Joker in the Pack (Romantic Suspense, Completed, Watty Winner)

Chapter 20

For the most part, Nye just listened as I spoke, but occasionally he tapped away on his keyboard. I thought I'd got off lightly, but it turned out he'd saved all his questions for the end.

"So, your ex. Edward. Have you seen him since you moved here?"

"No. I haven't seen him since he came around to pick up the last of his things one evening in London. I never gave him my new address."

"Did you part on good terms?"

I'd glossed over that part. "Not exactly."

"I need details, Olivia."

"Does it really matter?"

"Someone's terrorising you, and there's a fine line between love and hate. I need to know if there's any reason why he might be upset at you."

"Fine. I caught him at it with some floozy. Are you happy now?"

His face softened. "I didn't mean to upset you."

I sighed and looked out the window. Nye's steady gaze made me squirm. "It's been over for a while now, and Maddie helped me to get my own back. Can't we just drop it?"

"What do you mean, get your own back?"

Oops. I hadn't meant to tell him about that. I shifted in my chair, measuring the distance to the door. Six steps, maybe seven. If I ran, would Nye come after me? Failing that, was there any way I could turn back the clock and erase, say, the last thirty seconds?

He tapped his fingers on the table. Guess not.

"We, er, went into his house and did a few things."

"What sort of things, Olivia?"

Why was it that when he called me by my name, I felt like a five-year-old getting told off by the teacher?

I gave Nye a quick précis—eggs, glitter, hair remover, chilli—and his eyes widened in surprise. So he was capable of emotion, then.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side. I think we can add Edward to the list of suspects. That little lot would be enough to get anybody riled up."

Oh, sugar. Could this nightmare be my fault? I'd been so hell bent on revenge, I never stopped to think about the consequences.

"I'm going to need all the details you've got on Edward. Where he lives, where he works, who his friends are," Nye continued.

"I'll write everything down."

"I'll also need a list of everyone you've come across in the village. If someone's got a grudge against you, there's every chance you've interacted with them at some point, even if it didn't seem important at the time."

Nye jotted down the names as I walked through my time in the village, starting with my first visit to The Cock and Bull.

"There's Jean, the barmaid in the pub, and I met Warren there too. Then Floyd in the grocery store, who's always been a bit grumpy, but I think that's just his manner. And Betty from the post office, but she's at least seventy years old."

"Who else?"

"Daisy in the café. She was friendly at first, but then she turned after the rumours started. Same for Bob and Yvonne next door. A whole bunch of people came round to help tidy after the first burglary, but I didn't even get most of their names. Yvonne might know. She was here part of the time."

"I'll ask her."

"I went to the pub again, and that's the night I met Tate. He stepped in when another man made inappropriate comments. Henry. And Graham the policeman was also there. Anyone else I've met, I only made small talk with."