Page 19 of Her Majesty's Necromancer
"Andrew Buchanan is a malicious gossip who likes to cause trouble," Seth went on. "He rubs people the wrong way and has never worked a day in his life. He thinks women are there for his amusement."
"And you don't?" I asked.
"Of course not! I treat women like delicate flowers."
"Ripe for the pluckin'," Cook added with a chuckle.
Seth glared at him.
"Poor Lady H, being saddled with Andrew," I said. "Can she throw him out?"
"He can't afford to live elsewhere. Besides, I'd say Andrew is a small price to pay for what she gained through the marriage."
Lady Harcourt had been a common schoolmaster's daughter before she'd married Lord Harcourt. It was odd to think the beautiful, refined woman had begun life no better off than me. What different paths we'd taken. Mine had led me to the lowest rungs of society, while hers had raised her to the upper echelons. Yet I didn't envy her. Not anymore.
"I'm going to change," I told them. "I'll be back for soup."
I didn't get to my room, however. I knocked on Lincoln's door, and when he opened it, fixed him with a glare. He eyed me up and down, and I suddenly felt like a bedraggled rat that had crawled out of the sewers.
"Why didn't you tell me you learned where Jimmy and Pete lived?" I asked with more vehemence than I would have if I hadn't felt embarrassed by my appearance.
One of his severe black brows lifted. "How do you know the second man is named Pete?"
"Does that matter?"
"Yes."
"Perhaps Seth told me."
"He didn't know it."
I crossed my arms. "Gus?"
"He's not here." His eyes narrowed but that didn't stop me from receiving the full force of his icy glare. "You went to The Red Lion, didn't you?"
I swallowed. This wasn't how the conversation was meant to go. I wondered if it would be wise to try to run to the safety of my room or if I should battle it out. He would probably catch me before I reached the door, so I chose the latter. But I ought to have known better than try and win against Lincoln.
CHAPTER 4
"I did go to The Red Lion," I said, with as much defiance as I could muster in the face of his frostiness. "I was in the vicinity and thought I might be able to find out more information than you did. It seems you discovered more than you let on, however. I would have saved myself the bother if I'd known."
He grunted. "You're cold and wet. You should change before you catch a chill."
"I'm in more danger of catching a chill from your glare than I am from being wet."
His eyes narrowed. "I don't understand."
"Never mind. You're changing the subject. May I come in?"
"No."
I sighed. "The tavern keeper at The Red Lion told me you got into a fight with Jimmy and Pete, last night, over a game of dice. Did you follow them home after that?"
"I did. Questioning them proved futile. They refused to tell me what they were doing, why, or who they worked for."
"Are you sure they're working for someone?"
"They don't seem intelligent enough to know what to do with the bodies, so I think they are. Whoever it is must be paying them very well, because they told me nothing of use. That's why I followed them. Keeping watch will eventually give me the information I need to determine if their master is guilty of something supernatural or not."
