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“I wouldn’t stay down here too long, if I were you. It’s going to take you a while to clean up.”
“Why?”
“Come along, Sis.” Floyd took her arm and they headed for the lift. The wicked gleam in his eye made me curious, but I quickly forgot about them as Frank peppered me with questions. Seeing us talking in earnest, Goliath, the hotel’s porter, and Peter approached. I told them everything I knew about the murder.
“Are you going to take on the case?” Goliath asked.
“There is no case,” I said. “No one has hired me to investigate.”
“That hasn’t stopped you before.”
Frank tapped the side of his nose. “A client will come out of the woodwork, Miss Fox, don’t you worry. I have a good feeling about this one.”
Goliath arched his brow at him. “A good feeling about a murder? I knew you were odd, Frank, but I didn’t think you bloodthirsty.”
“I’m not. Idiot.”
“Me, an idiot?” Goliath snorted. “I’m not the one who thought automobiles would never catch on when we saw our first one a couple of years back. There are more now than ever. Miss Fox even rode in one today.”
Frank gestured at my face. “And look at what it did to her! No lady will want to ride in those bloody contraptions after the initial curiosity dies down.”
I rounded on him. “What did it do to me?”
Goliath thrust out his hand to Frank. “Want to have a wager on it?”
Frank rolled his eyes. “How will we determine a winner? Count the number of vehicles that pass by?”
Goliath shrugged his hulking shoulders. “Why not? I reckon Victor will want in on this bet. He agrees with me. Motorized vehicles will increase in number, not decrease.”
Frank made a scoffing sound in his throat. “Not here at the hotel, they won’t. Sir Ronald won’t replace the carriages with those unreliable machines.”
“He does what the guests want, and if the guests want to be collected from the station in a hotel motor vehicle rather than a horse-drawn one, then he’ll buy one.”
“I heard he told Cobbit he won’t.”
“He just said that to shut the old codger up. Cobbit’s negative about everything, even more so if it means he needs to learn a new skill.”
“I like the fellow,” Frank said defensively.
“That says everything a person needs to know about both of you.”
I cleared my throat. “Will someone tell me what’s wrong with the way I look? Do I have smuts in my hair? My hat moved in the wind, dislodging the veil.” I touched my hair and discovered it had come out of its arrangement.
“You look as pretty as always,” Peter said quickly.
“Frank?” I prompted. Of the three men, he was the only one who’d give me an honest answer.
“Harmony’s going to need to be at her best to get you ready for dinner,” he said.
Peter glared at him, but Frank didn’t care. He spotted a gentleman walking towards the door and hurried to reach it before him. He smiled at the man as he passed then followed him outside.
“Ignore him,” Peter said to me. “He’s been in a mood since speaking to Cobbit earlier. Apparently the two of them have decided that automobiles represent everything that’s wrong with this country. They’re thinking of going on strike if Sir Ronald decides to replace one of the carriages.”
“Surely things aren’t that dire.”
“You know what Frank’s like,” Goliath said. “He hates change. Cobbit is just as bad. Put the two of them in the same room and it’s one complaint after another. They feed off each other’s negativity.”
Frank opened the door and beckoned to Goliath. “Two new guests just arrived. You’ll need a trolley.”
