“Patience, Nathan.”
“I don’t have patience, little brother.”
“Then allow me to teach you,” Zach muttered, methodically turning pages. When he reached the end, he found a page folded into what looked like a pocket. Someone had taken the time to do that. The hair on the back of his neck stood, and suddenly Zach felt tense.
Replacing the book, he climbed down.
“Care to explain why that particular volume had you enthralled?” Nathan asked.
“I don’t know exactly. Only that when I saw Mary, she was up that ladder and had that book in her hand.”
“It’s a bookstore,” Nathan said, “you read things in here.”
“That book is on snail farming. I doubt it’s something she’s about to start. Plus, the back page is folded into a small pocket.”
“Well now,” Nathan said. He then climbed the ladder and took theThe Beginners Guide to Snail Farmingfrom the shelf.
Zach waited while he studied it.
“I wonder what that’s about?” Nathan said after he’d joined Zach once more.
“Something feels off,” Zach said. “Now that Mary’s gone and I think about how she was behaving, I feel it.”
“Because when she’s near you can’t think clearly?” Nathan asked.
“Yes. No,” Zach quickly added when he caught his brother’s grin. “She annoys me.”
“Of course she does, but maybe it’s time you asked yourself why.”
“What does that mean?” Zach followed Nathan as he headed to the stairs again.
“You’re averagely intelligent. Not in my league of course, but you’ll work it out if you put your mind to it,” Nathan said.
He still had no idea what his brother was getting at when they left the store. Or maybe he did, but like the Duchess of Yardley’s comment that Mary was his destiny, he was ignoring it.
“Psst!”
“Did someone just psst at us from the left?” Nathan asked, turning on his heel in the lane.
“Sounded like a psst to me,” Zach scanned the area.
“Psst!”
“We can hear you, but we just can’t see you,” Nathan said loudly.
Zach wandered down the side of Lolly’s bookstore. Nix, one of their informants, stood there. Small and beady-eyed, he had been with the Deville brothers the longest and could ferret out information on anything given time.
“Nix, how lovely to see you,” Nathan said, joining Zach.
“How are the children?” Zach asked.
“Sydney wants to be a bleeding artist. I need to buy him paints and canvas,” the man grumbled.
Nix had several children and spent a great deal of time moaning about their needs. Firstly, there were the piano lessons and shoes. Now, apparently, art supplies.
“Well then, let us hope we can help you with that expense,” Zach said. “What do you have for us, Nix?”
“After you asked about the French ladies of the night, I talked to Pig. He was standing outside Lady Louise’s house of pleasure three evenings ago,” Nix said. “His girl works there.”
