Page 3 of Disturbing the Dead
“Yes, yes. Hugh. He may come.”
“I thought this was an exclusive party. You can just add a plus-four to your invitation?”
“I do as I wish,” she says. “I am Lady Annis Leslie.” She sips her tea and sets the cup down with a decisive click. “The only reason I have been invited is to add an air of delicious scandal to the proceedings. The notorious widowed countess.”
“Ah.”
“So I decided that if they want scandal…” She trails off with an elegant shrug.
“You’ll give them scandal,” I say. “By extending the invitation to your chemist sister, illegitimate brother, and their detective friend… along with the housemaid your brother insists on calling his assistant.”
Her lips curve in a smile. “Precisely.”
I sigh. “This sounds like a very bad idea.”
“All the best ideas are.”
I’m opening my mouth when the back door clicks open. I won’t say I’ve been listening for it. I won’t say I have to restrain myself from leaping up like an abandoned puppy hearing her family return. If any of that is true, I blame Annis and this endless game of écarté.
“Go to him,” Annis says with a sigh. Then her brows rise. “Oh, do not give me that look, child. The only person you fool is my brother, who is too endlessly distracted to notice.”
I don’t bother arguing. Let Annis have her fun. I perked up because both Isla and Gray are home, and I might discover what they were up to, which could be something exciting, like the start of a new case.
I walk with all due dignity from the drawing room and down the stairs to the ground level, where I can hear Isla’s voice. When my footsteps click closer, she calls, “Mallory?”
“Coming.”
I see Isla first. She’s a handsome thirty-four-year-old woman, about a half foot taller than me, with pale skin, freckles, and copper curls. Gray is behind her. Three years younger than his sister, roughly six feet, broad-shouldered, with a square jaw, brown skin and eyes, and wavy dark hair already breaking free of its pomade.
They are in the rear foyer, removing winter outerwear.
Isla smiles. “Mallory. We have brought you a present.”
She gestures, and only then do I notice the young woman nearly shrunk into the shadows. She is about eighteen, tiny and fine-boned, wearing a brown dress that makes her resemble a wren. A wren ready to take flight at the first opportunity.
“Lorna?” Isla says. “This is Mallory. It is her job you will be taking over as our housemaid.”
“Another one?” says a voice. I glance up to see Annis descending the stairs.
“I thought I was choosing a maid for you,” Annis says.
“No, dear Annis.” Isla folds her gloves with care. “You offered to do so, and we told you no. Absolutely, unreservedly no. We have very specific requirements—”
“Which I understand perfectly, having grown up in this house. What is this? The fourth girl you’ve hired to take Mallory’s place?”
“Third.”
“Was there not another one, in September, who lasted barely a half day before—”
“Fine. Fourth.”
“In as many months.” Annis peers at the girl and says, “No, she will not do.”
“Annis…” Gray says.
“You wish to consider her? I strongly advise against it, but if you insist, I will conduct the interview.”
“Annis,” Isla says with exasperation. “We have already hired—”
