Arthur hesitated for a beat. “Yes.”
“Of course it does.”
I stepped in before she could continue her interrogation. “If he were going to steal me for nefariouspurposes,” I said, “he could have done that already today. Multiple times. Very efficiently.”
Arthur coughed into his fist.
“Well,” she said slowly, “I don’t love that as reassurance. But you do look remarkably un-murdered.”
“Thank you,” I said.
Eloise crossed her arms, the initial panic settling into something sharper. Curious. Protective.
“So,” she said. “What kind of research requires her to vanish, arrive home looking like she’s just run a marathon, and bring a strange man into her living room?”
I opened my mouth. Closed it again.
Arthur answered calmly. “Historical research. Very old. And very specialized, like I said.”
Eloise tilted her head. “That explains exactly none of this.”
“It involves missing records,” he continued. “Records that may have been deliberately altered.”
Her eyes flicked to me. “And you agreed to assist him with this?”
“Yes,” I said. “And then things… escalated.”
“How,” Eloise asked flatly, “did they escalate?”
“We need to follow a lead,” Arthur said. “We can’t do it here.”
Eloise’s gaze sharpened. “And wherecanyou do it?”
I winced. “Overseas.”
She stared at me. “You’re joking.”
“I’m not,” I said.
Arthur gave me a questioning look.
Shrugging, I nodded.
“There’s a library in Scotland that holds documents we can’t access here,” he said.
Eloise’s jaw dropped in slow motion. “Scotland.”
“Yes,” I said. “Temporarily.”
I could see her brain buffering.
“And this is for work?” she asked.
“Yes,” Arthur replied.
She looked directly at me. “You’re not being coerced?”
“No,” I said. “Iwantto go.”
