“Right. Let’s go.” Ellen took his arm.
“Where? Did we win?” Gray asked.
“No. We came last,” Matilda said. “Because you were too slow.”
“Thash, that’s hardly my fault,” he said slowly. “It’s my first time. Surely you weren’t that good the firsh time?”
“Perhaps, but we don’t like losing,” Fred said as she glared up at him.
They were now back on the grass, and someone was playing a fiddle. He turned to look at Ellen, who was holding his arm, which Gray thought was to steady him. Squinting, he attempted to focus on her face.
“You have a very pretty fash,” he said, and then his knees buckled, and he fell forward onto the ground.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
Ellen woke suddenly. Vivid and real, she wasn’t sure if it was a vision or a dream. She’d been in George’s bookshop, standing before a set of shelves, holding a book in her hands.
“B,” she said to herself. The letter on the cover had been B, and the second word, Bestiary.
But that was all she could remember or had seen.
She didn’t know what that signified, and yet she knew it was important. She would not have had the vision or dream, were it not. Looking out the window, Ellen saw dawn was creeping through the gap in the curtains.
She had to tell this information to Gray. Perhaps sending a note would get him here, seeing as he had not shown his face since the Crabbett Close games over a week ago and was clearly avoiding them.
Her uncle and Leo had caught Gray as he fell. Mungo and Alex had then taken him home, ensuring that the detective had been delivered into the hands of his staff safely.
Alex had told her that Gray woke briefly on the carriage ride and smiled at him. He’d then said thank you, for what Alex had no idea, and then he’d fallen asleep once more.
Every barrier Gray had erected around himself had lowered that night. With the alcohol, he’d become different. He’d lost his inhibitions and laughed with her family and the residents of Crabbett Close, who had slowly warmed to him.
As the sun began to rise, Ellen lay there thinking about the man that was Detective Fletcher. Handsome and intelligent. He had seemed unruffled and always professional. Yet her family had unraveled him, as had the residents of Crabbett Close. Even Leo was warming to him.
She could be honest with herself here in the quiet of her room. She felt something for Grayson Fletcher. Something that Ellen knew could bloom into a great deal more.
Gray, like her, had turned his back on society. For different reasons, but still he had walked away from what he’d always known, and Ellen thought this gave them a common ground too. There was also the fact that when he touched her, she wanted to throw herself at him and never let go.
In short, Detective Fletcher made her feel emotions she’d no longer thought herself capable of feeling. It was terrifying and yet exciting at the same time.
Leaving her bed when the sun was high enough to ensure that tea would be made, Ellen washed and dressed. Leaving her room, she went in search of her aunt and uncle who would have risen early with Lottie.
She found them in the parlor, sitting beside each other in companionable silence, like they did most mornings while Lottie played.
“Hello, Aunty Ellen.”
“Good morning, Lottie.” She bent to kiss the little girl and then her aunt and uncle.
“Good morning, niece,” Aunt Ivy said. “How did you sleep?”
“Well, but I had a vision or dream. I’m unsure what.”
Uncle Bram waved her into the seat across from them. “Tell us about it.”
He poured her a cup of tea while she talked, telling them everything she remembered.
“And you say you saw a B and the word ‘Bestiary’ on the cover?” he said.
She nodded. “I didn’t see who had written it.”
