“Mais, non!” She puts her finger above her top lip like a mustache, and says in a terrible French accent, “I should order my breakfast eggs identical in size, for ze perfect symmetry,non?”
He bursts out laughing. She’s totally funny. “Definitelynot Poirot. Definitely Miss Marple.”
“You win. Though I hate to think I amthatold.” She pops another mini pastry into her mouth. “So, what else did you hear?”
He frowns. This woman is confusing. Funny, friendly, but maybe she’s not as safe as she looks. Harry the Spy would approach her cautiously, he thinks.
She regards him from behind her thick-rimmed glasses as she chews, waiting for him to say something. And deep down he really does want to share all this heavy stuff with someone.
“Well ... it’s kind of serious.”
“How so?”
“The orchid man told Arrabella that their ‘subject’ is not who she says she is.”
She stops chewing. “Subject? They said that?”
“Yeah. The man said the subject changed her name after poisoning her husband.”
Her eyes widen. “What?”
“He said she wasn’t convicted. But everyone, including the police, thought she did it. She just had good lawyers.”
Her face pales. “Did they say her name?”
“They said her name was Helen Doyle. Here—look.” He pulls his notebook out from his backpack, flips it open. “See? I wrote this while I pretended not to listen.”
She leans over the page:
Paz Doyle. Wife beater. Football. Crime gang.
Poisoned with digitalis?
Who is Angus?
“And what’s this about ‘Angus’?” She points.
“All I heard was Arrabella say ‘just like Angus’ after orchid man told her that Paz’s heart stopped. She said Angus’s heart also stopped right after ‘that’ woman appeared.”
She glances up sharply. “What woman?”
“I don’t know,” Carter says.
“No other names?”
He shakes his head.
“Good lord,” she murmurs. She’s about to say something else when Carter notices his mom ending her call and standing. She starts to head over to his table.
“Oh, there comes my mom.”
“I should go.” She rises and grabs her tray. “Thanks, Sherlock,” she says.
“Frost, Carter J. Frost.”
“I’ll remember it.”
As she turns to leave, he says, “What’syourname?”
