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“Are you getting closer?”
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you.”
“Of course.” He sighed. “I do hope the real killer is found soon and he can return home.”
“Aye,” the landlady said as she relocked the door after Harry emerged. “I can’t hold his room for him forever.”
How doesone ask a married lady whether she had an affair with a man who was murdered in her house? Lady Bunbury would slam the door in our faces if we confronted her. The servants would also refuse to talk, unless we paid them, and both Harry and I were short on funds. With no one paying us for our time, we would never recoup our losses.
We considered attempting to get the servants to trust us enough to talk, but that level of trust couldn’t be gained in one afternoon. Two of the servants already knew us, anyway. We’d met Lord Bunbury’s valet and one of the maids during our last investigation. We’d also learned that the Bunburys kept very few servants. Financial constraints had meant they’d let most go.
I proposed we sneak inside via the back door when both Lord and Lady Bunbury were out and search her rooms. The house was large enough that we should be able to avoid being seen by the handful of servants. To my surprise, Harry agreed.
“If we’re caught, we’ll come clean about the investigation,” he said.
“And risk them telling Lord Bunbury who will then inform his contacts at Scotland Yard? If you’re recognized, your father will be dismissed on the spot. I’ll go in alone.”
“No.”
“It’s easier for me.”
He rounded on me and grasped my arms, turning me to face him. “Don’t try telling me that you’re too unremarkable to be remembered. We’ve been through this and you forced me to say that you’re the most memorable woman of my acquaintance. Do I have to say it again?”
I wasn’t going to let his earnestness dissuade me. I tilted my head to the side to regard him. “Do cease with the flattery, Harry. It doesn’t work on me.”
His fingers sprang apart, releasing me. He straightened, swallowed.
I tried not to smile at the bewildered look on his face. “Besides, that’s not what I was going to say. I meant I’m smaller and can more easily find a place to hide if I hear someone approach.”
That heated gaze swept my length, lingered a moment on my chest, then returned to my face. He arched a brow. “I’d like to see you try to slide under a bed wearing that.”
A corset and new day dress weren’t the most ideal clothes for sleuthing, but I didn’t want to go home and change. I’d wager Harry would take on the role of sleuth in my stead, and that wasn’t ideal.
He eyed the townhouse on the opposite side of the street and sighed. “Very well, I’ll allow it.”
“I wasn’t asking for your permission.”
“But I’ll be inside, too. I’ll gather the servants together to keep them out of your way and ask some general questions about the ball and the murder. I’ll tell them I’m working for the police, tying up loose ends to ensure Reggie Smith’s conviction. As long as they think I’m going along with the status quo rather than looking for evidence that exonerates Smith, they won’t see a need to tell Lord Bunbury. Mr. Holbeck should remember me from last time.”
“The young maid certainly will,” I said wryly.
He chose to ignore me, as he often did when I mentioned his looks. He was rather sensitive about being handsome. That didn’t stop him from using it to his advantage from time to time. “Now all we have to do is find out if Lord and Lady Bunbury are home and wait for them both to leave.”
Patience wasn’t one of my virtues, so I paid a boy kicking a stick along the pavement a penny to find out whether Lord and Lady Bunbury were in. He made inquiries at the basement door and returned a moment later.
“His lordship has gone out and her ladyship is leaving shortly,” he said.
“How did you get the servants to tell you that?” Harry asked.
“I told them I was sent by their neighbor who wanted to speak to them about the noise.”
“What noise?”
“Well, I don’t know, do I? I’m just the messenger.” He picked up his stick and walked off.
Harry chuckled. “Either we’ve just been given a lesson in interrogation techniques, or we’re going to regret sending a boy to do an adult’s task.”
Ten minutes later, the Bunbury coach rounded the corner and stopped outside their house. The butler held the front door open for Lady Bunbury then he hurried past her to reach the coach first and held its door open.
