The Rosewater Debutante by Tracy Cooper-Posey

Author:Tracy Cooper-Posey [Cooper-Posey, Tracy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stories Rule Press Inc.
Published: 2021-01-17T00:00:00+00:00

MELVILLE SLIPPED INTO ADELE’S HOTEL room very late that night, long after she had bathed and dressed, then met Daniel in the hotel dining room for dinner.

Daniel arrived right behind Melville, and Adele raised her brow at his appearance.

“M tapped on my door on the way up,” Daniel explained, pulling his dressing gown firmly around himself.

Adele realized that Melville had learned both their hotel room numbers since they had registered, as well as the hotel itself. It was a middle-class hotel, undistinguished, and the first they had come across after leaving the rowing club. Perhaps that was how he had found them. Next time, she would not take the first, most obvious lodgings.

Melville moved over to the bureau, where the small basket of fruit Adele had requested sat where she had placed it after it had been delivered to her room.

He plucked the apple out and rubbed it on his jacket sleeve, polishing the skin. “We have detained the chaperone, and the woman posing as Lady Winnifred is recovering from both near drowning and Lady Adelaide’s punch.” He glanced at Adele. “That right hook is jolly useful, my Lady.”

“My husband taught me. You should call me Adele.”

Melville bit into the apple, while studying her. He chewed steadily.

“Did you suspect the women, Melville?” Daniel asked. “Or were you running on a gut feeling?”

Melville swallowed hastily. “You thought I was lying? To you?” He swung to face Adele.

She smiled tightly. “I thought you might be…getting even.”

Melville shook his head. “I wouldn’t waste your worth, Lady Adele. You are too valuable. Both of you.” He glanced at Daniel. “And I don’t have time for pettiness, myself.”

“Why on earth did you think someone as pretty and as…as pink as Lady Winnifred might be…” Adele threw up her hands. “I still can’t believe she was a German agent!”

“They come in all shapes and sizes,” Melville intoned.

Daniel leaned against the wall with one shoulder and crossed his arms. “Still, you must have had some reason to think a sweet young debutante was worth investigating.”

Melville bit, chewed and swallowed.

“Do you ever eat a regular meal?” Adele asked him.

“To answer the important question,” Melville said, “Five weeks ago, a body was plucked out of the ocean off Cornwall. The girl had drowned, but she had river water in her lungs, so she had been killed somewhere inland and been left to drift out to sea. Someone had carved off her face, making it impossible to identify her.”

Adele shuddered. “The real Winnifred?”

“A boffin attached to Whitehall traced back the tidal estuaries and figured out the woman must have emerged into the sea from the River Exe and…well, Chapmore is along the Exe.”

“A rather long way north of Exmouth,” Daniel pointed out.

“I had a chat with the boffin, and he thought it would be possible for a body to make it all the way out to sea. Only take a couple of days, with all the rain we’ve had.” He bit into the apple with relish. While still chewing, he

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