Little Black Book by Kate Carlisle

Author:Kate Carlisle [Carlisle, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2021-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

• • •

Stevie left a few minutes later and Derek and I began to put breakfast together. Claire, Alex, and Gabriel sat and drank coffee at the kitchen table while we set down a platter of pastries and a bowl filled with hard-boiled eggs, both courtesy of Alex. I cut up some strawberries and apples and arranged them on another platter with the leftover cheese. It wasn’t your typical massive English breakfast, but it worked for us.

While I was searching the drawers for serving utensils, I leaned up close to Derek. “I saw you going through Fish Face’s pockets. What did you find?”

“Some cash and coin,” he said, not bothering to lower his voice.

I frowned at him. “Wait. You didn’t take them, did you?”

Derek placed a butter dish and a small bowl of strawberry jam on the table. “I did. I pilfered a five-pound note and a 10p coin.”

His easygoing answer made me laugh. “But why?”

“I wanted to show them to Claire.”

“Oh yes,” Claire said, perking up. “I do want to see them.”

I put serving forks and spoons on each platter and glanced at Derek. “Let’s sit down.”

We sat, and Derek pulled the note and the coin from his pocket and handed them to her. “Tell me what you think.”

“It’s a Scottish five-pound note,” she said, frowning. “You’d only use it in Scotland because they’re not always accepted elsewhere. Most people carry British sterling because they’re accepted all over, naturally.”

She picked up the coin. “10p. It’s British, of course, as you must know.”

Derek nodded and continued, “You can use the coin anywhere in England and Scotland.”

Claire looked at Derek. “That man was carrying these?”

“Yes.”

“So . . .” She nodded, then swallowed nervously, her throat obviously dry. She reached for her water glass and took a big gulp. “So he followed me from Scotland.” Her voice began to shake as the realization was setting in.

“I’m sorry,” Derek said. “But I can’t see any other reason he’d be walking around Dharma with Scottish money in his pocket unless he’d recently arrived from Scotland.”

I asked, “Is the name Jerome Smith familiar to you?”

“I know any number of Smiths,” she said. “Don’t know any named Jerome.”

“Smith is such a common name,” Alex said.

“Aye,” Claire said. “It’s the most common name in Scotland. Because of the silversmiths and blacksmiths and all the other metalworkers over the centuries who supplied our soldiers with swords and dirks and jewelry and such.”

“Same as here,” Alex said, reaching for another egg.

Suddenly a look of sheer anguish came over Claire’s face. “He might’ve been on my plane.”

Gabriel frowned and pulled out his phone. “I’m going to give Willoughby a call.” He pressed a button and waited for the detective to answer. “Hey, Detective, it’s Gabriel.”

He listened for a moment. “Yeah, you mentioned this guy’s driver’s license. Was it from California?” He listened for another moment, then grinned. “No kidding. Thanks a lot for your help.”

He ended the call and looked at each of us. “Jerome Smith was carrying a Scottish driver’s license.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.