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“Then what’s stopping you?”
“I’ve made it clear that I don’t intend to marry. Everyone here knows it, and Harry does too. It wasn’t fair of me to encourage him, for want of a better word. If he’d allowed the kiss to continue, it would mean he intended to…take things further. And then what? Keep me as a mistress while he looked for a wife? No. He’s not the sort. The only thing he could do in the circumstances was end the kiss, which he did.”
“It was the right thing to do,” Harmony said thoughtfully. “Or perhaps he simply didn’t like the kiss. Or didn’t like kissingyou.”
“You are dreadful for one’s self-confidence, do you know that? Anyway, I can report that he kissed me back with enthusiasm, if only for a moment. He enjoyed it, as did I. Very much.”
Her gaze was still censorial, but it softened a little. “It’s going to make working with him on this investigation difficult.”
“We’ve managed so far. We both ignored the elephant in the room and by the end of the day, the elephant was no bigger than a cat.” A ginger one by the name of Foxy with a loud purr and more than a passing tolerance for men who paid her attention.
“Ignoring tension is something we English do well,” Harmony added with a wry smile.
The door opened and Victor sauntered in, a pack slung over one shoulder. He was dressed in regular clothes, not his chef’s whites, and he didn’t have his knife belt slung around his middle. “Afternoon, Miss Fox. Harmony.”
“Good afternoon, Victor,” I said. “Have you just arrived for the dinner shift?”
He shook his head. “I was working the lunch and afternoon shift today. I’m heading home.” He adjusted his pack. “I thought I’d come in here and see if anyone wanted to walk back with me.” His gaze settled on Harmony.
They both lived in the nearby residence hall. Lately, Harmony often waited up with me in my room then left when she knew the chefs finished their evening shifts. She pretended it was just coincidence, but I suspected she did it so she could walk with Victor. He liked her, and I was quite sure she liked him. Indeed, the more times she waited up, the more certain I became.
But now she shook her head. “I have to do Miss Bainbridge’s hair soon.”
Victor glanced at the clock on the shelf. It had just gone five. Harmony would have finished work hours ago, and yet she had stayed at the hotel. It wasn’t a great stretch to assume she’d stayed for him, and yet now she claimed she couldn’t go home.
He shifted his pack again. “Very well.”
He left the parlor, just as Goliath and several waiters entered, so I didn’t get the opportunity to ask her if she’d decided walking with Victor was a bad idea for the same reason I’d decided kissing Harry couldn’t happen again. She’d vowed never to marry too.
She glanced at the clock then asked Goliath to pour her another cup of tea while he made a cup for himself. I asked her to come and help me with my hair after she’d finished with Flossy.
I went in search of my cousin and found her rummaging through the false hair curls, buns, rolls and rats in her dressing table drawer while her bath filled with water.
“How was the museum today?” she asked without looking up.
Now that I knew I was certain I was investigating the murder, I saw no reason not to come clean. She wouldn’t tell her parents. “Actually, I’m helping D.I. Hobart to find Mr. McDonald’s murderer.”
She gasped. “I knew it! How thrilling. But haven’t they caught someone?”
“He wants to be completely sure.”
“I see. That’s commendable of him. You wouldn’t want to send the wrong man to the gallows.”
“In fact, I’m hoping you can help me.” I handed her the list of names and explained the connection between Lady Quorne’s dinner party, the theft of her painting, and the murder. “Which ones of these were also at the Bunburys’ ball?”
She perused the list. “Almost all. These two and this couple were the only ones not at the ball.”
“Do you know any of them personally?”
“Not particularly well. Mother will. They’re around her age.” She handed the list back to me. “If you ask her now, be aware she was in rather a foul mood when I left her. She hadn’t taken her tonic and her head was aching.” She sighed and turned to stare at her reflection in the mirror. “She can’t go on like this, Cleo. She just can’t.”
I squeezed her shoulder. “We need to find her another doctor.”
She sighed again but said nothing. She knew getting her mother to see another doctor would be almost impossible. Aunt Lilian liked her current doctor because he gave her tonic whenever she asked for it. He didn’t warn her to use it sparingly, as we did. He was happy to sell her more and more. And poor Aunt Lilian needed more of it to keep the headaches at bay.
I left Flossy’s suite and returned to my own. I decided not to call on my aunt. It wasn’t just because of what Flossy said. I’d already decided I couldn’t place Aunt Lilian in a position where she had to lie to my uncle. I would have to think of a subtler way to find out about Lady Quorne’s guests.
I ran myself a bath then soaked in it, memorizing the names on the list until the water grew cold. Harmony arrived and helped me dress in an evening gown of off-whitecrepe de chinewith blackfleur de lisembroidered across the bodice and small bows at the elbows. After arranging my hair, she made me stand and twirl.
