She looked at the check. “All right, I’ll think of it that way, and I’ll quit my job, but you have to quit your job, too. I’m not going to be an English schoolmaster’s lady friend.”

He laughed. “I’ll write to the headmaster today. I’m sure he’s heard all about me by now, anyway, and he probably wouldn’t want me back—too much notoriety for Eton.”

“Then you’ve got a deal,” she said, tucking the check into her bra. “And if you want to look at some houses, it’s okay with me.”

He stopped her in front of a real estate office and looked at the pictures in the window. “Pick something,” he said, “and we’ll make a start.”

21

THEY HAD HARDLY sat down in the realtor’s office when Laurence’s cell phone rang. He excused himself and walked outside to answer it. “Hello?”

“It’s Marge,” she said.

He didn’t like the sound of her voice. “Yes, what is it?”

“Someone has been in the apartment again,” she said, “and it’s not the hotel maids.”

“Did they steal anything?”

“Not that I can tell, but there are little traces around the place that tell me someone was here. I checked, and the maids haven’t been inside since I left work yesterday.”

“We haven’t been using the security system, have we?”

“No, we’ve been waiting for the company to come in and activate it.”

“All right, activate it, and have cameras installed—the best and least conspicuous available, at least two in each room. I want wall-to-wall coverage everywhere.”

“Right away,” she said. “Any idea when you’re coming home?”

“Not yet—at least a few days. I’d like the cameras operating by the time I get there, and I want to be able to check them on my iPhone. I’ve read that can be done.”

“I’m on it,” Marge said.

Laurence hung up and went back inside. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Where were we?”

“Theresa has been giving me a list of what she wants in a house. Now tell me what you want,” the agent, whose name was Diana, said.

“A view, new enough not to require remodeling, a study where I can read and work, enough room to swing a cat.”

Theresa laughed. “That’s Britspeak for pretty roomy.”

“Let’s start at the top,” Diana said. “Something very good has just come on the market. It’s a new house built by a woman who is widely regarded as the best builder in town, named Sharon Woods. She bought the property, designed the house, built it, had the landscaping done, and furnished it. It’s a large, two-bedroom house with a two-bedroom guesthouse and a sitting room. It has every modern convenience, and it’s in one of the best neighborhoods. Would you like to see it?”