Professor Harcourt coughed. “That name seems familiar. Gorland…. Gorland….” He took a sharp intake of breath. “DI John Gorland, from the Met?”
“The very same.” Graham indicated Mike with a nod of his head. “And he and Mike aren’t exactly bosom buddies.”
Jonathon let out a derisive snort. “Understatement of the year.”
Professor Harcourt had a twinkle in his eye. “What did Graham mean about you two meddling?”
Graham burst out laughing. “Like I said, Sherlock and Watson, these two. Mind you, they’ve been very useful. They helped solve a murder at the tail end of last year, and another during the summer.”
“Helped?” Mike huffed. “Who called you to say who the murderer was? Who put you on the track of—”
“Yeah, all right, you may have provided some valuable assistance.” Graham rolled his eyes. “Amateurs.”
“But Mike is hardly that,” Professor Harcourt said with a smile. “A former DI, who would have gone places if not for unfortunate circumstances.” Mike arched his eyebrows, and Professor Harcourt shrugged. “I looked you up when the coroner recognized your name. A promising career.”
Mike gestured to his prosthetic foot. “Until I lost this. But you know what? It brought me here, to Merrychurch.” He gazed warmly at Jonathon. “To you.”
The light in Jonathon’s eyes….
“Oh, get a room,” Paul groaned from his seat at the bar. “I suppose we’ll have nothing but wedding plans from here on in. Hurry up and tie the knot, for God’s sake.”
Jonathon laughed. “Funny you should say that. I’m not a fan of long engagements. So I was thinking… how does September sound?”
Mike could live with that.
WHEN THE door was finally locked and bolted for the night, Jonathon heaved a sigh of relief. “I swear tonight dragged more than usual.” He’d looked at the clock so many times, willing the evening to be over so they could talk.
Except he planned to do a lot more than talk.
“Well, it’s not every night you get engaged.” Mike shook his head. “I certainly didn’t see this in my future. Not in this village, at any rate.”
“And then I turned up, pulling my suitcase, looking lost and forlorn.”
Mike snickered. “Hardly.” He took a last glance around the pub, then went to the light switch. “Go on up. I’ll be right behind you.”
Jonathon went through the door that led to the narrow staircase. When he reached the upper floor, he paused, staring at the guest room.
So it was murder.
What troubled him most was that if ever anyone deserved to be bumped off, it was Teresa Malvain.
“What are you thinking?” Mike said softly from behind him.
Jonathon sighed. “That if this was one of your murder mysteries, readers would be hoping that Teresa was going to be the victim long before she drank that coffee.”
“Well, we’ve already got a few suspects.”
Jonathon chuckled. “I think we’ve only got started. I’m sure more will appear once we start looking into the case.” He paused. “We are going to look into it, aren’t we? Even if Gorland is in charge?”
“I think we just do our usual thing and talk to people. It’s worked well for us so far.”
Jonathon turned to face him. “But this feels different from the last case, and I’m not sure why. No one set out to murder Mrs. Teedle, did they? They simply took advantage of finding her incapacitated. This was premeditated. Someone came to the pub with peanut oil and deliberately put it in her coffee.”
“We think that’s what happened,” Mike corrected. “We’ll know for sure when the pieces are analyzed.”
Something else had niggled him, a thought that had flashed through his mind, only to leave as quickly as it had arrived. The notion that they’d missed something vital….
Mike reached out and stroked Jonathon’s cheek. “No more talk of murder for tonight. Not when we have much more delightful things to discuss.” Mike lowered his hand and pointed to his room. “Bed. Now.”
Jonathon laughed. “Bossy.” He walked over to Mike’s bedroom and entered, with Mike following behind. Once inside, he closed the door, then gently backed Jonathon up to it, kissing him on the lips. Jonathon responded, his arms around Mike’s neck.
When they parted, Mike looked into his eyes. “You’re sure about this? Us getting married, I mean.”
Jonathon smiled. “I wouldn’t have bought the ring if I hadn’t been sure. The call with my father crystallized my thinking, and I knew finding the so-called perfect moment wasn’t worth prolonging the wait any more.”
Mike took his hand and led him over to the bed. “Can I ask you something? What did your dad say that got you so riled?” Jonathon ran through the conversation, not missing out anything. Mike listened intently, and when Jonathon was done, he squeezed Jonathon’s hand. “So he doesn’t know about the engagement?”
“No. You had to be the first one to hear about that.”
“Well, of course,” Mike said with a smile. “So when will you tell him?”
Jonathon stood at the foot of the bed, unbuttoning his shirt. “I’m not going to waste any time. He has to know from me before he gets wind of it from another source. And there’s something else you and I need to discuss, but that can wait. Right now we need to celebrate.”
Mike grinned, easing Jonathon’s shirt off his shoulders, his fingers skating over Jonathon’s bare flesh. “What did you have in mind?”
Jonathon got busy freeing Mike from his shirt. “You might want to text Abi and tell her to open the pub tomorrow.”
Mike opened his eyes wide. “And why’s that?”
“Because there’s no way you’re going to be alert enough, seeing as you’re not going to be sleeping tonight.”
Mike laughed quietly. “Hey, I’m almost forty-three. What makes you think I can go all night long?”
Jonathon grinned. “What makes you think you’ll be doing all the driving?”
Chapter Ten
JONATHON DIVIDED his time between eating his eggs and bacon, and consulting his short list of suspects. Well, so far it’s short.
Mike got up from the table to pour more coffee as Abi bustled into the kitchen.
“This is the last day of the festival, isn’t it?” she asked as she deposited her shopping bags on the table.
“Yup.” Mike placed the mugs on the table. “And thanks again for running the pub during the day. We’ve really appreciated it.”
Abi beamed. “Hey, no problem. You know me, always happy to do a few shifts. The money comes in handy, especially as my holiday is coming up next month.” Her eyes widened. “So is it true, what I’ve been hearing in the village? Jonathon proposed last night?”
“In front of all the regulars, down on one knee,” Mike confirmed, smiling broadly. “And I said yes, as if you didn’t already know that.”
“Fantastic!” Abi sighed. “A gay wedding. I’ve never been to one of those.”