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“Then I should inform you that you will soon receive a visit froistrate, keen to question your master on the entleman, tell me where he went”

After blinking back his shock, and getting himself into a fluster, the servant said, “A boy cao, and Mr Layton left”

Three hours ago?

That meant Layton returned home after the murder

“To go where? You must have passed instructions to his coachman”

The butler shook his head “Mr Layton climbed

into a hackney It arrived shortly after the boy delivered his e and scampered off down the street”

Lawrence rubbed his jaw Confusion plundered his already muddled mind

“Fearing your an in the masterful tone that always reaped results, “I insist you accompany me on a quick tour of the house”

The butler pursed his lips

“Once the s, and I’ll have no hope of finding a clue”

With soreed

Lawrence found nothing incri in Layton’s bedchamber other than a wet coat and breeches, and the absence of his Elizabethan costu the study, the butler insisted Lawrence observe his h to notice two copies of Vathek on the desk

“Might I inspect those books?”

The butler plodded over to the desk and studied the spines before abiding by his request Lawrence flicked to the vacat page Nothing Not one word of warning Not a single threat He leafed through the clean pages—still nothing