Page 78 of Death on a Scottish Train

She waved a hand at me. “Oh. No. I’ll be throwing it in his face, once I buy myself everything I want and get a good cash advance off it. He cannae just use me like that and throw me away. I’ll show him.”

“Right.” The best thing, to avoid a tirade, was just to agree with her.

“Besides, I know things. Secrets that could cause him big trouble. He seems to have forgotten that. He’ll come to his senses.”

“Oh?”

“You’re a doctor, right?”

“I am. Why?”

“If I tell you things, it is confidential, right? Like a barrister?”

“Well, yes, if you are a patient. But I need to remind you that you aren’t. I am looking into the death of your boyfriend’s partner, Donald Jacks.”

“Oh, that isn’t the secret. He didn’t kill him, though I’m sure he wanted to,” she said.

“Why is that?”

“He was costing the firm a lot of money and clients with some bad decisions. That’s why Jeremy was furious with him.”

“Angry enough to kill him?”

She shrugged. “I don’t think so. Jeremy isn’t like that. Sure, he has a temper, but I can’t see him bothering to kill someone. Though he might hire someone to do it for him. Jeremy doesn’t like to get his hands dirty.”

She didn’t seem to realize what she was saying. I glanced up to find Jasper and Mara with wide eyes. They’d heard everything she said. I had warned her that this wasn’t confidential, so it wasn’t my fault.

“You think he hired someone to kill his partner?”

She sighed. “No. I mean, that sort of thing only happens in the movies. I was just saying that he would never do something like that himself. He’d convince someone else to do it. He can be very persuasive when he wants to be.”

“I see.”

“He wasn’t even there that night, though. He had to do something with the wife in Edinburgh. She sits on some charity board, and they had a do. He wasn’t happy about having to cancel with me.”

“Oh?”

“I told him I was going to go have fun without him. I just wanted to make him jealous, you know? And it worked. That’s why he gave me his card. He wanted to make it up to me. So, even though I thought the train thing might be boring, I went without him.”

“I loved your dress.” I needed to keep her talking.

She smiled. “Did you? I took special care when I found out we could dress up. I did some acting you know.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“I like changing up my look for different roles. Not that there is much going on around here. But where I live in Edinburgh, I do a lot of local stuff. I’ve been in several commercials. Maybe, you’ve seen me?”

“I’m sure I have,” I said. “So, where do you stay when you’re here?”

“Jeremy has a summer cottage by the beach. I’ve been staying there. Though, since he’s angry with me, he’ll probably want me to go home for a bit. But he’ll get over it, he always does.” She stuffed part of a chocolate croissant in her mouth.

She waved at Jasper like he was a waiter. “Can I get a box for the rest of these?” She had a platter of goodies in front of her.

“Did you see Mr. Jacks the night he died?”

She blew out a breath. “Yes. He was leering at me. I may have given him the finger.”

“Leering?”