Page 88 of Garden of Lies

“Cobb saw her as competition?”

“In a small way.” Slater opened the door at the top of the stairs. “But Cobb’s real problem is Fulbrook. I can see so much more of the pattern now. And it’s all because of you.”

“Me or the exercise?” she asked very politely.

“You.”

At her bedroom door he stopped long enough to hoist her off her feet and gave her another jubilant kiss.

He set her back down just as abruptly and went down the hall, heading for his own room.

“By morning, I should have this mostly sorted out,” he said over his shoulder.

“How very nice for you, sir. Perhaps you would be so good as to reveal your deductions to those of us who are still muddling through the fog.”

But she was speaking to an empty hallway. Slater had vanished into the bedroom.

She shook her head, smiled to herself and started to go into her own room. The door on the other side of the hall opened.

“Oh, there you are, dear,” Lilly said. She sounded much too cheerful. “I thought I heard someone up and about. Everything all right?”

“Everything is fine.” Ursula moved through the doorway of her bedroom and turned to look at Lilly. “You can go back to sleep.”

Lilly smiled a very satisfied smile. “You’re good for him, you know.”

“Am I?”

“Yes, indeed. He is a changed man these days and it’s all because of you.”

“I am, of course, delighted to know that I am useful.”

Lilly blinked, taken aback. “Now, dear, I never meant—”

“The question I must ask myself is whether or not Mr. Roxton is good for me.”

She closed the door before Lilly could say another word. Halfway back to her bed she turned around and went back to the door. Very deliberately she turned the key in the lock.

If Slater needed any more inspiration before morning he would have to find it elsewhere.

She snuggled into bed, pleasantly exhausted. Her last thought before drifting off to sleep was that one question about Slater Roxton had certainly been answered. He did, indeed, practice exotic sexual rituals on unsuspecting females in his basement.

—

SHORTLYBEFOREDAWNshe thought she heard the faint sound of someone trying the doorknob. She waited to see if Slater would knock when he discovered that the door was locked. But there was only silence out in the hall.

She lay awake for a time, telling herself that she had done the right thing by locking the door. If she was to continue in the affair with Slater, it was important for him to realize that she was not merely a convenience or an aid to creative thinking.

Unfortunately, the small victory was somewhat obscured by the weight of regret.

FORTY-TWO

Itold you I believe that Cobb is intent on creating a monopoly to control the drug,” Slater said. “Furthermore, I’m sure he plans to operate his business from New York, not London. And he doesn’t want any competition on this side of the Atlantic.”

They were gathered at the breakfast table. Lilly reigned at one end, nibbling delicately on a piece of kippered salmon. Slater sat at the other end, plowing through an enormous mound of eggs and toast while he explained his conclusions. Ursula, seated in the middle, thought he looked remarkably vigorous for a man who could not have gotten more than a few hours of sleep. There was nothing wrong with his appetite, either.

He had said nothing about the locked door of her bedroom. If he had been disappointed, he certainly concealed the fact well. She found his enthusiasm and energy extremely irritating.

“You say you think Lady Fulbrook intends to take some specimens of the ambrosia plant when she runs off to New York with Cobb?” Lilly asked.