THIRTY-FOUR
I think this through as we walk. Isla obviously has experience with people being lost in thought—both her brother and herself, I expect—and she recognizes the signs and leaves me to it.
“May I ask about Simon?” I say as we cut through Parliament Square. “Since you’ve been back from holidays, has he seemed any different to you?”
“Different?”
“Is he acting oddly? I’ve spoken to him a few times. He seems to be friends with Catriona.”
“He is.”
“More than friends, I think, which is awkward.”
Her brows crease. “More than friends, how?”
“Romantically involved, maybe? Or just fooling around together now and then. Friends with benefits, Victorian-style.”
I expect her to laugh at the term, but she frowns at me. “Simon?”
“Yes. That isn’t the impression you got? They must have hidden it. I guess they would. Premarital sex is verboten here, right?”
“Supposedly, but liaisons between grooms and maids are common. They would hardly flaunt it, but I very sincerely doubt there was any entanglement. Not with Simon.”
I thought she’d been going to say Catriona had other romantic interests,which I know she did. When she says Simon instead, that pulls me up short.
“Is he gay?” I ask.
Her brow furrows more. “He is quite a cheerful lad.”
“Wrong word. Queer?”
“Odd? No, not really.”
“Third time’s the charm. Homosexual?”
That has her flushing in a way “premarital sex” didn’t. She casts a quick glance around and lowers her voice as she steers me away from others. “I presume that is more acceptable in your world, and I am glad to hear it.”
I consider. “Has Oscar Wilde gone to trial yet?”
“Oscar who?”
“That answers my question. He’s one of the most famous writers of the Victorian era and another of my faves. When he starts writing, you should read his books and check out his plays. He’ll be tried and convicted of indecency, though. For homosexuality.”
She sighs. “And that is still in our future. Lovely. As for Simon…” She glances over. “Is this important?”
“Anything you can tell me about him is important.”
She says nothing, and we’ve gone clear across to High Street before she speaks again. “I am refraining from the obvious reaction, which is to exclaim that you cannot possibly suspect Simon of these murders based on something as mildly concerning as thinking you saw him following us.”
“Ididsee him following us.”
“Still, I presume there’s more, and it’s connected to the things you are avoiding telling me. I hope you are not doing so out of any consideration for my sensibilities. I get quite enough of that from Hugh. A few childhood incidents, and I am forever branded faint of heart.”
She walks a few more steps before continuing, “Perhaps the last was well past childhood, but it was entirely Duncan’s fault. One does not expect to step into one’s place of family business and see one’s brother playing with a decapitated head.”
“Playing?”
She huffs. “Examining it. But he seemed to be talking to it, and I did not realize Hugh was also in the room, and so it gave me a start.”