Island of the Mad by Laurie R. King

Author:Laurie R. King
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2018-06-12T00:00:00+00:00

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Holmes had not appeared, which might mean he was having trouble ingratiating himself with the Cole Porters. Cheered at his failure, I tripped through the hotel and across the promenade to the vaporetto stop, piling on board with an assortment of tired workers headed home and excited partygoers headed for the bright lights. Night was fast approaching, and we grabbed for hand-holds as the waves of another boat jostled us up and down. I smiled at the girl standing almost on my toes, who looked fourteen beneath the paint of a thirty-year-old. I firmed up my grasp, checked that the bag was still swinging from my wrist, and looked out at the busy water. A similar vessel approached, headed towards the city proper, this one filled with comprehensively burnt beach-goers, tired workers headed home to supper, a trio of brightly-dressed girls, and by way of grim contrast, two men in the unrelieved black of the Milizia Nazionale, their wide faces betraying how overheated they—

I lunged forward so hard I nearly sent the painted child overboard, elbowing people aside, forcing my way to the vaporetto’s railing to lean out over the passing waves, trying to see…

But I was too late. If I’d jumped over and swum to shore in the other steamer’s wake, I would still have been too late.

It couldn’t have been he—merely a trick of waning light on a half-seen face, a silly consequence of my preoccupied mind. I apologised to my fellow passengers, settled my wrap, tugged at my lacy gloves. Impossible.

In any event, what would he be doing here—and of all things, dressed as a Blackshirt? It was a different man. A man who just happened to resemble Edward, Eighth Marquess of Selwick. Ronnie’s uncle, Vivian’s brother.

Must have been.

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