“You sound skeptical,” Wesley observed.
“Because I am,” John said. “He’s still got the apartment on the Upper West Side, and what does an eternal bachelor want with a country house?”
Walter was nodding along. “I didn’t buy mine until Blanche insisted. I offered my contacts, but Arthur didn’t seem interested at all.”
Now that Sebastian knew about Arthur and Rory, a private country house—without prying eyes—could be something Arthur might want. But then, there were plenty of reasons he might have gone, reasons connected to magic that Arthur’s family and non-paranormal friends wouldn’t have known about.
“So why do you think he went to Tarrytown?” Wesley asked.
John and Walter exchanged a glance. John’s eyes then cut down the hall, toward the few other occupants several feet away, before he looked back at Sebastian, then Wesley. “You’re both Arthur’s friends?”
Would Arthur consider Sebastian a friend? That would be nice, but Sebastian wouldn’t count on it.
“Both of us,” Wesley said firmly. “You can tell us your suspicions, John.”
John and Walter exchanged another glance, then John leaned in and lowered his voice. “I’m not supposed to know, you see, because I’m the law and all that. But I’m fairly certain Arthur’s off chasing a bootlegging lead.”
Sebastian stilled. “Really?”
“I’m also not supposed to know his pretty friend, Jade Robbins, runs a speakeasy,” John said. “But look. Prohibition isn’t popular, and you have to let a couple places slip through so the whole thing doesn’t collapse, you understand?”
“You can’t shut the Magnolia down,” said Walter. “Do you know how few places get their gin from Canada, not a bathtub in the Bronx?”
“The secret is safe with us,” Wesley promised. “So Arthur is in Tarrytown right now?”
“Yes, I spoke to him just a few days ago,” said John. “I’m going up myself tomorrow, in fact, taking the boat out before the weather turns.”
“Blanche and I are having a masquerade for Halloween, introducing ourselves to the neighborhood and all that,” said Walter. “You’ll come of course, won’t you, Lord Fine? We’ve got a baronet on the guest list, and I know Blanche would love to have more of her peers.”
“Parties. Hooray,” Wesley said, without any of John’s enthusiasm.
“Excellent, that’s settled then,” said John. “You can come up for the masquerade and see Arthur in one go. He’s staying at the Horseman Inn—I’ll get the information for you.”
A few minutes later, they were walking down the steps of City Hall with the inn’s address and exchange in Wesley’s pocket.
“I come all the way to America and I still can’t avoid parties.” Wesley was frowning. “Frivolities aside, it seems Arthur could be chasing a bootlegging lead in Tarrytown—and here we just met a bootlegger on his way to Tarrytown.”
Sebastian spread his hands. “Coincidence?”
Wesley looked doubtful. “Sir Ellery and Arthur have met through me.”
In February, when Sebastian’s companions had been tormenting John Kenzie and Sebastian himself had been driven by blood magic in his veins. He’d hurt so many people, the last time he’d been in New York; the blood terrors would have countless nightmarish memories to draw from, if they came back.
“It feels too close to be a coincidence,” Wesley was continuing, “like it must be related, but fuck me if I could say how.”
Sebastian pushed his thoughts aside best he could; there could be danger to Wesley and that was what mattered. “And none of it explains the letter you got. At least we have a place to call now.”
They crossed the small park in the shadow of the skyscrapers on Park Avenue. The sun had set somewhere behind the Woolworth Building and the multicolored leaves on the trees nearly glowed, the reds and oranges like pinpoints of flame against the graying twilight.
“How do you know Arthur’s brother?” Sebastian asked, as they walked.
“Met him during that whole mess around the wedding,” Wesley said. “Talked to him at length after my valet was offed, and then spent some time making sure the New York governor understood that a viscount thought John ought to have his backing for senate.”
Sebastian furrowed his brow. “You care about American politics?”
“Christ, no,” said Wesley. “But helping Arthur’s brother was really the least I could do, wasn’t it?”
Sebastian once again had the sense that he was missing something very big. “Because Arthur is your friend?”
