Lessons in Discovery (28 page)
we should use our eyes and ears to spy upon our fellow college
members? Well, don’t look so shocked. Wilson and Cohen are
very astute men and I wouldn’t for a moment put it past them to
want to gain access to inside information. And they’re not going to get it from the chaplain, are they?”
200
www.lindenbayromance.com
Coppersmith smirked then quickly hid it. “I think that a little
private investigation may have been the intended result. I’ve been trying to oblige them.” He looked exceedingly self-satisfied and Stewart could barely restrain himself from thumping him. Or
kissing him. Either would have done.
“I think that I should deliberately not ask you what you
mean by that, just to punish you.”
Coppersmith snorted, “I’d tell you anyway, irrespective of
whether you pretended not to want to be told. I know you rather
well, too.” Their eyes met briefly, then passed on to safer sights—
the reality of what had nearly happened the last two evenings was too raw between them. They had been so close to sharing their
affection and the repeated interruptions had led to awkwardness.
“I’ve been searching my memories of the past six years to find if there’s been anything at St. Bride’s that might relate to this
matter.”
“And is there something?” Stewart looked like an eager
hound that had just caught the merest hint of the scent.
“Nothing whatsoever.”
“Oh.” Jonty’s disappointment was displayed all over his
handsome face. He’d been sure that his brilliant friend was going to make some revelation that would easily lead to the solution of this case. He felt rather cheated.
“But that tells us something in itself, Dr. Stewart. It probably means that the culprit, assuming the police are right in believing that he is from within the college and I agree with them there,
must be a relative newcomer.” He fixed his friend with an
unconvincingly fierce gaze. “It’s not you, is it?”
Jonty looked rather shocked, not at the accusation but at the
fact that his friend had suddenly taken to making almost frivolous remarks.
Perhaps the last two evenings are having a positive
effect upon him
. Encouraged, he snorted and mustered a reply.
“Dr. Coppersmith, I’m one of the few people with an impeccable
www.lindenbayromance.com 201
alibi, having been in your company the whole evening. But I think that you’ve made a presumption too far in your deductions. You
might still be looking for someone who has been here a while;
people do suddenly change and manifest strange behavior,
perhaps as a result of some trauma or great upheaval in their lives.
You might do so, if I ever got the chance to kiss you properly.”
Orlando froze, eyeing the company as if worried they’d been
overheard. All must have seemed safe, so he hissed, “Watch what
you say, Stewart. There are too many eyes peering into the doings of St. Bride’s for you to risk the chance of our activities being too closely scrutinized.”
Jonty felt his hackles rising, “Didn’t seem to bother you last
night, Dr. Coppersmith, when it was all
may I kiss you, Jonty?
Dare say it would have been
may I come into your bed, Jonty?
if we hadn’t been interrupted.” The silence following this remark
was louder than gun-fire. Stewart realized, too late, far too late, that he’d said far too much. It was his own thoughts that had
turned to that small bed last night; he suspected Orlando hadn’t even let a carnal thought cross his mind. Not last night, not ever.
Coppersmith now sat unmoving, looking at his friend with
horror. Suddenly rising, he swept from the Senior Common
Room, his gown moving behind him like the great tail of some
large, angry, black dog. The fellows stared after him in
amazement, then exchanged knowing looks with one another.
Jonty guessed that his colleagues were discussing him and
his friend—
a quarrel, it had to happen one day with a man such
as Coppersmith, it’s a wonder that Stewart has prevented it
happening up to now
. He took a dignified departure but couldn’t return to his rooms as too many painful memories lay there, so
decided to take a turn about the town.
How could I have been so
idiotic?
202
www.lindenbayromance.com
This is a publication of
Linden Bay Romance
www.lindenbayromance.com 203