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“And you are a doctor?”
“I am.”
Edwina takes a moment to assimilate this before diving back into her cake. “I have a friend who looks like you. His name is Harry. He says when he grows up, he will be a highwayman.”
“A noble profession,” Gray says with all seriousness.
“I will tell him he could be a doctor and live in a grand house with cake, but I think he will still want to be a highwayman.”
“I do not blame him.”
The girl continues eating her cake as I tell Gray about the pudding and give him the address.
He fingers the piece of paper and then nods. “That is our afternoon squared then. Will you join me?”
Edwina doesn’t look up from her cake as she says, mouth full, “You will want to leave through the front door, sir. My mother said I should comearound the back, but I did not like the looks of the man lurking about the gardens.”
Gray and I exchange a look. The part-time gardener, Mr. Tull, is Jamaican.
Gray clears his throat. “You mean the man working in the gardens?”
“No, sir. I didn’t see anyone working. This fellow was playing the hiding game that Harry likes. Where you hide and watch people. Harry says it is what a highwayman must do. Lurking. That is the word. You lurk behind trees and bushes until a fine coach comes.”
“There is a man lurking in my garden?”
“Near it. He was watching the back door, and so I decided to come around the front.”
“I think I should—” Gray and I say in unison.
We look at each other for a moment. Then he says, “Your next words were ‘Let Dr. Gray investigate,’ yes?”
I snort and turn to Edwina. “Mrs. Wallace will bring you the sugar and package the other half of the cake for you. Please thank your mother for us and tell her, if she remembers anything else, we would very much appreciate it.”
“We need a plan,” I say as I pause at the back door.
“Stride out there, apprehend the prowler, and demand to know what he is about?”
I sigh. “You aren’t very good at this, are you?”
“I am quite good at this. You have seen me apprehend brigands. Would you disagree?”
“Let’s try a new tactic,” I say. “We’re going to stroll out, as if nothing is amiss. We’ll continue on to the stables, talking. I’m going to suggest we discuss the case. That’ll keep him from running. We’ll pretend—”
Heels clack down the stairs, and Annis says, “What are you two whispering about?”
“There is a prowler,” I say. “The Burns girl spotted him. We are coming up with a plan to flush him out and—”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake.”
Annis strides past and throws open the rear door before I can stop her. “You there!” she calls.
Though I can see no one in sight, the bushes erupt as a man wheels to flee.
“Go on, Duncan,” she says. “Apprehend the fellow.”
Gray takes off after the prowler.
“Oh, stop grumbling, girl,” Annis says to me. “You are only peeved because your skirts preventyoufrom chasing him.”
