Her father’s mouth straightened into a solid line, and his jaw hardened. Finally, his hand dropped to the table but still grasped the napkin. “How well do you know Mr. Lee?”
She held her breath. How could she tell him that? If he knew that she had been friends with him all this time without saying anything, he would be very disappointed in her. “Uh, we danced a few dances. We talked a little.” We kissed a little more... “And then I saw him again in town the next day when I was shopping with Cousin Emily.”
When her father started tapping his fingers on the table, she knew he was upset. It didn’t matter that his expression didn’t show it. There were some things she just knew. Just like she knew the sun would rise tomorrow...and her father would forbid her from seeing Ashton again.
“Did he give you the impression he wanted to court you?”
From across the table, her brother shifted in his chair, and she quickly glanced his way. He wore a sneer that would irritate even the most patient person. His eyes were wide with surprise, yet the smirk on his face grew by the second.
She moved her attention back on her father. “Yes, he did, actually,” she answered softly.
“Are you sweet on him as well?” he asked.
She dropped her gaze to her plate of food, not really seeing anything. She shrugged. “I thought he was a pleasant man to converse with.”
Across the table, Gordon snorted, but not loudly. She wanted to throw him a glare but didn’t dare. The woman doth protest too much, he had told her in the railcar. If she let her brother know how upset he made her, she was certain he would throw it in her face again.
Silence stretched around the dining room for several awkward moments. She didn’t want to look up to see if everyone was staring at her.
When a deep sigh rattled from her father, she dared sneak a glance his way. Surprisingly, he didn’t look as mad as a few minutes ago.
“Then, if you know him,” he began in a stern voice, “I think you should be the one to talk to him and spy on him.”
“I thought Mr. Banks was going to do that,” she said quickly and with entirely too much excitement in her voice.
Her father moved his focus to the middle-aged man. “George, I think you’ll agree with me on this, that Mr. Lee would feel more comfortable if Nicole were to ask him questions—vaguely, of course—better than he would if you asked him questions.”
Shock vibrated through Nicole so suddenly it caught in her throat and made her choke. Quickly, she cleared and throat and studied her father. He was serious. She didn’t see that coming at all.
Mr. Banks bobbed his head before taking a sip of his wine. “You are quite right, Conrad. The man would be too suspicious if a stranger poked his nose into his business, but since Nicole is already acquainted with him, I believe he will open up and trust her more quickly.”
She couldn’t be hearing right. Yet what they said did make sense.
Excitement beat inside her chest and threatened to jump up to her throat and out of her mouth. She quickly took a sip of her drink before it could do that very thing.
“Starting tomorrow, Nicole,” her father continued, “I want you to visit him in his office and get to know the man a little better. We need answers as soon as possible. If you feel Mr. Ashton Lee should not be a suspect, then I expect you to find the proof of his innocence.”
“Oh, I will, Father,” she said, almost too fast.
Although she was anxious to see Ashton again, she now worried that she might mess up this case in some way. After all, she couldn’t act like the love-stricken woman he met—and kissed—last week. Now she must put on another, more professional charade and become a detective.
This task would not be easy.
Chapter Eight
Ashton scanned the railway’s monthly budget report for the tenth time, but nothing was adding up. Of course, his mind wasn’t focused on work but on Nicole Bastian instead. Indeed, she was a beautiful, mysterious, and the most peculiar woman he had ever met.
It surprised him how quickly he became suspicious of her yesterday, and equally shocking was how promptly he believed her story. It sounded plausible, yet the more he thought of it after she was gone, the more holes he found in her excuse.
She mentioned that her father had returned from an extended trip, and she visited him in his townhouse. Ashton had lived in Liverpool most of his life and had never met a man with that particular French last name. When Ashton had talked to her at the masked ball, she led him to believe she lived in Meols with her aunt and uncle, but she didn’t.
Ashton would have remembered seeing a woman so lovely in Meols. She would have attended some of the same functions he had, yet it was odd that they had never met or even crossed paths until the masked ball.
On the other hand, he did believe her excuse about why she and her brother dressed the way they did. Ashton had lived in Liverpool long enough to know there were vagabonds and pickpockets everywhere. However, if she and her brother were worried about being asked for money, why was the carriage they climbed into one of the nicer and more expensive vehicles in town?
Ashton took his focus off the ledgers and to the newspaper which he had found on the railway yesterday, lying on the corner of his desk. Another thing that bothered him was that article about Lord Reynolds being arrested. The article had mentioned a journal that had been confiscated from the lord’s manor, and that they had all the information the police needed to arrest him.
Deep down, Ashton wondered how Nicole was involved. Or was she at all? Nothing made sense. Why did he see her sneaking around in Reynold’s study in the dark? But the nobleman didn’t know her, and she didn’t know him. And why did Ashton feel there was a connection between those two people, but he just couldn’t figure it out?
