over twenty years younger than her husband. “This is, uh … kind of a surprise.”
“We’re here on holiday,” Larry announced. “Doing a quick tour—New York, New England, San Francisco.”
“Sounds like fun. Though I’m not sure you picked the best time of year for it. September would have had much better weather than November.”
“Well, to tell the truth,” said Larry, leaning closer in an exaggeratedly conspiratorial way, “I’m attending an international logistics conference in Frisco, but I’m claiming the whole trip as a business expense. Just don’t tell the taxman, eh?” He laughed, Julie joining in with a giggle. Nina put on a thin smile.
“But I’ve wanted to come to the States for ages,” added Julie. “We’re going skiing in Vermont, which sounds lovely.”
“I’m flying us to the lodge,” Larry bragged.
Nina was surprised. “You’re a pilot?”
“Oh yes. Helicopters. Tremendous fun.”
“He’s not a pilot,” said Julie, teasing. “I bought him a flying lesson for his birthday last year, and now he thinks he’s Airwolf. He’s only done it four times.”
“Five times,” Larry corrected.
“No, I’m sure it’s—wait, did you go on a flight without me?”
“Yes, when I took Jim and David from the golf club up for a spin last month. I told you about it.” Julie’s slightly hurt expression suggested to Nina that he hadn’t. “Anyway, yes, I’ll be flying us up there.”
“I’m sure it’ll be great,” said Nina, not especially caring. “But you came to New York first?”
“You have to see New York when you visit the States, don’t you? I think it’s mandatory now, like having your fingerprints taken at immigration.” He shook his head. “The stories I’ve heard from American immigration officers about how useless that whole system is …”
“I’m sure Nina’s not interested in talking shop, love,” chided Julie. She turned to the redhead. “So what have you been doing since we last saw you?”
Despite her best efforts, Nina couldn’t hold back her sarcasm. “Well, I discovered the lost city of El Dorado, and then my husband disappeared and is now wanted for murder.”
There was an awkward silence.
“I’m … I’m sorry,” Nina eventually said. “It’s just that the last three months have been … stressful. To say the least.”
“No, no, don’t apologize—I shouldn’t have asked such a silly question,” Julie said sympathetically. “It must have been horrible.”
“It still is. But thanks.”
“Have you … have you heard from Eddie? Or anything about him?”
“No. Not directly,” Nina replied, the sudden bitterness behind the words surprising even her. “According to Interpol he’s alive, but beyond that I don’t know.”
“I’m sorry.” Julie looked at her husband as if expecting him to follow up her question, but he offered nothing.
A waiter glided over to the table, asking if they were ready to order. Larry shooed him away. Nina turned her gaze to her father-in-law. “You actually last saw Eddie after I did, in England. Elizabeth told me about it, but … what about you? Why did Eddie hit you?”
Larry was annoyed to be reminded. “He caught me off guard,” he said, unconsciously raising a hand to rub a long-faded bruise on his jaw. “Unbelievable. Right after Catherine’s burial service, too. I can’t believe he was so disrespectful.”
Nina knew that was the last thing Eddie would have wanted to do; of all his family members in England, he had been closest to his late grandmother by far. “He must have had some reason to be so angry at you.”
“God knows what,” Larry said huffily. “He shows up out of the blue, starts ranting on at me, and then pow! Smacks me in the mouth.”
Nina raised a quizzical eyebrow. “Ranting? About what?”
“About some friend of his who’d died.”
“Do you mean Mac? Jim McCrimmon?”
“Yeah, him. He blamed me for it, for God knows what reason.”
She gave him a deeply suspicious look. “And why would Eddie do that? Was it anything to do with when he met you in Bogotá?”
Larry said nothing, but Julie rounded on him. “Wait, you met Eddie in Colombia? You didn’t tell me about that!”
“I’m sure I mentioned it,” Larry said uncomfortably.
Scowling, the blonde turned away from her husband to address Nina. “I’m trying to remember what Eddie said—I’m sorry, I was so surprised to see him, and the whole thing happened so fast, I didn’t really get it all. But he said …” Her frown deepened with the effort of mental dredging. “He said Larry talked to someone about you, about El Dorado—and then this guy turned up there.”