Page 34 of Evil at the Essex House
“Of course. We’ll be sure to give you a ring.”
“Much obliged, Darling. Sweet dreams. Kit?” His voice became businesslike. “A word?”
“Of course, Crispin.”
He nudged me out of the box. I went, but grudgingly, and only because it was obvious that nothing more would be said until I was out of range of hearing.
ChapterEight
I positionedmyself with my back against the door and my ears peeled, of course. But I might as well not have bothered.
Oh, I could hear what was said. Or I could hear Christopher’s end of the conversation perfectly well. He just didn’t say anything interesting. It was all a list of “Yes,” and “No,” and “Not yet,” and “Of course,” and “I know that,” and “Don’t be stupid,” and finally, “You, too. Good night, Crispin.”
I stepped away from the door to the box to let Christopher out. He smirked. “One of these days, that curiosity is going to be the death of you, Pippa.”
“But not today,” I said. “You didn’t say anything worth killing someone over.”
“Did you think I would?”
He took my arm and tugged me back down the pavement towards the Essex House.
“I thought you might,” I told him as we walked. “He clearly didn’t want to say whatever it was where I could hear it. So I thought it might be something I’d want to hear.”
“Would it please you to hear that he wondered whether we had heard from Natterdorff again since yesterday?”
“No,” I said with a scowl. “Not when we haven’t. It would have pleased me a lot more to be able to tell him that we had.”
“Of course it would.” He squeezed my arm companionably. “I’m sure the dashingGrafwill be back in touch in a day or two, Pippa. As soon as he gets past Crispin snatching you out from under his nose yesterday. He’ll want to try again, I’m sure.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Do you doubt it?” He squinted at me. “You said you got on well, didn’t you?”
“I thought we did. Until St George showed up and nearly knee-capped me, and then tried to be rude to him.” And was put in his place.
“Then I’m sure you did,” Christopher said.
I wished I could be as sure. It hadn’t been my first time dining with a young man, of course, nor had it been my first time flirting with one. I had had the impression that things had progressed well, at least until the moment when the Hispano-Suiza rolled up behind me. But I was doubting myself now. It had been a full twenty-four hours, and I hadn’t heard from Wolfgang again. So perhaps I wasn’t the best judge of success in the field of supping with young men, and the date really hadn’t gone well. If he liked me, shouldn’t he have contacted us by now?
Then again, Christopher was a young man, and while he had very little experience wining and dining the fairer sex, he probably knew the proper etiquette for the beginnings of courtship. If he told me that Wolfgang would be in touch, perhaps I should trust that he knew whereof he spoke.
I shook my head. “No matter. Is that all St George wanted? To find out whether we had heard from Wolfgang?”
“That was the gist of it,” Christopher confirmed.
“Onwards, then. He drove Florence to the Strand but left her off a couple of blocks from the Savoy last night.”
Christopher nodded. “That’s what he said.”
I squinted at him. “Do you have reason to think it wasn’t what he did?”
He gave me a glance back. “Of course not. If that’s what he said he did, I’m certain it’s exactly what he did. And she might have had reasons of her own for why she didn’t want to arrive at the Savoy in his company. All Americans are puritans, aren’t they?”
“I’m fairly certain that was only true several hundred years ago,” I said, “although I’ll admit that the Schlomskys Senior did seem a bit set in their ways. They thought Flossie was a teetotaler, can you imagine?”
“If that’s the case,” Christopher said, “it would certainly explain why she wouldn’t want to turn up with Crispin. His reputation has probably preceded him to the other side of the Atlantic, too, don’t you think?”
Perhaps it had. Or if not, all the Schlomskys would have had to have done, was peek at an old copy of theTatleror theDaily Yellsince they arrived here, and all would have been made clear.
