Naked Once More by Elizabeth Peters Page A

candidate can do.”
    “Your statement does you credit, Mrs. Kirby,” St. John assured her. “The question is, how long… I mean to say, I’d like to hear your ideas about the plot of the sequel.”
    That wasn’t what he had meant to say. The essential question for Kathleen’s brother was how long it would take someone to dash off nine hundred—plus pages so he could start raking in royalties. And surely he didn’t think she was stupid enough to give away her ideas without a previous commitment!
    “I haven’t allowed myself to dwell on the subject,” she said sweetly. “It would be too, too painful to become involved with those wonderful characters, and then have to give them up.”
    Craig One shot out a liver-spotted wrist and glared at his watch. “Why don’t you run along, Father?” Craig Two suggested. “There’s no need for all of us to be here. I’ll stay, if you like.”
    The old man nodded. “I never eat dessert,” he told Jacqueline.
    “Very wise of you,” said that lady seriously.
    The elderly lawyer was followed out of the room by his grandson. Presumably he never ate dessert either.
    As soon as the door had closed behind them, Craig Two said, “There is really no need for me to be here today either, Mrs. Kirby. Craig, Craig and Craig will of course advise Mr. Darcy on the contract that will be drawn up once a writer has been selected, but we have no voice in that decision. It is up to the heirs and their literary agent. I hope you don’t feel that my presence leaves you at a disadvantage—”
    “Oh, no,” Jacqueline said. “I have not the slightest feeling of being at a disadvantage.”
    She had not underestimated his intelligence. Their eyes locked; after a moment a faint smile touched his lips and he nodded, as if accepting a challenge.
    St. John was unaware of nuances. “I’m glad you feel that way, Mrs. Kirby. It certainly is not my intention to take unfair advantage of anyone. But if you knew some of the people with whom I have dealt…”
    “I can imagine,” Jacqueline said. Was that… yes, it was—a shoe pressing against hers. Probably the best St. John could do; his arms were too short to reach around and under the table.
    The dessert course was apple pie. Marjorie served the thick slabs, and Mrs. Darcy snatched up her fork.
    “I wish you’d stick to the point, St. John,” the lawyer said irritably. “Why don’t you just tell Mrs. Kirby what you want her to do?”
    “I’ll just bet I can guess,” Jacqueline cooed. Craig Two was beginning to annoy her, and now that she knew he had nothing to say about the choice of an author, she was not at all averse to needling him. “Mr. Darcy’s clever little question about my plot gave me a hint. You want all of us to submit a short outline, is that it? Then you—the heirs—will select the one that is closest to Kathleen’s concept, or rather, your view of what that concept might have been.”
    Craig Two showed his teeth. “You were right the first time, Mrs. Kirby.”
    “The first time? I said—”
    “Closest to Kathleen Darcy’s concept. She left an outline for the sequel to
Naked int he Ice.
”
    Jacqueline hated to give him the satisfaction, but she was unable to conceal her astonishment. “What? I never heard of such a thing. It’s impossible. Someone in publishing would have known about it.”
    St. John placed a plump finger across his lipless mouth. “It has been a closely guarded secret, Mrs. Kirby. In fact, I only found out about the outline recently. You see—”
    “Let me, St. John,” the lawyer said brusquely. “Kathleen’s will contained several unusual provisions, Mrs. Kirby. At least they seemed unusual to me at the time; I had had no previous experience with the world of publishing—”
    “The wild and wacky world of publishing,” Jacqueline suggested.
    “Er—yes. As a writer, you probably understand better than I did at the time why Kathleen should have been concerned with the integrity