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“This place is amazing,” Odelia told Chase as she tucked a suitcase under the bed. She’d finished unpacking and had time to admire their surroundings.

“Yeah, it definitely beats that tiny cottage Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz house-swapped inThe holiday,” he said.

“Jinx!” she said. “I love that movie!”

“Yeah, for a chick flick it’s not bad.”

She slapped his shoulder and together they rolled onto the big bed. It was one of those boxspring affairs she loved so much, and the sheets were high-thread-count Egyptian cotton.“So how are we going to do this?” she asked.

“Well, obviously we’re going to have to be very circumspect,” he said, placing his hands behind his head. “If no one is supposed to know about what’s going on here, it’s going to make our work that much harder.”

Chase was a cop, and for a cop things were pretty straightforward. You identify your list of suspects, you interrogate those suspects, and you try to figure out the truth. When you’ve selected the most likely suspect, you lean on them until they fess up and that’s it. The rest is up to the legal system.

Here, Chase couldn’t drag suspects into rooms with one-way mirrors. Subtlety was the name of the game, something he wasn’t very adapt in.

Max came padding into the room.“This place is awesome,” he announced.

“Yeah, awesome,” Dooley confirmed, padding in right behind his friend.

“What are they saying?” asked Chase.

“They’re saying they like it here. The exact word is ‘awesome.’”

Chase grinned.“They took the words right out of my mouth. This place is like a five-star hotel, only better.”

A maid tapped politely on the door.“Will there be anything else, Miss Poole?” she asked.

“No, we’re good,” said Odelia. Then, when the young woman made signs of retreating discreetly, she quickly added, “Or wait—maybe there’s one thing.”

“Yes, Miss Poole?”

The maid was young and pretty, with long auburn hair and hazel eyes. She wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Richard Curtis movie, where the prime minister falls in love with his secretary, or the bestseller writer with his maid.

“Have you worked here long, Miss…”

“Suzy,” said the girl. “I’ve been with the Duke and Duchess six months now, Ma’am,” she said deferentially.

“And do you like working for my cousin?” asked Odelia, trying to keep things casual and not make it sound like an interrogation.

“Oh, yes, Miss Poole.”

“Please call me Odelia,” said Odelia.

“They’re a wonderful couple. A breath of fresh air,” said the girl, enthusiasm making her face light up. “I was with the Baroness Emilia Hartford before, and she was… quite demanding.”

“More demanding than Tessa and Dante, I suppose?”

“Oh, yes,” said the girl with a smile. “Very much so. The Duke and Duchess are very disciplined, with a lot going on in their lives, but they never take it out on their staff.”

“Angela told me there are a lot of people that don’t seem to like Tessa all that much,” said Odelia, trying to inject a note of cousinly concern into her voice. “I don’t suppose you’ve noticed any of that here, have you?”

“Oh, but everyone loves her,” said the girl, eyes wide and innocent. “She’s so wonderful, so elegant, so amazing in every way. The people who say bad things about her should be ashamed of themselves. They don’t know her the way that I do.” She clasped a hand to her face. “I didn’t mean to sound so…”

“No, that’s fine. I’m just worried about my cousin, that’s all. And if there’s anyone out there who means her harm, I think it’s important to know.”

“Of course.”

“In America we have a lot of crackpots,” Chase explained. “Nutjobs who wouldn’t hesitate to take a potshot at a celebrity like Tessa. It’s so great that you don’t have that kind of thing going on over here.”

“Oh, but we do. I’ve heard people say nasty things about the Duchess. Whenever I hear a comment like that I always remind them the Duke is very lucky to have her, and so are we. Before he met her, the Duke was a little bit of a wild child. A real party prince. He used to get into so much trouble.” She smiled shyly. “I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t say things like that.”

“Oh, no, that’s fine. I think it’s great that you defend them like that,” said Odelia. “So the people who say these bad things, are they here in the house?”

Suzy darted a quick look behind her, then lowered her voice.“Cook says the most horrible things behind the Duchess’s back.”

“What kind of things?”

“Don’t tell her I said this, but she told me she thinks the Duchess is entirely too arrogant for her own good and someone should teach her a lesson.”

“The cook said that?”

Suzy nodded.“She thinks the Duchess doesn’t appreciate her. She also says the Duke was much better off without her, and I always tell her that’s a lie. The Duke has finally become a man. Before, he was just a boy. A very silly boy.” She smiled “And now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go check on theothers.”

“Of course,” said Odelia. “Thanks, Suzy. And don’t worry. Whatever you tell me stays between us, all right?”