Page 67 of Murder at the Debutante Ballby

“It does.”

He didn’t seem like he’d just heard about the incident for the first time. There wasn’t even so much as a ripple of his eyebrow in surprise. He must have already heard the details from the companion he met last night.

Harry drained his cup and indicated mine. “Finish up and we’ll pay a call on Livingstone.”

“I already have.”

This time his brows arched. “Without me?”

“You weren’t in yet, remember?”

He scowled. “You know where I live. You could have found me there.”

“And interrupt your…sleep?”

His scowl deepened.

My hesitation might have sounded like suggestive teasing, but I was genuinely interested in whether he’d taken a woman back to his flat after the ball. Interested and somewhat jealous, if I was being honest.

I shook off the thought. Jealousy was ugly at the best of times. It was even uglier when I’d purposely placed physical and emotional distance between us. I had no right to be jealous.

I focused on the investigation and told him about Mr. Livingstone’s alibi. “The fellow met Livingstone outside the Bunburys’ library. They had some important matters to attend to. Livingstone claims the gentleman would have seen McDonald alive then. I think we should confirm with him.”

He nodded. “Who is he?”

“Lord Cremorne.”

“Jonathon Hartly’s father?”

“You know him?”

“I know of him. Hartly is a regular at the hotel, and I made it my business to know everything about everyone, even if they didn’t stay with us.”

“Even though he was just my cousin’s friend?”

“He still expected the finest service. If Hartly wanted his shoes polished at midnight, I organized it. If he liked strawberries out of season and the kitchen didn’t have any, I rang all the nearby markets and restaurants in search of hothouse fruit. If he stayed overnight in a drunken state, I made sure his family were notified and a cab collected him in the morning.”

“That was kind of you.”

“Kindness had nothing to do with it. That’s what I was employed to do.”

Talk of him working as assistant manager for the hotel had me wondering what it would have been like if he was still employed there. The situation between us might be awkward now, but it would have been doubly so if he’d never been dismissed.

We paid Luigi and left the café. It wasn’t until we were climbing into an omnibus that Harry asked me why Mr. Livingstone met with Lord Cremorne at the ball.

“Apparently they were negotiating terms for the marriage between Amelia and Jonathon.”

He stopped. I stopped too when I realized. “Hartly is marrying?” he asked.

“Not anymore. I doubt it will go ahead, considering her reputation has been smeared. I’m sure Lord Cremorne would have put it in writing that she must be above reproach.”

He indicated spare seats near the back. “I thought he was pursuing you.”

“So did I, in his own dreadful way.”

His head titled to the side to look at me as he sat beside me. “Dreadful?”

I sighed. “He seems to think his title and wealth make him irresistible to someone without those things. It sometimes makes him unbearable to be around.”