She rolled her eyes. “Easy.”
Theodore muttered to the effect that he wanted nothing to do with my antics and wouldn’t be responsible for the consequences of my rash behavior. I understood his concerns and assured him that I would use this fake evidence to provoke a confession. I wouldn’t use it to trap an innocent person.
He didn’t look relieved. “I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.”
I didn’t love it either. But even less did I want to see a guilty person go unpunished.
I told Hester exactly what I wanted her to do, and Carlos volunteered to be her helper, which ensured that the job would get done.
The next thing I had to do was get Miles on board with a plan that was only just beginning to form in my head.
Rafe had been watching me. “Lucy? What are you plotting?”
He knew me far too well. “It might not work, but I have an idea.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
I almost beamed at him. After Theodore telling me off for concocting evidence, it was so nice to have someone be completely supportive. I nodded. “As a matter of fact, there is.” I told him what I wanted him to do.
I felt as excited as if I’d nailed a new spell. Better, in fact, because if I was right, I’d used deductive reasoning and not magic to find the answer and hopefully catch a killer.
Chapter 19
The next day, I caught up with Miles. He looked pleased to see me but preoccupied. However, I caught his full attention when I announced, “I have an amateur acting gig for you.”
“You’re a theater director now? What happened to your knitting shop?”
“Very funny. No. This is a one-night-only performance. But it will be a very important one. I want you to play a part. My intent is to provoke a confession from the person who killed Pamela.”
He looked astonished. “You know who killed her?”
“I think so.”
“Who is it?”
I shook my head. “The thing is, we don’t have enough evidence. I want you to enact a part, intended to provoke a scene that will hopefully lead to unveiling the murderer.”
“I’ve always wanted to play Hamlet,” he said, striking a pose.
“Hamlet?”
“Lucy, you sorely lack a classical education. At the center of Hamlet, there’s a play within the play, where Hamlet has a play put on specially to mimic his uncle’s murder of his father.”
Whatever worked to get Miles on board. “Okay. You can be Hamlet.” I looked at him sideways. “But no iambic pentameter.”
He laughed at me. “I promise.”
Then I told him everything he had to do. When I left, he looked more cheerful than I’d seen him in ages. That guy really needed to get back on stage.
Next I had to get Detective Inspector Ian Chisholm on board. I knew this was going to be the most difficult part of my plan. However, Ian had known me long enough that I thought he’d come to trust me, at least to a certain extent. The thing was, as a bona fide police detective, he was very limited in what he could do. I didn’t even tell him the way I was manufacturing evidence because I knew that would be the end of any cooperation from him or his department. So I merely said that I had an idea and I wanted to bring everybody back together in that same house and see if we could get to the bottom of what had really happened.
“I’ve known you a long time now, Lucy. When you get that tone in your voice, I have learned to distrust it.”
He wasn’t a detective for nothing. “I know. But have I ever led you astray?”
He made a funny noise. “All the time.” He didn’t expand on what he meant, and I didn’t push.
“Anyway,” I said breezily, “if you could come to the manor at seven o’clock tomorrow night, I think it would be worth your while.”
“This would be unofficially, of course.”
“Of course. But if you had some officers in the area, that might be very useful.”
There was a long pause when I wondered how I’d ever come up with a plan B when I barely had a plan A, but finally he agreed.
Okay, now I had all my players. The one thing I didn’t have yet was the cooperation of Hugo Percival Brown and his family. Naturally, I hadn’t told anyone that yet. This was where Rafe came in.
Some things are just better done face-to-face. I’m a big fan of phones and texts and instant messaging, but when I need someone to do something, and it’s a little bit out there, I’ve always found that meeting face-to-face is the best. Besides, I liked being with Rafe.
The shop was just closing when he came in. I knew before he entered when Nyx, who’d been sound asleep in my front window, curled up in adorable repose in a basket of multicolored wools, suddenly raised her head and her eyes opened wide, as though a particularly succulent mouse had run in front of her. There was no mouse. It was Rafe coming down the street. Maybe I wasn’t a cat, but I definitely stood up and took notice too. I hastened away from the window before he could see me. Nyx had no such qualms. She was out of her basket, stretching her back and grooming herself before he arrived.
The door opened, and the cheerful chimes sent out their song of welcome. Before I could reach him, Nyx meowed, and he immediately headed to the front window and scooped her up. She curled herself against his chest and looked at me through her green-gold eyes as though to say, “Ha. He definitely likes me the best.”
“Thanks for coming by,” I told him.
“I’m intrigued, Lucy. You’re up to something, and for once, I don’t know what it
