Page 79 of The Lady Has a Past

Simon heard the receiver slam into the cradle on the other end of the line. The phone went dead.

Chapter 35

Simon came through the door of the suite just as the young man from room service finished setting up the breakfast Lyra had ordered.

“Oh, there you are, dear,” she said. “I hope you had a nice early-morning walk. This is Ted. He was just telling me there’s a rumor going around that the spa will be closed today. They say a body was found in the paraffin bath room. Can you imagine? It gives one cold chills just to think about it. The police have been summoned, of course.”

“I’m shocked.” Simon closed the door and glared at Ted. “Another accident, I suppose? Mrs. Cage had a very close call in the steam room yesterday. Obviously the spa is a dangerous place. I’ve forbidden my wife to take any more treatments there.”

Lyra shot him a sharp, quelling glare, but she decided to let theI’veforbiddenmy wifecomment go. Simon was staying in character, playing the part of an outraged husband.

“Mr. Billingsley, the owner of the hotel, and Madam Guppy arevery concerned,” Ted said quickly. “They have instructed the staff to assure the guests that it was an accident, but the spa has been closed while the police investigate.”

“Were you acquainted with the victim?” Simon asked. “Was it one of the guests?”

“No, sir. It was Miss Frampton, a treatment lady. But she did facials. No one knows why she would have gone into the paraffin bath room in the middle of the night. It’s very strange. The other treatment ladies are afraid to go back to work now.”

Lyra picked up the coffeepot and poured two cups. “Ted told me management is trying to keep things quiet but some of the staff think the death was the work of a madman. A fiend.”

“That’s right,” Ted said. He lowered his voice. “Sally, the treatment lady who sets up the paraffin bath every morning, is the one who found the body. She says Miss Frampton was in the tub and covered head to toe in paraffin. She looked like a wax statue, Sally said. They had to peel the stuff off her face to see who it was.”

“Poor Sally must be very upset,” Lyra remarked, not without genuine sympathy. The memory of Miss Frampton shrouded in wax would haunt her dreams for a long time to come; maybe for the rest of her life.

“Yes, ma’am,” Ted said. “It was a real shock to her nerves.”

Lyra shuddered and handed Ted a hefty tip. “A perfectly reasonable reaction, if you ask me. Thank you so much for the prompt service this morning, Ted. Mr. Cage and I appreciate it. We’re early risers, as you can see.”

“Anytime, ma’am.” Ted gave her a grateful smile and pocketed the money. “Call room service when you’re finished and I’ll pick up the tray.”

“I will do that,” Lyra assured him.

Ted crossed the room with a jaunty stride and let himself out into the hall. When he was gone Simon sat down at the table, removed the lidof a silver dish, and helped himself to a large portion of scrambled eggs. He shook his head, bemused.

“I can’t get over how you can get anyone to talk,” he said around a mouthful of eggs.

Lyra sat down, deliberately moving her body in a subtle, gliding twist that caused the silk dressing gown to swirl around her. She watched covertly, but as far as she could tell, Simon did not notice the glimpse of bare thigh that she had allowed to be revealed. He was too busy wolfing down the scrambled eggs and bacon and biscuits she had ordered for him.

She stifled a small sigh and reminded herself that he was working now, doing his job. Conducting an investigation. Clearly he had set aside all thoughts of the passionate interlude they had shared only a short time ago.

Or perhaps he was trying to forget the episode entirely.

That possibility cast a shadow over an otherwise lovely desert morning. She reminded herself that she had no right to be in good spirits anyway. A woman had been brutally murdered during the night and Raina was still missing. This was no time to be indulging romantic memories; no time to dream of a future with a man who was annoyed because she hadn’t met all of his requirements in a lover.

She put down her cup and buttered a bite of biscuit.

“I do now,” she announced.

Simon snapped off a piece of bacon with his teeth and chewed with the determination of a man who is worried about where his next meal will come from.

“What?” he said.

She popped the little chunk of buttered biscuit into her mouth, munched, swallowed, and then dabbed at her lips with her napkin. She smiled.

“Oh, nothing important,” she said. “I merely remarked that I nowmeet all the requirements you demand in a lover. Okay, I’m not a divorcée, but aside from that—”

Simon turned red. “This is not the time to discuss that.”

She raised her brows. “Our relationship? All right, we’ll save the chat for later. Back to business. You heard what Ted from room service said. The hotel management is going to try to pass off the murder of Miss Frampton as a dreadful accident.”

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