Page 4 of Murder at the Dinner Party
He doffed his hat as he passed me. “Goodnight, Cousin. Don’t wait up for me.”
“I won’t. Don’t lose what you can’t afford.”
He paused on the step below me and gave me quite a serious look. “I no longer gamble, you know that.”
I felt a twinge of guilt for suggesting that he’d not learned his lesson after a recent dreadful experience. “In that case, I’d like to change my advice to don’t do anything foolish.”
“I suspect your idea of what’s foolish differs from mine.” He tossed his hat in the air and caught it by the brim, then settled it on his head in one smooth move. “If I promise not to do anything illegal, will that suffice?”
“It’ll have to do, I suppose, although try to steer clear of doing anything where Flossy or I have to provide an alibi when your father asks where you’ve been.”
“All right, but if you do find yourself in that predicament, try to think of something more convincing than ‘He went to the museum.’ Just because it worked when you used to sneak out to investigate with Armitage doesn’t mean it works for the likes of me. It’s quite unbelievable.” He kissed my cheek. “Don’t look so annoyed with me, Cleo. Or are you annoyed that I mentioned Armitage? I noticed you two haven’t seen each other the last two weeks, which is a good thing, in my opinion. Not that I dislike the fellow, just that I dislike him for you.”
I crossed my arms. “Don’t you have opera singers to annoy?”
“A dancer, actually, and she finds me irresistibly charming.”
Something he’d said finally sank in. I frowned. “How do you know I haven’t seen Harry for two weeks? Have you been following me?”
He waved and trotted down the steps. “Must dash.”
“Floyd!”
He was halfway across the foyer when he turned around and tossed me a grin. “Goodnight, Cousin.” He clapped the night porter on the shoulder as he opened the door for Floyd.
With a sigh, I continued up the steps. I suspected Floyd guessed I hadn’t seen Harry for two weeks based on the simple fact that I hadn’t investigated a crime in that time. He wasn’t following me or spying on me. He didn’t get up early enough to see me leave the hotel. It would seem he still didn’t believe me when I said I had no interest in Harry, however. It was quite irritating, but then my cousin was an irritating person. Loveable, sometimes, but most definitely irritating.
* * *
Harmony usually greetedme with a hearty “Good morning” when I let her into my suite with the breakfast tray each day, but not this morning. “Why did Mrs. Short ask me to give you this?” She nodded at the folded piece of paper on the tray.
I removed it and read the name and address while she carried the tray through to my sitting room. “She accosted me after dinner last night. Her sister wants to employ me to investigate a murder that she believes occurred at the house where she works.” I passed her the note.
She studied the address before handing it back. “That’s not far from here.”
“Do you know the family?” I checked the piece of paper. “Sir Ian and Lady Campbell?”
“No. If they have a London house, it’s unlikely they’ve stayed here.”
I would ask my aunt later. She had a wealth of knowledge when it came to the upper-class families of London.
Harmony removed the domed lid on the platter to reveal scrambled eggs arranged into a heart shape. She quickly messed it up with a fork.
“Victor’s working the breakfast shift?” I asked.
“He needs to be more careful. Someone could see that and think he’s sendingyoua message.” She sounded cross, but the tilt of her lips gave away her true feelings. She and Victor were getting onverywell lately. “Tell me what you know about the butler’s death.”
I did, but it only took a few moments. There was so little to tell. “I’ll call on Mrs. Short’s sister after breakfast and see what more I can learn.”
Harmony placed toast on her plate and scooped scrambled egg onto it. “Well?” she asked as she stabbed a rasher of bacon with her fork.
I picked up the coffee pot but didn’t pour. I blinked at her. “Well, what?”
“How was last night’s party?”
“Oh. That. It had the potential to be a disaster, actually, but I don’t think any of the guests noticed.”
She lowered the bacon to her plate. “I heard about the kitchen fire and the lights going out.”
