Chapter 47
‘Croissant,’ Jimmy said, as he sat down in Nel’s consult room the next morning, passing her a paper bag and a coffee.
‘Thanks. You’re a mind reader.’ She’d opted for an early surf over breakfast.
He gave her a muted smile. Things were still a little strained between them—his tone a little cooler than usual, his demeanour slightly distant.
‘So, did you visit the Warners?’ she asked.
Jimmy nodded. ‘Ryan assures me Poppy won’t be receiving any more emails.’
She swallowed a mouthful of croissant. ‘He admitted to sending them?’
‘No, he assumed it was Charlie.’
‘What happened?’
‘When I told him I was there about emails sent to Poppy from their address, he told me about the fight with Leo and yelled out to Charlie.’
‘Was Sophie there?’
‘She was watching from the kitchen. When Charlie came out, Ryan asked him if he knew anything about anonymous emails.’
‘And?’
‘Charlie flat out denied it.’ The crease deepened between his eyes. ‘It looked to me like he honestly had no idea what Ryan was talking about.’
‘So it was Ryan who sent them then, like we thought.’
‘I don’t know.’ Jimmy shrugged. ‘Anyway, I said it was just a warning to whoever’s been sending the emails, and that they need to stop.
The thing is, after he closed the door, I waited a few minutes—I wanted to make sure he didn’t hurt Charlie—and I heard Ryan say, “I don’t need the bloody cops coming around here so make sure it doesn’t happen again.
”’ He looked up at Nel. ‘So maybe it was Charlie.’
Nel shrugged. ‘Or maybe Ryan’s just a really good liar.’