‘Do you think Elizabeth was happy here?’ she asked, going for a different angle.

‘It wasn’t really her scene, from what I heard. She was a city girl who liked to party. The brothers used to hold some big parties from time to time and apparently Elizabeth was in her element then.’ She gave a quick glance towards her husband. Tina leaned closer. ‘There was a rumour once that Elizabeth was having an affair with someone in the village.’

‘Who?’ This was more like it, thought Steph.

‘Cameron, who runs the pub. He’s a bit of a ladies’ man and fancies himself something rotten. He would never confirm nor deny the rumour, but he spent a lot of his time teaching Elizabeth yoga.’

‘Yoga?’ Steph almost spluttered her drink out of her mouth.

‘Yes, he’s a yoga fanatic. Does Reiki, Indian head massage and all that business.’ She grinned at Steph. ‘I know it sounds a bit odd. You’d expect a barman to be pot-bellied, smoking and drinking, but not Cameron, he’s not like that at all.’

‘Do you think she was having an affair with him?’

‘I’m not so sure. She might have flirted with him. She did spend a lot of time there but I don’t know if they ever … you know.’

‘Had sex?’ supplied Steph.

‘Exactly. I think she stopped going because it was causing a bit of tittle-tattle in the village. Harry wasn’t very happy either,’ said Tina.

‘What happened?’ asked Steph when it looked like Tina wasn’t going to elaborate.

Tina’s gaze flicked around the table before she spoke. ‘Apparently, he confronted Cameron about it. In the pub. In front of all the customers. Cameron. After that, he was really pissed off and said he couldn’t give a shit about her.’

‘Why the sudden change of heart?’

‘I wouldn’t be surprised if Harry said something to him or possibly stopped asking him to supply the craft beer or holding his yoga classes up here at Conmere.’

‘I thought …’ Steph inclined her head towards the beer-brewing man.

‘That’s only in the last eighteen months. Before that, Cameron used to supply them,’ explained Tina.

‘That must have been a blow for the pub,’ said Steph.

‘Definitely. You can imagine how much a place like this spends a week on alcohol. It would have been a very big blow to Cameron but …’ She hesitated.

‘But what?’

‘I shouldn’t really say this, but it was almost like a warning going out to the locals who did business with the Sinclairs.’ Tina glanced around again as she spoke, her voice barely audible above the noise in the hall. ‘Mess with the Sinclairs at your peril.’

Steph sat back in her chair as she mulled this over. It seemed the Sinclairs really liked to get their claws into people and then keep hold of them tightly, and woe betide anyone who upset them.

Chapter Thirteen