She rolled her eyes. ‘No, I mean, spreading rumours. What if everything we heard about great-aunt Matilda and Nathaniel was wrong? What if theymade sure everyone thought she didn’t marry him because shewas unfaithful and had to back out, when really it was him who did something awful?’
Daniel considered that. ‘Wouldn’t Matilda have told her side of the story? Why would she have kept quiet?’
‘Maybe she couldn’t. It’s just– the more I think about it, the more it doesn’t add up. He’s the only one left who really knows the truth.’
‘Well, him andAlistair.’
‘Exactly.’
Daniel raised a brow. ‘Okay, but even if Nathaniel does know, how are we supposed to get the truth out of him? He’s reclusive and sick, if the papers are right.’
Fern hesitated, then said, ‘We could break into his estate.’
Daniel leaned back against the headboard and burst out laughing. ‘Okay, definitelytoo much true crime TV for you. What exactly are we looking for? Do you think he even gives Matilda a second thought? I doubt it. It was years ago.’
‘We dohave his property. Technically. We could use that as a way in.’
‘Technically,’ Daniel said. ‘If the inscription is anything to go by it’s Matilda’s record. Which makes it yours, and if it is worth thousands, or maybe more, we’re not handing it over to some frail famous composer who may not live for much longer.’
‘We don’t have to giveit to him,’ she said quickly. ‘Just use it to open a conversation. It might be our only chance to ask what really happened between them.’
Daniel looked at her like she’d grown a second head. ‘You want to walk into the home of a dying man and interrogate him about a seventy-year-old love triangle?’
‘When you say it like that, it sounds weird.’
Daniel was quiet. Finally, he said, ‘What are you doing about the promotion?’
She exhaled, knowing they needed to have this conversation sooner rather than later. ‘I’ve got a Zoom with Tom in the morning to talk through the details.’
He turned his head towards her again. ‘Are you going to take it? It sounds like it would be a good step for your career.’
Fern hesitated. ‘I want to talk it through first.’ She stared up at the ceiling. ‘I’ve been thinking about Ella.’
‘How are you going to handle that situation?’
‘It’s something I’m not looking forward to. She’s on the team I’d be managing. We haven’t even had a conversation about what’s happening with her and Jax. All she did was text me to say she’d slept with him. I would have expected a little more from her… at the very least a proper conversation.’
‘It is a little disappointing if you’ve been friends for a long time.’
‘It is, and I’m going to be honest with you, it’s making me feel uncomfortable about continuing to work with her. I know I should be professional and separate business from personal, but I could never trust her again with anything and I would be her boss, and I’m not sure I even want to see her at the moment. It’s making me think twice about accepting the position.’
Daniel was quiet for a moment. ‘So the onlyreason you wouldn’t take the job… is because you’d have to work with Ella?’
‘I didn’t say that.’
‘You kind of did.’
She sat up slightly, the duvet slipping down to her waist. ‘It’s more complicated than that.’
‘Is it?’
Fern looked at him, heart pounding a little harder now. ‘She’s been my best friend for years and now she’s dating my ex-boyfriend, and I’m not sure I want to deal with any of it. That’s betrayal territory.’
‘What about me?’
‘What do you mean, what about me?’
Daniel’s voice dropped. ‘I thought maybe you’d think about staying. For me. For us. Not because it would feel awkward working with her. You haven’t even considered staying for all this.’
