“Youhavecrushed a lot of people’s toes with your boots,” Heathcliff added.
“Croak!” said the raven.
I held up my hands. “All right, don’t pile on. Everyone here is a stranger to me apart from you guys and Cynthia. I think it’s much more likely to be about Lydia. She was sitting on Professor Hathaway’s lap right before he was murdered—”
“Oh!” Lydia held her hand to her forehead again. “Just the thought of it makes me feel faint.”
“—and with that performance she and Morrie gave in the market yesterday and the way she’s monopolizing the short supply of eligible young men, I’d say she’s made a few enemies.”
“I agree that it’s much more likely to be Lydia,” Morrie added. “That’s a relief. I thought I was going to have to care about this.”
Lydia threw herself at Morrie’s feet, sobbing into his silk stockings. “You must protect me!” she cried. “I appeal to your sense of chivalry.”
Morrie glanced around the hallway. “Nope, no chivalry here.”
“Of course we’ll protect you,” I said. “That’s why we’re going back to the shop, right now. I don’t care that it’s past midnight. There’s a threat to Lydia’s life. One of the staff will be able to call us a cab and—”
“No, no.” Lydia stood up and fixed me with a determined stare. “I won’t go back to that dusty old shop! Not when there is a murderer about.”
“You don’t really get any choice in the matter,” Heathcliff growled.
“Don’t I?” Lydia smirked, standing up to her full height. “I had hoped not to do this, but you have given me no choice. If I’m not to stay on here at Baddesley Hall and have my chance at securing a husband of suitable breeding and handsomeness, then I shall blab to that reporter about your magical shop and your pet raven and your real heritage.”
“I hardly think she’ll believe you,” Morrie said, but he exchanged a glance with Heathcliff. I knew what they were thinking.Even if Alice doesn’t write a story about the magical Nevermore Bookshop, some other reporter will.Lydia could go to any one of the tabloids and they’d eat her tale right up. Hordes would descend upon Argleton to ogle the shop and take pictures with Heathcliff and terrify Quoth and turn our whole existence upside down. And that wasn’t even the worst thing that could happen.
If anyone saw what Quoth really was, they’d haul him away to some secret lab for tests and I’d never see him again. On my shoulder, his body quivered as the truth of Lydia’s statement hit him as well. I held him against my chest, feeling his tiny bird heart patter.I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you,I thought with ferocity.
“Your expression suggests you think otherwise,” Lydia folded her arms.
“Threatening us is a mistake,” Heathcliff growled.
“Perhaps, but I don’t know any other way of getting what I want. When I wanted to go to Brighton as Mrs. Forster’s most special companion, all I had to do was remind Daddy of what a terror I’d be if he refused, and he folded like a deck of cards. Besides, it’s true that you have some skill at solving crimes. I trust you more than those officers downstairs, and here in this house you have a better chance of it than back at the shop.” Lydia twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “Therefore, I urge you most earnestly to get to work upon protecting my person.”
“Very well,” Morrie gathered Heathcliff, Quoth and I into a huddle. “She’s got us over a barrel, and she knows it. I can’t believe after all the fictional characters who’ve come through the shop, it would be Lydia Bennet who’d try to destroy us.”
“Really?” Noting the ease with which Lydia had trapped them, I found it hard to believe none of the other fictional characters had tried something similar.
“I’m sure others have considered it. But knowing Morrie’s reputation has been enough to stop any potential plots,” Heathcliff said. “That girl is special.”
“I guess we’re going to have to try and solve this case,” I said, the corner of my lip twitching at Morrie.
“You don’t have to sound so glad of it,” Heathcliff growled. “I’m trying to keep you safe.”
“I know, and Lydia is trying to get us all killed. Let’s stop this guy before that happens. Where do we start?”
Morrie glanced over at the door. A small crowd had already gathered, drawn by Lydia’s screams. One of the men was dispatched downstairs to send for the detectives. “If we don’t know to whom the message was addressed, our next course of action is to consider who might have motive for killing Professor Hathaway. It seems unlikely this message came from the jewel thief, which means it’s possible the murderer used the story of the Argleton Jewel Thief to pin the blame elsewhere.”
“Hathaway has a long list of enemies,” I said. “I’ve barely known the man a day and already I’d happily watch him get eaten by sharks.”
Possibly don’t say that out loud during a murder investigation,Quoth said inside my head, as Hayes and Wilson rounded the corner of the hall and saw the message. They immediately started clearing people from the area. We shuffled back with the rest of the crowd.
“Gerald has to be our top suspect,” Heathcliff said. “That display over breakfast this morning proves he has a reason to hate Hathaway.”
“There’s even more to it than that,” I said, relating what Gerald told me at the bar. “And he had a red stain on his jacket and a torn sleeve.”
“It could match the fabric found on the windowsill,” Heathcliff said.
“And I saw Gerald go outside,” Lydia explained. “After the first dance, I was… I have learned the new word. Ah, yes, I wassnoggingin the servants’ hallway with Mr. Jonathan Grimsby, and I happened to notice Gerald out of the corner of my eye. He came from the ballroom, down the hall and headed through the door outside.”
