I waited until he had gone, then made a call to the hotel front desk to request the valet, and requested that he bring the most recent issue of the English print newspaper.
It was over two hours later when Brodie returned. There had been a light rain and his jacket was soaked, along with that dark hair. As I helped him off with his jacket and then laid it over a chair to dry, he eyed the newspaper that I had been reading at the table.
“The scandal pages?” he commented as I poured a glass of wine and handed it to him.
“Entertaining in the least,” I replied. “And occasionally one can learn some interesting bit of gossip. My great-aunt nevermisses an issue in London. She knows far more scandalous things than the newspapers reveal as she is acquainted with just about everybody, dead or alive.”
“The advantage of living a long time,” he replied as he loosened the collar of his shirt.
“What did you discover while you were out and about?”
“There are at least six entrances and exits to the various parts of the hotel, including a separate entrance to the restaurant behind the server’s station. There are four service areas at the back of the hotel as one would expect for a place this size, and there are four more lifts in the East wing once one passes past the banquet hall.
“There is a coach entrance at each end of the hotel in addition to the main entrance, one for each wing where guests may come and go.”
“Are you anticipating that we might need to make an unexpected departure?”
That dark gaze fastened on me. “We are strangers here. Ye have learned well enough that certain people will do whatever is necessary to accomplish what they set out to do. We are relying on a man we don’t know except by Sir Laughton’s word.” He took a sip of wine. “Two people have already been murdered and yerself attacked. It is safe to assume they know who we are and that we’re here. It is a verra dangerous situation.”
I waited for what he would usually have said next, that he didn’t want me there, or in the least that we needed to return to London and let everything fall where it may, or the distinct possibility that he would attempt to send me off by myself, definitely not a good option with an outcome that might very well get him killed.
I was fully prepared for any of those possibilities. However, there was no ultimatum, no over-bearing Scot’s temper.
“We need to be careful, and most clever,” he added.
I understood being careful. It was the latter that intrigued me.
“What do you suggest?”
“You told me earlier that you can arrange for funds through the hotel. How much might you be able to arrange?”
This was most intriguing.
I knew that Brodie earned enough from his inquiry cases to cover the rent on the office at the Strand and other related expenses. Two of our recent cases had been particularly lucrative, one of them on behalf of the Crown. I had never questioned what he did with his compensation, just as he had never inquired about my resources.
I did have investments that our great-aunt had made for both me and my sister. There had been ‘gifts’ as she called them from time to time, on our birthdays and Christmas holidays.
“Always remember, my dears, that money is power,” she had explained to both of us. “Particularly for a woman. I have a great deal of it, more than the Queen, and one day that will all go to you and your sister, and the investments I’ve made on your behalf will make both of you quite wealthy all over again.”
It was comforting to know, as well as a great responsibility. As far as ‘one day,’I did hope that was a long way off. In the mean time we had our occasional gifts, and I had the royalties from my books which had been magnificently successful.
Returning to Brodie’s question, “That would depend on the banks, London to Frankfurt. At least fifty...”
He nodded that frown deepening. “Fifty pounds.”
“Fifty thousand pounds,” I replied. “More or less, the last time I met with my banker. There are the expenses for the town house, and the regular amount that he sends to the London Charity Home for Children.”
“Fifty thousand?” He choked on his wine.
I nodded. “It might be a bit less, but very near that. Are you quite all right?”
“Fifty thousand pounds,” he repeated, slowly recovering.
“Of course, there are also bonds and certificates of investment, but those are not easily converted.”
He stared at me. “Fifty thousand pounds. There are people who never see that much in a lifetime, who can hardly imagine that much.”
I refused to apologize. In fact, saw nothing to apologize for.
