“I am flattered,” he said.
Alexander stood slightly apart, watching. He observed honest labour, intellectual generosity, and genuine partnership. He saw it in the easy exchanges and wordless cooperation, and in Henry’s steady confidence. It stirred something restlessin him. For all the harmony within those walls, Alexander could not shake the sense that something else—something ill—lingered at the edges of the gathering.
Rosalind appeared at his side, holding her bonnet in one hand.
“Are you supervising or avoiding?” she asked.
Alexander gave her a small but warm smile.
“Observing,” Alexander said. “But I would not avoid your company, if you have come to offer it.”
She smiled and blushed.
“Let us walk to the hedge line,” she said. “I have no wish to trample anyone’s discoveries.”
They passed through the low field, the grass soft beneath their shoes. The hum of conversation faded behind them until it was almost inaudible.
“I think they make a remarkable group,” Rosalind said. “Even Charles and Sophia, as reserved as they are.”
Alexander nodded.
“They do,” he said. “Which is why what I am about to say must not be dismissed.”
She turned to him, eyes steady.
“Go on,” she said.
Alexander took a deep breath.
“Edmund has been watching Harold closely for two days,” he said. “This morning, when Harold began sketching the ruins’ north-eastern perimeter, Edmund turned pale.”
Rosalind frowned.
“Do you trust Edmund’s instincts?” she asked.
Alexander nodded firmly.
“I do,” he said. “More than that—I share them. Harold’s questions are too broad, his interest too conveniently fixed.”
Rosalind stopped, turning to face him completely.
“You believe he is searching for something?” she asked.
Alexander shook his head.
“I believe he already knows what he intends to find,” he said. “He has spoken only enough to placate suspicion, never more. And I am certain of this—if we cannot fix the crime upon him, Marcus and Catherine will not be the only ones who are robbed.”
Rosalind looked toward the crumbling eastern arch.
“He keeps glancing that way, even when others are not speaking to him,” she said.
He nodded gravely.
“He has asked three different people about storage methods,” he said. “And each time, he has shifted the topic after receiving his answer.”
Rosalind inhaled sharply as she began to understand.
“He is cataloguing vulnerabilities,” she said.
