Page 23 of Pride, Prejudice, & Pretense

Then Darcy finally moved a piece.

They were tied at one game apiece and in the middle of a third, the decisive game, when Darcy's phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and noted the number displayed.

"Bingley? What?" He listened carefully. "Who? When?" More listening. "Why?"

Charlie went on for another minute or two, and then Darcy saidgoodbyeand ended the call. He gave Lizzy a puzzled look. "There's been a move, but not from the player we expected."

"What do you mean?"

"The priest,Collingwood, was at the security desk downstairs."

In moments, the two agents were seated at the counter again, their unfinished checkers game left behind on the coffee table. Lizzy's computer was open, and Charlie explained what had happened.

"So, our guy at the security desk said that a man walked up and asked about you, if you lived in the building. Only Darcy and I can go up without a prior word to them. The guard let us know just after Collingwood left. Collingwood wasn't exactly sneaking around, though. He was in his priestly get-up. What do you call it? The dog collar? He left his name and his business card…ifthat's the right thing to call it for a priest. He asked if you lived in the building. The guard told him that he could not say, that building policy was to protect the privacy of tenants."

Lizzy looked at Darcy. "I told him my name and that I worked at the CPL. But he couldn’t have gotten my address from my personal page, could he?"

Charlie broke in. He was shaking his head, embarrassed. "No, but I had to supply an address to the library when they gave your name as the winner of the invitation to the party. There wasn't time to mail an invitation, so I didn't think it mattered. I asked them to send the invitation to Fanny's personal email. They did. I printed it off from there."

"Fanny has a personal email?" Lizzy asked.

Charlie nodded, glancing nervously at Darcy. "Yes, but I'm monitoring it?you don't need to. Lizzy, if you want to use it to send something, just go to Gmail. Your computer's set up already. I intended to tell you all that later in a brief video conference. I didn't think Lady Catherine would contact the library about your address or that she would be able to get it if she did. But it must have been her, and she must have given it to the priest."

Darcy's lips were compressed, and Lizzy could sense his annoyance. "It's not a big deal in one way, since our hope is that Wickham eventually comes here and meets with Fanny, but we need to be in control of the mission information. We need to know exactly who has access to exactly what at all times. Success—and Agent Bennet's safety—depend on it."

"Right. Sorry," Charlie said, apologetic and cowed.

"It's okay, Charlie. He didn't make it to my door unannounced or anything."

"I'll be on top of things from here on," he promised.

"We'll talk later," Darcy said. He shut the computer and looked at Lizzy. "I'm sorry about that. It shouldn't havehappened. I understand what Bingley was thinking, but it was sloppy. He either should not have supplied the address or made sure we knew he had."

"C'mon, Darcy. It isn't a big deal. I'm far more interested in why Lady Catherine's priest came here hoping to see me."

He did not comment again on Charlie’s mistake. He stood for a moment, pondering the question about Collingwood.

As he did, Fanny's phone rang from the bedroom. He looked at Lizzy, who briefly met his eyes and then hurried into her room. Darcy followed as far as the door and stopped. The phone displayed a number she didn’t recognize. She answered the call. "Hello?"

"Hello, Fanny. This is George Wickham. We met at the party last night." She turned and pointed at the phone. "Wickham," she said soundlessly to Darcy.

"Oh, yes, George, I remember."

"Lady Catherine told me how to reach you. I hope you don't mind, that I'm not intruding."

"No, you're not. It's fine. What can I do for you?"

He laughed. Rich and confident. "After the party, Lady Catherine mentioned to me that Ned was going to have to leave town. Is that right?"

Lizzy made sure she sounded disappointed. "Yes, he's flying out soon, in just a little while, back to New York."

"She also told me you had taken some time off, expecting to spend it with him."

"Yes, that's true."

"I'm going to be in Chicago later today. I'm not Ned, of course, but I was planning to tour some of the architectural sights and wondered if you might want to come with me. Maybe we could get dinner?" She paused deliberately, holding her peace for as long as she could, trying to wait him out. "It would be something to do," he added, "and just as friends, of course."

She had done it. Her skill, her talent, and herappearancehad been enough to hook Wickham. Once again, however, she felt no particular sense of accomplishment. The difficult work, the tricky work, was all ahead of her.

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