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"There are other orchid gardeners," Phillipa said "Here are ive you two years Two years’ ah for you to grow up, coe, finish school And then you’ll disappear Choose a new identity A new naardener onthe shell in her hands "Oh, these just smell like the ocean, don’t they? Makes me wish I was at home In Sussex"

Phillipa paused "In Sussex"

"Yes Withuncle Tell me," Holmes said, and reached across the table to pluck the tiny oyster fork from Phillipa’s plate, "have you seen Leander Holmes recently? The last I saw him he was concerned about myvery sickmy baby brother," Phillipa snapped "Don’t toy with me"

"Your brother," Holmes said

"My brother"

"Which one? The child- out on a beach in Thailand? Or the antiquities thief with the receding hairline?"

"Did nobody teach you any respect?" Phillipa exploded "No one! Did nobody tell you that being clever isn’t enough? You need to be willing to ith people I’ to offer you an out"

"I will never ith you"

"I’ht now, to take you to Lucien," she continued "Heto speed things up Break your hands Kill you Let’s see if I can get you out of the country and to Thailand before your bear of a brother can stop the so to whisper "He pulled out his phone the second she started yelling"

Holht be just taking a short jaunt across the Swiss Alps and forgot to tell us Listen--there’s no time, you’ve made sure of that These areYou and Hadrian go to England You apologize to my parents And you tell ust up and see if he still wants anything to do with you"

"Apologize to the you?"

"For poisoningto killit up into a horrible international war"<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>