Hewaseverywhere today. Why was that? And how had he known that he should go to the barrier this morning and let Cooper and Simon inside?
The thoughts lodged in her mind like pebbles in a shoe, and she didn’t like it.
They were in the middle of a murder investigation. She didn’t like thinking,Blake’s acting weird.
But she was being ridiculous. Blake couldn’t have killed—
No, it was too silly for words. What possible motive would he have? None. He’d been denied his spot on the Council, but another one would come along sooner or later, and he was, after all, an Abbott. His place was earmarked for him. He wouldn’t have needed to open one up, and he certainly wouldn’t have needed to target Marianne for it.
Atworst, Blake was a joyless traditionalist. He wasn’t some chaotic, murderous force. Even if he was capable of murder, he wasn’t capable of making a mess, and killing for no reason was messy.
She pushed the thoughts as far away from her as they would possibly go.
Blake reached them. To anyone else, Iris was sure, he looked the same as usual. But she’d known him for years, and she could tell he was worked up. He was vibrating with suppressed energy, and as he offered them all a polite smile, his lips were stiff.
Even if something was bothering him, though, he clearly wasn’t going to let it stand in the way of being polite.
“Ah, Deputies. Can I offer you any more help? It’s lunchtime—thereisa little restaurant here, very charming, if you want a recommendation.”
Cooper said, “Thanks, but we left two of our colleagues outside, and we promised we’d swap places with them when the funeral wrapped up. We’ve just been dragging our feet. Keith, would you mind coming with us to let Iz and Evie in?”
“Sure, no—”
Blake interrupted. “I took care of that, actually. After the service. I apologize if that was forward of me, and I don’t mean to interfere, but I need to talk to Iris and Keith about a family matter.”
That startled her. “Is Seraphina okay?” She hadn’t noticed her at the funeral, but given the crowd, that hadn’t seemed too weird. Now she was worried.
“She’s just a little under the weather,” Blake said delicately.
That didn’t make Iris feel any better. Given how reticent Blake was about discussing anything potentially uncomfortable or embarrassing, that could be anything from a cold to—she shuddered at even thinking the word—cancer.
“Anyway,” Blake continued, “the two ladies said they’d still stand guard outside until you relieved them, and the barrier should remain open to them for about—” He checked his elegant watch. “Ten more minutes? Does that give you enough time?”
“Sure, that should do it. Thanks. They were just telling us last night that you could do more with the barrier than most people, and I guess this proves it.”
Blake just nodded, his smile thin and hard-lipped and tense.
Cooper added to Keith, “I’ll text you if we need anything, but we’ll try not to. Look after Iris’s sister.”
As soon as Cooper and Simon were out of ordinary earshot, Blake said, “I don’t mean to worry you, Iris, but Seraphina is in a state.”
That was even vaguer than “a little under the weather,” and Iris didn’t know what to think. But Blake wouldn’t have made even this much of a scene and aired his personal affairs in front of strangers if it wasn’t serious. Whatever the truth was, she felt sure that he was downplaying it.
When Iris started peppering him with questions, Blake just shook his head.
“I’m not like you, Iris. I can’t treat everything this cavalierly, this trivially.”
She felt a dull flare of anger and shame, but before she could say anything, Keith said, “That’s not what she does, and that’s not who she is.”
Blake barely seemed to register the comment.
He just said, “This isn’t a matter for a public street,” and kept leading them on.
Iris’s imagination was churning now, and she couldn’t stop coming up with possibilities. Each one was worse than the next. Blake was a little high-strung—the undercurrents of village society were so vicious that no one could stay atop it for long if they weren’t sensitive to the slightest vibrations—but she had never seen him like this.
She tried to cling to the slim possibility that Blake was this shaken up bygoodnews. Maybe Seraphina was pregnant. The two of them had been trying for years. And since the doctor had reassured them both that there was nothing physically wrong with either of them, it had to happen sooner or later, didn’t it?
Maybe these were just first-time dad jitters.
