“Sir Anthony Blackstone is old enough to be her father,” I commented. Not that it was all that unusual among the upper class— alliance of families, possibly an arrangement for other purposes, that sort of thing. Still…
“Ye were surprised at the arrangement,” Brodie commented in that way he had of instinctively knowing there was more that I had to say in the matter.
“It’s just that I had a certain impression of Amelia Mainwaring as I looked about her rooms.”
“What might that be?”
“She was most orderly in the way she kept things— small mementoes, even whimsical things, porcelain figures that I found on a table, and the books she read. There were copies of books by Jane Austen on her night table, and another one that she was obviously reading most recently. And there was a photograph at her writing desk.”
“Photograph?”
“It was obviously taken some time ago, a picture of her with friends after a game of lawn tennis.”
“And that was unusual?”
“It seemed that she was not the sort to simply accept an arranged marriage.”
“Ye have some experience with that?” he remarked.
He knew quite well that I had once been engaged to be married— also an arranged situation; families, wealth, and all that. And hopelessly boring. It had ended and I had taken myself off on one of my first adventures that had ended on the Isle of Crete…
I chose to ignore his comment.
“There was also a piece of stationery in the writing desk,” I went on to explain.
In the darkened shadows inside the cab, I felt the question rather than saw it on his face as he turned slightly toward me.
“It still had impressions from the last note she wrote to someone,” I continued. “It might be useful to have Mr. Brimley look at it.”
The chemist had become a good friend through our past inquiries. He had expertise that had provided several important clues, along with his medical skills.
“The housekeeper didn’t object?” Brodie replied.
I smiled to myself.
“There was a moment when she was called away.” I felt that dark gaze on me.
“And the note paper just happened to find its way into yer bag.”
* * *
A shadow stepped from among other shadows near the gated entrance to the Mainwaring estate, and stared after the departing cab.
Angus Brodie, formerly of the Metropolitan Police, had a reputation for being formidable in his private inquiries. There had been mention in a brief newspaper article that he had been commended by the Prince of Wales over a previous matter.
And the woman with him?
Lady Mikaela Forsythe, according to the dailies, a member of the upper class who had made a name for herself with her novels, and her association with the detective Angus Brodie.
Most interesting…
Three
“I confirmedthe appointment with the physician first thing this morning,” Brodie commented as I arrived at the office on the Strand.
When he finally looked up, I recognized the frown as I had seen it on numerous occasions in the past, most usually when he was displeased with something. Thatsomething, this morning, was apparently me.
I had started out early with the best of intentions that rapidly disappeared with my aunt’s preparations for the rapidly approaching All Hallows party she was hosting at the Grosvenor Hotel.
