Page 59 of And Then There Was the One
“No, I suppose not,” he conceded with a regretful sigh. “Shall we convene another meeting of our little detective society—minus the newfound suspects, of course?”
“I already borrowed the telephone to ring Arthur,” she said, feeling pleased with herself. “He should be here any minute.” She began gathering the papers from the table, preparing to shove them back into the manila envelope. “I’m beginning to feel rather badly about stealing from Mrs. Penbaker.”
“Ah, well,” Sebastian said philosophically. “You know what I always say.”
“No,” Georgie said. “In fact, I can scarcely even imagine.”
He smiled at her. “Larceny is never a wasted effort when it’s a prelude to romance.”
Georgie, who had just taken a sip of her cider, choked, andglared at him when his smile widened at the sight. “I am counting the hours until you get back on that train on Thursday,” she said, once her coughing had subsided.
“Ialmostthink that you believe that,” he replied, looking unconcerned. “Ah, there’s Crawley!” He waved a hand, and Arthur, who had just entered the pub, nodded and began making his way toward them, followed—not five seconds later—by Constable Lexington.
“How did you know to meet us here?” Georgie asked Lexington as he slid into the booth across the table from her.
Lexington flushed. “I was with Crawley.”
Georgie looked at Lexington, whose hair was not as neatly combed as she’d grown accustomed to, and whose clothing looked ever so slightly rumpled. Then she looked at Arthur, who appeared almost obscenely cheerful.
Georgie bit her lip and watched the color in Lexington’s cheeks deepen.
Fascinating.
“So,” she said, clearing her throat and resolving to focus solely on the matters relevant to the case, no matter how intriguing other developments might be. “We have grown a bit curious about the Murder Tourists.”
Arthur raised his eyebrows. “Miss de Vere and Miss Singh?”
Seeing matching skeptical expressions on both Arthur’s and Lexington’s faces, she said, “Think about it. They’realwaysaround—including when a couple of the most recent crimes have been committed—and no one thinks anything of it, because we’ve all grown used to them.”
“So… what?” Arthur asked, still sounding unconvinced.“You think they learned of the first couple of murders last autumn and decided they’d quite like to commit one of their own? And visited the scene of the crime on numerous occasions, making it far more likely they’d be caught?”
Lexington cleared his throat. “Criminalsdoreturn to the scene of the crime, not infrequently. There are countless documented examples of this. So that aspect of Miss Radcliffe’s theory isn’t that far-fetched.”
Arthur glanced at him, his brow furrowed in thought. “All right. But… Miss de Vere and Miss Singh? Have youmetthem?”
“They don’t strike me as likely suspects,” Lexington admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “But I suppose we can’t discount them.”
“And how do you propose to test this theory?” Arthur asked. “Stroll up to one of the Murder Tourists and inform them that you’ve got a cunning plan for a bit of light homicide, and would they be interested in joining you? And oh, by the way, do they happen to have committed anyotherhomicides recently, as well?”
Georgie sighed. “No, I suppose not. It does strike me that we don’t know very much about them, though, for how often they’re lurking around.” She glanced around the table, and her gaze alighted on Sebastian, sitting directly next to her and currently smiling flirtatiously at a group of middle-aged women who were gossiping happily over a late lunch.
“What?” he asked, lowering his glass.
“Of course,” she murmured. “It should have occurred to me at once.”
“What should have?” There was a note of faint alarm creeping into his voice.
Georgie reached out and grasped his forearm. “I hope you’ve brought your most enticing jumper, old sport. Because it’s time for you to flirt with some potential criminals.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
They decided that the wooing of Murder Tourists was best done by romantic candlelight, and so the group split up for the afternoon—Lexington and Arthur departed, presumably to do their actual jobs, while Sebastian and Georgie decided to head back to Radcliffe Hall in the hope of procuring sustenance from Mrs. Fawcett.
As they walked down the high street—which at the moment was fairly quiet, most villagers being at home for lunch—Georgie suddenly stumbled over an uneven cobblestone. Before she could so much as extend an arm to break her fall, however, Sebastian reached out to steady her with a hand on her arm.
She glanced sideways at him as she straightened. “Thank you.”
He smiled easily at her, slipping his arm through hers. “Perilous places, these small villages.”
