There Goes The Bride by M.C. Beaton Page A

seemed to work for a while.’
    ‘Do the police know this?’
    ‘I don’t think so, and don’t tell them.’
    ‘Who was the father?’
    ‘You’ll need to ask Olivia that. But do tell her you did not get the news from me. What about dinner tonight?’
    Agatha would normally have leaped at the chance of dinner with this attractive Frenchman, despite the fact that she was still suspicious of him, had she not still been so shaken over this second murder. ‘Another time,’ she said gruffly.
    Toni reappeared and Agatha got hurriedly to her feet. ‘Maybe see you later,’ she said to Sylvan. He rose to his feet to hold the police station door open for them.
    ‘Don’t worry,’ he whispered, putting an arm around Agatha’s shoulders and pulling her against his body. ‘Soon this will all be forgotten.’
    ‘Unless these murders are solved, not by me,’ said Agatha, pulling away.
    In the car, Agatha told Toni about Felicity not being George’s daughter. ‘But there’s something else,’ she added.
    ‘What’s that? I had the most awful grilling,’ said Toni. ‘I almost felt like confessing to the murders just to get it over with.’
    ‘You know Sylvan went on to the boat.’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘When he hugged me there, I felt the crackle of papers from his inside pocket – a lot of papers. Now, our elegant friend would not go around distorting the line of his tailored jacket with a big bunch of papers. What if he took something from the boat?’
    ‘I couldn’t see any papers lying around,’ said Toni.
    ‘He might have known where to look,’ said Agatha. ‘We’ll go out to the house now and ask Olivia about Felicity. Then maybe we could watch somewhere on the road afterwards to see if Sylvan leaves.’
    ‘But he’s already out of the house,’ said Toni.
    ‘I know. But he was wearing a light suit and the weather’s turning chilly. He may return to change. We wait until he leaves and then return to Olivia. You keep her talking while I say I’m going to the loo and I’ll have a quick look in his room.’
    ‘How will you know which one it is? It’s a big house.’
    ‘I’ll follow my nose. He smells of some sort of sandalwood scent.’
    ‘I wish we could hide somewhere in the house instead,’ said Toni.
    ‘Why?’
    ‘I would like to hear what Sylvan and Olivia have to talk about.’
    ‘Let’s ask her about Felicity before we do anything else.’
    Olivia at first protested vehemently that Felicity was indeed their own daughter. Then she all at once broke down and sobbed out that Felicity had been adopted. George had always wanted children and it had been a great disappointment to him when she couldn’t have any. Then he went off on business to Spain one time on his own. A little while later, he confessed he’d had an affair and that the woman was pregnant. Olivia threatened a divorce, but he’d pleaded with her that this was the opportunity to have the child they’d always wanted. At last she agreed. He brought the baby home. Olivia had fallen in love with the little baby. George never told her the name of the mother and she didn’t want to know.
    ‘It’ll be on the adoption papers,’ said Agatha.
    ‘George said he hadn’t bothered about formalities, and for the last six months before the arrival of the baby, I agreed to appear pregnant.’
    ‘But how did he get the baby into the country?’ asked Toni.
    ‘He brought it by our boat.’
    ‘There are surely customs checks at the harbour?’ said Agatha.
    ‘Oh, he said, the men knew him. The baby was fast asleep in a locker and they never looked.’
    Agatha stared at her open-mouthed. What else had George been bringing into the country under the noses of the customs men?
    ‘Do you happen to know if the mother was Spanish?’ asked Toni.
    ‘I suppose so.’
    ‘But she was very fair-skinned.’
    ‘Some Spaniards are. Oh, please, don’t tell the police. We would be arrested and I have had so much to bear.’
    They waited until she had