Chapter 16 #2
"Alex is going to be hard at it once breakfast is over, I'm sure," said Winterson, rallying for him.
Despite her kindness, Gallowglass did not look mollified as she moved away. Perhaps she, too, had been a fan of Wicket's party tales.
Julian arrived with his plate, then, and traded it for their teacups without bothering to sit. "Everyone wants to know how it's going," he said, exasperated. "They're gossipy as fishwives."
"Nobles are worse," said Alex dolefully.
Julian chuckled and left for more tea, which Alex desperately needed and therefore forgave his absence.
"You needn't defend me, I mean, you can, but I can hold my own," said Alex. "I haven't been afraid of offending people in years."
She giggled again and went back to her food, finally giving him a moment of quiet to really make inroads into the food in front of him.
He had a feeling he wouldn't have such an easy time of feeding himself later in the day, and he wanted to make sure he had a good start even if he got hungry before the next meal was served.
Julian returned with tea and sat, giving him a soft kiss. "I don't know how you gave Gallowglass's nose a tweak, but she's no longer a fan of yours."
Alex laughed. "I just blew her off when she said I should be working, as though food isn't a necessary human requirement."
Then he drank off half his fresh cup of tea in one big, greedy gulp.
Julian snorted. "You're ridiculous, and yet, I'm sure she deserved whatever you said."
"It's not my purview to coddle the feelings of every nosy parker who wants to get in on the gossip," said Alex, before stuffing more food in his face. He thought he might go back for a third round just of sweet things, once he got a solid base of meat and veg inside him.
"Just certain nosy parkers," said Dr. Geoff, taking a seat next to Alex. "Any leads?"
"Nothing to narrow it down from the original six," said Alex. "I mean, I have feelings about some of them, but my ability to offend someone doesn't automatically make them guilty of murder."
Winterson nearly snorted her tea at that.
Julian sighed and patted her back, giving Alex an amused look. "It does not, no. And someone being nice, sorry to say, is not actually proof of innocence. Some murderers like to be part of the investigation, at least in books."
"It's true in real life, too," said Alex, "but usually more difficult, that one tech aside." Alex was thinking of the man who'd tormented and kidnapped his Julian in hopes of reviving his dying tree. He did not like that guy.
"Ugh, that guy," said Julian, wrinkling his nose as he echoed Alex's thoughts.
"He sucked," agreed Geoff, having had to deal with some of the fallout from the man's choice of Julian as a target.
"Oh, I don't know this story," said Winterson. "I really only wanted to be helpful. Plus, you are the most interesting people here, I'm so tired of the boorish single men here this time around."
"Lucas definitely didn't do invites with the ladies in mind," said Julian wryly. "Perhaps he hoped there was more to some of them?"
"Or only knew them from rugby," said Alex teasingly. "Less of a social activity and more about smashing into each other at high speed."
Renee giggled, looking younger and happier. Alex didn't honestly think she'd been the one to do in old Wicket, so it was easy to let himself like her. He didn't think they'd be friends past this party, but then again, he'd never thought he'd have friends outside of work, either.
"Lucas will join us in a minute," said Geoff. "He got held up, apparently the roads might not be passable today after all?"
"Ugh," said Alex, and Julian echoed it, albeit a bit more genteelly. "Will he be able to keep up feeding this horde?"
"Oh, yes, they got all the deliveries in before it began, because of the weekend, you know." Geoff chuckled. "I know far too much about that sort of thing now, enough to know you're very lucky with your brownies."
"They're literal magic," said Julian with a grin. "I kind of miss Alys grousing at me, we haven't been able to get a call or text out."
"No, only the house line is working for us," said Geoff with a sigh. "The police keep promising someone will be out but the roads, same for the coroner, and everyone else. It's just waiting and hoping there's not more snow, now."
"I'm sure it's chaos in the city as well, if the blizzard hit there," said Alex. "We've just got to be patient, I guess. He's safe enough for now, anyway."
"The advantage of having you around," said Geoff with a chuckle. "Otherwise he'd be chucked in a snowbank or something just to keep him cold."
"Propped up in the walk-in freezer," said Julian with a giggle.
"Wedged in between the chicken coop and the mews," said Alex.
"You're terrible!" protested Renee, while still giggling along with the rest of them.
They kept making increasingly improbable jokes in between bites of food, and eventually Chudleigh appeared before anyone succeeded in making someone else snort tea.
"I can see we're deeply in mourning today," he said dryly, sitting next to Geoff with his own plate and cuppa.
"Gallows humour," said Geoff, stealing a little kiss. "What's the news?"
"It's looking like tomorrow morning at the earliest now," said Lucas. "So I get a break to eat before I have to go figure out how to entertain everyone."
"Set your artist up in the parlour all day?" asked Alex. "If they're willing, anyway."
"That'll keep a few people occupied at a time, but with no hunting, I'm not sure what else. No one will want another round of Wink Murder, that's for sure." Lucas took a doleful bite of pancakes.
Alex did not crack a smile, but it was hard.
"That's fair," said Julian, giving him a mental poke to be good. "There's other games, too, though. Plus you can set up for cards, this set is always up for a gamble."
"That's true," said Lucas, brightening. "And the illusionist can perform tonight, so that'll be good. I suspect people will want to head out as soon as they're released, anyway."
"The cops will want to interview everyone, of course," said Alex, "but I won't be the one dealing with it. I only did the ones in the room because people's memories get all muddled as time passes." He resolutely ate a giant bite of sausage, making Lucas snort a laugh.
"What will you do now?" he asked.
Alex chewed and swallowed pointedly before answering. "We'll go through the drawing room and see if it can be released for use. I want to say yes, but I can already hear Lapointe yelling at me."
"It's fine, we have the den and library," said Lucas dismissively. "I'd rather keep it locked, anyway, we can put some black bunting on the door handles out of respect or something."
"That's a pretty good solution," said Julian.
Alex finished off his tea and stood to get more, since it was his turn. "You're a good host, Lucas."
Lucas' face said that he wasn't so sure.
Given the murder, Alex supposed that was fair.