“Miss?” the man asked with concern. “Are you all right?”
“I—Yes,” Inez said, suddenly flustered. “I was just looking for the ladies’ room.” They tended to be called toilets here in England, but even after eight years, Inez couldn’t bring herself to say that when looking for a restroom. She preferred the polite euphemism to the literal word.
“Oh, they’re right over here.” He led her to the right and Inez smiled and thanked him when she spotted the recessed sign reading “Toilets.” She went into the ladies’ room, finding herself in a small room with a booth in the corner and a sink to her left. With the number of patrons in the place, Inez wasn’t surprised to find she had to wait and was just glad there weren’t a couple of women already waiting before her.
Moving to the sink, Inez peered into the mirror and scowled at her hair. Knowing there was no use trying to tame the wild curls, she reached into her purse for her lipstick. She’d bitten or eaten off the lipstick she’d put on earlier and that, at least, was something she could repair.
As she ran the color over her lips, Inez found her mind returning to the matter of the hotel suites at Claridge’s, but knew it was a waste of time even as she pondered it. She didn’t know the people involved well enough to know who the other three people might have been. Obviously it was someone connected to Christian Notte; family members or friends maybe.
Inez had barely had that thought when the hand holding the lipstick stopped moving. What if the other three were Christian’s mother and her people? Her family or friends?
The thought had hardly crossed her mind before she gave a small shake of the head and finished with her lipstick. No. If Christian’s mother had been in the party then the case would have been over and Marguerite would have returned home.
Inez stilled as another thought struck her. Straightening, she peered blindly into the mirror as she considered that it might not have been his mother, but it could have been someone who could lead them to Christian’s mother. Marguerite might have found someone who was around at the time that he was born and who could lead them to the woman who gave him life. In which case, they may have come here, found his mother, and then…Then what?
If Julius was one of the ones who left the party when they left London, they might have felt it was necessary to meet back up with him after finding the woman to ensure they had the right one. In the normal course of events they could have just snapped a picture and sent it to him by cell phone or email to have him confirm or deny the woman’s identity, but this wasn’t a normal case. From the sounds of it, the father didn’t want Christian to find his mother. He might make things difficult. They might have to fly back to Italy or wherever he was and see his reaction to the woman to know if they had the right one. If so, they might not even be here in York anymore.#p#分页标题#e#
On the other hand, Inez admitted, they may have found the woman and still be here for some reason. Their being in Italy was a slim chance, especially since Bastien had called the day before and was told they were in England. Still, they could have flown home since then and a phone call only took a couple of moments. There was no harm in checking was there?
The door opened beside her, and Inez glanced toward it, hoping it wasn’t someone who would try to hop in line before her when the woman in the booth finally came out. She really had to go.
Fortunately, it was a man and he was obviously in the wrong bathroom. Inez offered a wryly sympathetic look as she waited for the tall, fair-haired man to realize his mistake, offer embarrassed apologies, and back out. But he wasn’t doing that. He was staring straight at her with grim determination and continuing into the room.
Thirteen
Having grown up in a house with two women, Thomas knew how long they could take in the bathroom, so he moved to a table holding a stack of magazines and newspapers, searching for something to read while he waited for Inez. He’d just settled on the local newspaper, when he saw her returning. Eyebrows rising at how quick she’d been, he dropped the newspaper and headed back to the table.
Her head was bowed and she was peering down into her cup when he sat down. When she continued to sit like that, he frowned with concern. “Is everything all right?”
Inez glanced up, a questioning smile curving her lips. “Yes, of course. Why?”
Thomas smiled in return, and shook his head. “I just wondered.”
She smiled and then took her last bite of muffin, and drank down the last of her latte. Thomas followed suit and then raised his eyebrows. “Ready to go?”