbs he called the millions he’d get if you didn’t solve her mysteries!”

“Did he know what the mysteries were?” Adie demanded, getting excited now.

The woman scrunched up her face and shook her head. “Not exactly. No. He seemed to be trying to find that out from the man on the other end of the line. Like he’d put one of those cyber-investigators onto it.”

Sadie let out a frustrated sigh. “I wish I could remember exactly what he said, but except for a few words that stuck in my head, all I can remember is the general gist of the conversation. He didn’t outright say he was going to try to break into the farmhouse, but he said something like…” She paused, as if trying to remember the exact wording. “Like… there’d be digital copies on memory sticks at the farm. He’d try to get those. The other man’s job was to find them on the cloud. That’s how I knew he was some kind of hacker or such.”

So, at the time he’d been trying to find out where the farm was, he’d known about her aunt’s digital files. Clearly, since then he’d found the location of the farmhouse and tried to break in; failed because of Jig, and poisoned the dog to get rid of the impediment. He hadn’t known about the alarm system, or he wouldn’t have tried to break in with a crowbar. And as there had been no alarms set off since the baiting, the man hadn’t made another attempt.

Could he find the information on the cloud? She didn’t think so. Hugo said he was the only other person with a copy of Minerva’s files, other than Cage. She’d bet he wouldn’t save them to the cloud.

“What are these mysteries, if you don’t mind me asking?” Sadie said, looking concerned.

Her white hair was cut stylishly short and she ran her fingers through it, as if the length annoyed her. Big grey eyes, as clear as Adie’s own, stared up at her from behind the plexiglass.

“Just mysteries from her past that Minerva had never found answers to. I don’t know exactly what they all are yet. I’ve solved the first, and I’ll be starting on the second shortly. It was my aunt’s way of giving me a new purpose in life, I think. A game to play. And the money was supposed to be the prize. I don’t think she expected her nephew to intentionally try to get in my way.”

Why Adie had told the woman as much as she had, she had no idea. The gossip mill would know of it as soon as Adie walked out the door. But she’d said nothing that would aid Winsley. And if she gave the locals just enough to keep them satisfied she might not have to keep dealing with the less-than-discrete probing for more information. And anyway, she rather liked Sadie. She was a completely different kind of person to Ms. Greggs.

“A game? That sounds like Minerva Reynolds for you. Did you solve the first mystery? I’d hate to think that dog killer got his hands on any of those crumbs. If you need help solving them, all you have to do is ask. We’re more than happy to help. The people of Stratherby, I mean.”

“Yes, the first one was fairly easy. And I may take you up on your offer, if I get stuck. But I won’t know what help I’ll need until I get deeper into the mysteries.”

Why was this woman’s curiosity more acceptable than Phillipa Greggs’? The more she thought about her odd reaction to the other woman, the more she picked out the elements that upset her. Like the gleam in the tiny woman’s eyes that spoke of both resentment and greed for news. Or the way her thin nose had lifted just a little, as if it was her habit to look down her nose at people, even when others were likely far taller than she was. Greggs was just the sort of woman who would join a holier-than-thou church so she had yet another way to feel superior to others.

How had she made up her mind so strongly about the woman? It wasn’t fair to draw such damning conclusions when the woman had been nothing but friendly. In her odd, overly chatty way. But still, friendly.

Sadie, on the other hand, had a soft, benign gaze, even when she was trying to remember information she hoped would be helpful.

Those grey eyes were smiling at Sadie now, as she nodded. “That’s good. I’m glad they’re not as hard as Sudoku. I’d be no use to you at all, in that case. I do watch my share of detective programs on TV,