“Hello,” she said and tapped his shoulder. “I hoped I’d find you here.”
“This is a refreshing development,” Gus said, removing his glasses. He folded up the paper in front of him and went to stand.
“No, please,” she said. “Don’t get up.”
Annie sat across from him.
“Mind if I join you?”
“I believe you already have,” he said with a smile, an echo of her words from the day before. “So, working hard as per usual?”
“Work?” She blinked.
“Your thesis?”
“Oh right.” She sagged in her seat. “Yes. Well, I’m kind of stalled out right now.”
“Perhaps you should focus on your research,” he said with a wry smile. “Instead of whatever you’ve been getting into today. Your clothes are filthy.”
Annie glanced down. It looked like someone had dredged her in dust. Pinching together her fingers, she lifted a string of cobwebs from her jeans.
“I borrowed one of the inn’s bikes this morning,” she said. “I guess I’m a messy cyclist. Now that you mention it…”
“What did I mention?”
“I went past the Grange today on my ride.”
In lieu of a response, Gus took a sip of cider.
“You know, the Grange?” Annie said, forehead lifted. “Home to Mrs. Spencer? And to Pru?”
He nodded, lips pinched together, gray eyes holding steady with hers.
“You didn’t tell me it was, like, around the corner,” she said.
Gus cleared his throat.
“Didn’t I?” he said.
“You did not.” Annie shifted in her seat. “And, boy, did I get the wrong impression of the place. You made it seem so massive. Hulking.”
“Is that right?”
“Yep. But it was pretty much just a regular house. What’s up with that? The story. What I saw.” Annie held her hands at two different levels. “They don’t match up.”
“I don’t recall ever commenting on its size.”
“But what about Pru? When she walked through, she felt like the home was changing and growing around her.”
“She did, but in a way that had little to do with verifiable square meters.”
“And the inside, it was…”
Gus’s eyebrows shot up.
“The inside was what?”
Annie stopped, then added in a lame mumble: “Probably more cavernous.”
“Any other observations?” Gus asked, eyeing her, sizing her up. “About the property? From the road, naturally. Because you have more sense than to trespass.”
“You bet! Tons of sense! I’d never do anything like that!”
“That’s a relief,” he said. “So is this why you tracked me down? To express your disappointment in the home’s size and make promises as to your ability to follow laws?”
“Yes. That.” Annie pulled the book from her backpack, careful not to let any stolen papers sneak out. “But also The Missing Duchess. I need more.”
She slid the book toward Gus.
“For example,” she said. “How long after Pru came to work for Mrs. Spencer did the author show up? Didn’t you say it was around Christmastime?”
“Yep,” he said, and drained the last of his cider. “Late December. Ned! Hey, barkeep! How ’bout you bring me two more? One for now, one for the road.”
“Sure thing, mate,” the man said and sniggered amiably. “One for the road. As if you could ever hold out that long.”
Gus turned back toward Annie.
“So,” he said. “Is this how it aims to be? The young researcher batters the local fogy with questions, no time for pleasantries and how-do-you-dos?”
“I’m sorry,” Annie said with a wince. “My manners are, shall we say, blunted these days. My mom would be appalled. Let’s start over. So. How are you this afternoon?”
“I’m adequate.” He smirked.
“Nice weather, eh?”
“Not particularly.”
“So, uh, what do you do in your free time? Hobbies or anything?”
“You’re looking at it.”
“What about a wife? Kids?”
Or grandkids, she did not add. Gus was the right age to have them but Annie had sufficiently offended him for one day. No use pointing out that she saw him as old.
“Kids?” he said. “Nah. Not me.”
“Oh, I, uh. I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Sorry? Why? It’s not an affliction, merely a fact. I’m close with my niece. She’s damned good enough for me.”
“Sounds like you made the right decision, then,” Annie said awkwardly.
She was pretty wretched at this pleasantry business, his requested how-do-you-dos.
“No wife, either,” Gus said. “And before you ask, I’ve never been married because I never found the right woman. Simple explanation for a lifetime of questions.”
Annie tried to conjure up an artful response.
Sorry, mate.
The game’s not over.
In the next life, maybe less booze.
“So, this banter is going well,” she said with a rigid smile.
Suddenly Annie wished she had a drink in front of her and contemplated flagging down Ned.
“Bloody sad,” Gus said.
“Well, I’ve heard marriage is more trouble than it’s worth. Parenthood too. My mom—”
“What? No. Not that. On the telly.”