Page 12 of An Honorable Deception
She read it, nodded, and smiled. “Perfectly.” She reached for Marigold’s hand, but she kept her gaze on him. “Now. What’s the case? Is that the right term? Or do you call it a job? Or...?”
Marigold sighed. “Case, yes. And I’ve yet to get the full story, given the way the introductory meeting went, so Yates can brief us both.”
Lavinia’s eyes went wide again—lionfeathers, she needed to learn to control her expressions if she was going to be any good at this. “Lady Alethia? She is your new client?”
He nodded and sat in the chair at right angles to their shared sofa—the one Lady Alethia had lain on three hours before. Upon the doctor’s suggestion, they’d moved her to the kitchen table while he removed the bullets, and then Yates had carried her up to one of the spare bedrooms.
What an odd feeling it had been. It wasn’t as though hewas never so close to a woman—but his sister didn’t really count. And Marigold had never been limp weight against him. It had been disconcerting, and a few other things besides that he didn’t rightly know the names for. Or didn’t care to try to name, at any rate. It didn’t seem quite gentlemanly to notice a woman’s lovely face and figure while she lay passed out and bleeding in one’s arms.
Focus, old boy.“She’s looking for her ayah, who had sent word that she’d reached London again last week. It seems that whenever the nurse comes with a family—she’s made the journey five times now—she and Lady Alethia reunite.”
Both of the girls frowned. “That’s odd, isn’t it?” Lavinia asked, glancing at Marigold as if for assurance that it was a reasonable observation.
Marigold nodded. “From the stories I’ve heard, yes.”
“The nanny is only eight years her senior—twenty-seven years old now.” He filled them in on the rest of the conversation they’d had in the confessional and then moved on to the small amount in the papers she’d had. “She didn’t note with whom she’d spoken at the various Ayahs’ Homes, only which locations she visited today. And she had the note the ayah sent—it’s signed onlySamira. She hadn’t written a surname down anywhere. And another note from someone who must be an acquaintance, saying she had information on Samira that would interest Alethia, with an invitation to meet for lunch—but she didn’t show up.Thatnote is only signedVictoria.”
He was going to have to get that missing information somehow. It may require donning his Mr. A costume and saying he’d traveled to the Tower to conduct an interview, should they be unable to convince her to trust them with it as themselves. But that would be fine. He could pull his Scottish burr out again and disguise his face behind the itchy mustache, rice powder, and age lines drawn on with cosmetics.
“Interesting. What did the notes say? Anything useful?” Marigold asked.
“Not at first glance.” He fished the one from the ayah out of his pocket and passed it over. The words had been straightforward.
Back in London again; I expect I’ll be here at least a fortnight, as my initial queries for a return trip aren’t promising and there are no steamers due from Calcutta in that time. Will you be able to get away for tea or a walk? Still praying for you every day, sweetling. Look for me at the Home on Mare Street as usual, whenever you can. Always your sister, Samira.
After they both read it, their heads together, Marigold handed it back. Yates handed her the next, from the mysterious Victoria. It was even shorter.
Sorry I haven’t kept my promise for a luncheon invitation; have you time today? I may have information on your old ayah that you’ll want to know. Eleven? Same place. Victoria
Marigold sighed. “I’m suddenly wishing we’d taken the time to get to know the Barremore family. Lavinia, do you know them? Or Lady Alethia, at least? Who among her friends is called Victoria?”
Lavinia shook her head. “I know only what I’ve read in the papers.”
“Gemma.” Yates stood, tucking the note back into his pocket as he did. “She’s surely gathered more information than what she’s put in her columns. I’ll ring her up. See if perhaps she and Graham want to join us for dinner tonight.We can introduce them to the newest Imposter while we’re at it.”
Lavinia beamed. And even Marigold smiled, leaning back into the cushion. “Well, this certainly simplifies things, at least. We won’t need to watch our conversations around you.”
That part was simpler now, yes. But they were yet again in a position that had proven complicated before, with Merritt—they would be both working a case for Lady Alethia as the Imposters, but also entertaining her as the Fairfaxes.
Although, unlike with Merritt, Lady Alethia was likely to be confined to her bed for weeks. He strode from the room, casting a glance up the stairs as he bypassed it for the study and its telephone. Keeping the lady ignorant of who her hosts really were might not prove the biggest challenge.
Keeping her alive, on the other hand, promised to require all their combined skill.
FIVE
17 August 191O
Fairfax Tower
Near Alnwick, Northumberland
Lavinia stood on the balcony as the morning light turned from blue to gold, resting her arms on the railing, which was in need of a good whitewashing, and hoping the house’s shadows still concealed her as she watched the solo performance underway on the trapeze in the courtyard.
Not that she hadn’t seen one of Yates’s performances before, but when she watched six years ago, she was on a bench in that courtyard, whooping and shouting at each trick. She hadn’t seen one since then. And he hadn’t looked then, at seventeen, quite like he did now.
It was no doubt unseemly to watch the way his muscles flexed or to admire how many of them were revealed by the sleeveless black ensemble he wore. But Mother had been the one to care about what was or wasn’t seemly. And why? So she could live a lie.
It made Lavinia even more determined to lean here and watch every last twist and leap and spin. And then, whenhe was finished, she’d go down and join him in the stables, just because it would have made Mother scowl at the very suggestion.
