“Let’s hope not,” I said. “As you said, England would be littered with corpses.”
He sniggered. It didn’t last long, but it was a laugh. I counted it as a win. “I suppose you’re right. Although it hasn’t been as many as you think. Not quite enough to litter the countryside.”
“If they all dropped dead, I’m sure we’d notice,” I said. “You’re not jinxed, St George. Gladys’s death had nothing to do with you. Someone thought she knew too much and decided to get rid of her. I’d stake my life on it. And as for Johanna…”
“That did have something to do with me.”
“Only peripherally. And it wasn’t as if you led her on, you know. You were honest, at least if what you told us about it was true…”
He shot me another look. This one connected, and was offended. “I wouldn’t lie about it, Darling.”
“Then you have nothing to feel guilty about,” I said. “You have every right to turn women away, just like I have every right to turn men away. I assume we agree that I do? That every woman has the right to say no?”
“Of course, Darling. You’re not required to cater to some man’s desires just because you’re a woman.” He muttered something that sounded like, “Blast him,” which probably referenced the handsy Geoffrey Marsden. I had been thinking about him when I said it, and it seemed as if Crispin had been, as well.
“And you’re not required to cater to every woman’s desires just because she wants you to,” I said. “You’re allowed to say no, as well. And if something bad happens to her later, it won’t be your fault.”
He nodded, but muttered, “Still feels like my fault. If I had stayed with Gladys, maybe…”
“Whoever it was probably wouldn’t have come in if he’d known you were there,” I said. “Or if he were that desperate to murder Gladys, he might have decided you were an acceptable loss, too. So it’s a good thing you weren’t.”
“Happy I didn’t end up dead, Darling?”
“Of course,” I said steadily. “We were worried about you, St George. It took forever for you to get home. We called the Hall from Sutherland House around six-thirty or seven, and you still weren’t back. We envisioned you tied up in some basement somewhere, having matches stuck under your fingernails.”
He sniggered. “Sorry, Darling. I got caught up with a waitress in a pub along the way. I stopped somewhere in Hampshire, and…”
I raised a hand. “Spare me the details, St George. I can fill them in for myself.”
“Of course, Darling.” He focused forward on the road again, smirking. I folded my hands in my lap and considered whether attempting to smack that stupid, self-satisfied expression off his face would result in the motorcar going off the road and us both possibly getting hurt, and whether it might be worth it.
In such scintillating company,we arrived at Sutherland House with some twenty minutes to spare before the time when Dominic Rivers was expected.
“Better get the police car out of the way,” I advised Tom, who nodded.
“Finch is coming to pick it up. I’ll be staying here with St George.”
Crispin muttered something. Christopher and I both looked at him, but he didn’t repeat it. That was fine by me, since I assumed it was just some variation of how he didn’t need a nanny.
“The two of you,” Tom added, “should run along now.”
What?
“What do you mean,” I said, “run along? You’re not letting us stay?”
“This is a murder investigation,” Tom began.
“A murder investigation you wouldn’t even be a part of if we hadn’t given you the body!”
“A body you might not have given me at all,” Tom said, “if I hadn’t found you outside Rectors with it in the back of the motorcar.”
“We told you?—!”
“I know what you said, Miss Darling.” It was always Miss Darling when he was trying to put me in my place. He only called me Pippa—rarely—when we were on friendly terms. “I have only your word for it. You might have made it up on the spot when I caught you red-handed, so to speak.”
“We really were going to contact you, Tom,” Christopher said. “We would have brought the body straight to you if we hadn’t been worried that one of the others was watching.”
I nodded. “We’re trying to help you. St George has contacted Rivers so you can talk to him?—”
