“I couldn’t leave without finding out how you went at Miss Westwood’s place.” She offered me a cup of tea. There was always a warm teapot in the staff parlor with spare cups to use. The maids or kitchen staff must replenish the pot and cups as needed.
“No, thank you, I just had a cup.”
She gasped. “You helped yourself to a dead woman’s tea?”
“Her sister was there retrieving some clothes to dress Miss Westwood’s body.”
Harmony pulled a face. “What an awful thing to have to do.”
It was. While I’d been too young to take on such a task when my parents died, I’d helped my grandmother press my grandfather’s best suit after his death, and gone through her wardrobe to decide what to dress her in for her funeral. It had been among the hardest things I’d ever had to do.
I sat and was about to tell Harmony all about my afternoon when the door opened and Victor sauntered in. Dressed in clean chef whites, he must not yet have started his shift. The knife belt strapped around his hips was fully stocked until he perched on the edge of the table and removed the small paring knife. He twiddled it as if it were a pencil, not a sharp blade that could slice off a fingertip. It was no wonder he had scars on his hands and another on his face.
“What are you doing here?” Harmony asked him, her tone brisk.
“I heard Miss Fox was back.” He nodded a greeting at me. “Afternoon.”
I nodded back. “Good afternoon, Victor. When do you start?”
He glanced at the clock. “In fifteen minutes, so you best be quick.”
I arched my brows. “With what?”
He caught the knife and for a moment, his hands were still. “Telling us about your visit to the actress’s home.”
Harmony bristled. “Who told you?”
“Goliath.”
She rolled her eyes. “I need to have a word with him about loose lips sinking ships.”
I smiled. “It’s quite all right. One more knowing that I’m investigating won’t matter. Just don’t tell anyone that Lord Rumford has asked me to look into it. He doesn’t want a scandal.”
He nodded just as Goliath entered, followed by Frank. They removed their brimless hats, threw them on the table, and poured themselves cups of tea.
“Have we missed anything?” Goliath asked, turning to face us.
“Miss Fox was just about to tell us what she discovered at the actress’s flat,” Victor told him.
Harmony glared at him. “She was just about to tellme. The three of you weren’t invited to this meeting.”
Goliath pouted, his shoulders slumping forward, and Frank stared into his teacup.
Victor merely shrugged. “Just pretend we’re not here.” He twirled the knife again.
Harmony’s jaw set so hard I could hear her back teeth grinding.
“Apparently we’re a team,” I told her before she could scold him again. “Along with Peter, of course.” I glanced at the door, expecting him to walk in at any moment. But it remained closed.
She lifted her chin. “You and I are a team.” She sniffed. “Although I’ll concede that we may require their help on occasion.”
“Good of you to see it that way,” Victor said evenly. It was difficult to tell when he was trying to rile her. Sometimes I was quite sure of it, but at others, his face was so straight that he couldn’t possibly be anything other than serious.
“But this is not one of those occasions,” she finished.
Frank eased himself onto a chair with a groan. “That’s better.”
Goliath slapped him on the shoulder. “Quiet, old man. Miss Fox doesn’t want to shout over your creaking bones.”
