The Chocolatier's Wife (61 page)

She
found
that
Eric
Lavoussier,
when
she
finally arrived
and
was ushered
in
to
see
him,
was
an
extraordinarily
handsome
man.
Handsome enough
that
when
Ta
s
min was
brought
in
to
see
him
she
stopped abruptly
before
she
allowed
herself
to
be
led
to
the
chair. Eerily
blue
eyes, like
William’s,
she
thought,
though
she
supposed
that
everything
would remind
her of William
now.

“Herb
Lady Bey.”
He
bowed,
and
she
was
stopped
again,
but
managed to throw herself into a
short curtsey.

“I
keep
dismaying
you,”
he
teased
with
a
kind smile.
“Please,
will
you have
a
seat? And
some tea?”

“No,
this
is
just
the
first
time
since
I
came
here
that
I
have
heard
myself called
by
my
title,
though,
it
is
Herb
Mistress,
I
fear. I
gave
up
the
title
of lady when I
left the university.”

“Ah.
I
am
sorry, for
I
know that
is
not
all
you
gave
up
to
come
here.
I must
say,
I
laud
your
efforts.
When
I
heard
what
you
had
done,
I
told
myself that
I
must
make
your
acquaintance,
for
you
must
be
an
extraordinary creature.”

Tasmin’s
ear
for
compliments
always
turned
suspicious
when
they
were ladled
on
by
a
man
she’d
never
met,
so
her
smile
was
a
little
less
giddy
when she
accepted
the
tea.
“I
am
merely
a
woman,
sir,
who
wishes
to
do
what
is proper and
best.”

“Coming
down
from
the
far
north to
help
a
man
you
have
never previously
met
...
unless
you
broke
that
rule,
as
well?”
His
teasing
lilt
spoke of
fondness,
as
if
he
liked
the
idea
of
her
breaking that
rule,
that
it
would be just like her.

She shook
her head and
he continued, “Ah,
well. But still, your journey here
does
not
speak
much
of
propriety.
Why, you
had
people
speaking
of you
immediately
by
the
very
mode
you
entered
our
town. As
if
the
wind itself had swept you in,
they say.”

She
winced.
That certainly
had
been
a
misjudgment
on
her
part, one she
should
never have
allowed.
“A
trick
of
the
wind, perhaps.
Certainly nothing I
had planned.”

“Yet,
here
you
are, and with
nothing
to
show
for
it.”
He
sipped
his
tea. “Your inve
s
tigations have
yielded nothing thus far?”

“Investigations, sir?
But,
if
you
speak
of
the
murder
in
which
my intended
was
thought
to
be
involved,
have
you
not
caught
the
killer,
so
that my innocent fiancé
and I may continue with our lives in peace?”

“Have
you
met
Franny
Harker?”
Again,
Tasmin
shook
her
head
to
allow him
to
co
n
tinue.
“Then
you
must.
You
will
see
a
creature
incapable
of
such a
foul deed.”

“But
poison
is
most
often
a
woman’s crime,
is
it
not?
Men
usually
like things more
certain.
More sanguine.”

“Still, she did not commit the murder.”

“An
d
yo
u
kno
w
that
?
Fo
r
certain?
”
O
f
cours
e
yo
u
do
,
becaus
e
you ar
e
th
e
mu
r
derer
,
no
t
tha
t
I
a
m
foolis
h
enoug
h
t
o
pu
t
tongu
e
t
o
suc
h
a
though
t
i
n
you
r
lai
r
.
“
I
a
m
surprise
d
tha
t
wit
h
yo
u
a
s
he
r
champio
n
she i
s
stil
l
behin
d
bars.
”

“Nothing
is
ever
certain, is
it,
Herb
Mistress
Bey?”
His
eyes
were
cold. Was
he b
e
ing forced to keep Franny
Harker
in
prison?
Why?

“Well.
With
such
surety,
you
must
still
harbor some
suspicion
of
my husband.
What
motive could he have
for
committing such a
crime?”

He
gave
her
a
triumphant
smile
and she
realized
that
he
had
been waiting for
this moment.

He
threw
a
folded
parchment
onto
the
table.
She
unfolded
it.
It
was a
letter
to
William from
the
Bishop, stating
his
intention
to
repossess
the shop.
Some
of
it
wasn’t
quite
news,
the
accounting
flaws that
Andrew
had found
would
have
been
a
cause
for
some
trouble
if
anyone
had
checked,
but the
letter
said
that
William had
defaulted
completely,
and
that
the
Bishop was
willing
to
discuss
the
matter
for frien
d
ship’s
sake,
otherwise
he
would take back
the store.

She
was
surprised
that
it
wasn’t
from
a
l
awyer,
and
wondered
if,
indeed, it was from
the Bishop,
or
just something written to trick
her.

He
continued. “Your
husband
was
wise
in his
choice
of
place
to
set
up shop.
It
is
a
well
known and
popular
street
for
shopping,
good
frontage, even a
nice set of rooms
to live in.”

“He can
certainly prove that he paid honestly for
it.”

“Can
he?
I
do
hope
so.
He’s
had
so
many
difficulties
already;
I
should
hate to see him
encounter even more.”