“That means I won’t have to assemble dinner tomorrow night,” Susannah said, “so it’s convenient.”

“Who are these folks?” Ed asked.

“He’s a very wealthy young Brit with a beautiful girlfriend. He’s recently bought a spectacular New York apartment, and now a house here, new and furnished.”

“I’ll bet I know the house,” Susannah said. “It’s got to be Sharon Woods’s new place. She’s a local builder and she also builds spec houses, and she has a new one just finished.”

“That would explain how he bought the house and occupied it in the same day,” Stone said.

“He’s a fast mover,” Ed said.

“He certainly is. He bought the New York apartment after seeing photographs of it in the Times. He also flies the same airplane I do. Just got his type rating in Wichita.”

“What does he do in England?”

“He is employed as a schoolmaster at Eton College.”

“They must pay very well.”

“I’m afraid that’s all I can tell you—attorney/client privilege. However, if you have a copy of People magazine . . .”

“As a matter of fact, we do,” Susannah said. “There’s an article in it about my new picture.” They moved into the library for drinks, and Susannah found the magazine. “Goodness, that is a spectacular apartment! And he won the lottery! How brilliant of him!” The magazine was handed around. “And he teaches at Eton,” she said. “That makes him sound stuffy.”

“Not in the least,” Stone said. “He’s bright and charming, and so is his girl. I introduced them, sort of. She’s a personal shopper at Ralph Lauren, and he needed a wardrobe compatible with his new status.”

“So she dressed him, then undressed him,” Susannah said. “How romantic!”

—

LAURENCE RETURNED to the house to find Theresa at work arranging flowers.

“What, you came back without a piano strapped to your back?”

“I found a Steinway Model A at a church, advertised in the paper. It was their rehearsal piano for the choir, and they’ve bought a concert grand to replace it. It’s being delivered and tuned tomorrow morning.”

“And the booze?”

“Should be here before sundown. The flowers look lovely.”

“Thank you. I like a lot of flowers in a house.”

“So do I, but I don’t expect you’re going to be able to grow a lot of them here.”

“It’s all right, there’s a flower shop.”

The doorbell rang, and a man with a hand truck brought in a dozen boxes.

“So much booze?”

“Most of it is wine. We have a wine cooler in the kitchen, you know.”

“I hadn’t spotted that. I guess we’ll be discovering things in the house all the time. I spoke with the caterers and ordered our dinner for tomorrow night.”

“Stone rang and said there’d be four of them.”

“So with Becky and Ted, that’s eight. Perfect.”