“I like you.”

“Yeah, well, good night, everyone. Sleep well. See you soon.”

“I don’t like him,” Morton said as we entered the hotel.

“I do,” said Seth.

I said, “I’m not sure whether I like him or not, but I have a feeling I’m going to learn a lot more from him before this little London escapade is over.”

I had trouble falling asleep after returning from the evening with Seth, Morton, and Jimmy Biggers, and turned to Gin and Daggers, which I read for nearly two hours before drifting off.

I wasn’t reading for pleasure this time; my first read had provided that. This time I concentrated on characters and events that might possibly link up with people and episodes from Jason Harris’s life. It was an impossible task. How could I know whether the name given to a certain character had relevance where Jason was concerned? I also knew that if Jason had included real names, it would have violated a steadfast principle of Marjorie Ainsworth’s-that real names never be used in any novel. Some authors will inadvertently, or deliberately, name characters after people they know; either because the name comes easily to them, or because they wish to give a friend or family member a special treat while reading the book. Not Marjorie. She considered that practice to be patently amateurish, and it didn’t take much to get her up on her soapbox on the subject.

My meeting with Jason’s stepbrother, David Simpson, had been entirely too cursory, and I decided to contact him again. Had Simpson read either the manuscript or the finished book? If so, he probably had some inkling as to which references Jason used to establish his authorship-provided he had lent a creative hand to it. I still had my doubts about that, although I had to admit to myself that after reading a major portion of Gin and Daggers for the second time, I could certainly discern a change from the Marjorie Ainsworth writing style with which I was so familiar. Yes, it was possible that another hand had played a part in writing the book. That didn’t mean, however, that it was Jason Harris’s.

I thought about Marjorie’s failing health over the past few years, and how she had dictated a great deal of her correspondence to her niece, Jane. I’d once tried dictating one of my own novels and had found the process excruciating. Not only that, what came out in the transcription of the tapes was a markedly different style from when I sat at my trusty typewriter and pecked away word after word, sentence after sentence. I did, of course, heavily edit the transcript of the dictation, which brought the finished manuscript into line with my hunt-and-peck style. Even then there was some change. Could this explain the difference in Gin and Daggers? Perhaps. The only person who might provide insight would be Jane Portelaine, and based upon my brief exchange with her at the cemetery, I doubted whether she would welcome such a conversation with me. But she had suggested I call her if I wished to spend time at Ainsworth Manor before returning to Cabot Cove, and I intended to take her up on it.

My first thought upon awakening the next morning was Maria Giacona. Was Jimmy Biggers telling the truth about her life as an exotic dancer and her affair with Jason’s stepbrother? I suspected he had been truthful, and it perplexed me. I wanted to call Maria, but I had no idea where to reach her. She’d never given me an address or telephone number, aside from Jason’s flat, and I doubted whether she would be staying there. But on the chance that she might, I went to the London telephone directory looking for a Jason Harris. No listing; he had either not had a telephone or had requested he be excluded from the book.

I made my usual list of what I intended to accomplish that day: call on David Simpson, and stop by Jason’s flat in the hope that I might catch Maria there.

I received a call after breakfast from Marjorie Ainsworth’s solicitor, a huffy man named Chester Gould-Brayton, who spoke in slow, sonorous tones. He said, “Mrs. Fletcher, it occurred to me that you might wish to be present at the formal reading of Ms. Ainsworth’s last will and testament.”

“I’d wondered whether I’d be invited, considering I’ve been included in it,” I said, “but I certainly wouldn’t be offended if I weren’t. I don’t intend to accept whatever money she’s left me. I prefer to donate it to the study center that I understand is to be established with the majority of the estate.”

“That, of course, is your decision, Mrs. Fletcher, although I have known more than one person who took such an altruistic stance in the beginning, then succumbed to the temptation of large money.”

I was offended at his comment and told him so.

“As you wish, Mrs. Fletcher. The reading will be at four this afternoon in my office.” He gave me the address.

The ISMW panel at which the relative merits of large cities versus small towns as settings for murder mysteries was discussed turned out to be, in my estimation, a monumental bore. The others on the panel tried to outprecious one another, as a certain ilk of writer is prone to do, and I found myself with little to offer. I was delighted when it ended and I could get on with the rest of my day. I was free until a dinner that night sponsored by Marjorie’s British publisher, Archibald Semple. I was glad I’d been able to have dinner with Seth and Morton the previous night because I didn’t see another evening together for the rest of the week.

I had a half-dozen invitations for lunch that day but politely declined all of them. Seth and Morton had left a message that they were off to do some sightseeing and shopping. I knew Seth was eager to explore the possibility of having a suit made on Savile Row. Once he saw the prices, however, I had a suspicion he would shelve the idea in favor of off-the-rack selections back in Bangor. Morton’s hobby was collecting toy soldiers, and he’d heard about a shop called Under Two Flags that specialized in English and Scottish regiments. That was obviously on their agenda, too. It was good they were entertaining themselves because I’d decided that I would indeed attend the reading of Marjorie’s will after taking care of the two other items on my list.

The Liverpool Street Station area was far less ominous in broad daylight. I made a point of walking up the street on which I’d been mugged and stopping on the spot where the young man had stepped out from behind the packing crates. I would probably always stop there on subsequent visits to London. “It happened right here,” I would tell whomever I was with, increasing my attacker’s height each time, and embellishing my fearless defense of my purse.

I entered Jason’s building and went upstairs. The black door to his flat was locked. I looked through the open door into the flat across the tiny landing, and assumed it was where the man lived who had come to the door the night I was in Jason’s flat with Maria. I peered inside. Aside from a few scattered pieces of furniture, it seemed to be uninhabited.

“ ’Ere now, what might you be lookin’ for?” a shrill female voice said from the landing below.

I looked down the stairs and saw an old woman with frizzy hair and thick glasses, wearing a housedress and carpet slippers. “I was looking for…” I couldn’t say Jason Harris. “I was looking for the young lady who was a friend of Mr. Harris.”

“ ’Aven’t seen that bint since ’e got ’is throat slit. Who are you?”

“A friend of the family. The man who lives across the hall. I met him the other night and-”

“God blind me, talkin’ about the likes of him. The bugger scarpered out in the middle of the night, owes me rent, too, he does.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said, coming down a few steps. “What was his name?”

“Maroney, if you believe ‘im. Probably got ’imself a dozen of ‘em. Blokes like ’im usually do. You a family friend of ‘is, too? Maybe you’d like to pay up for ’im.”