Lie by Moonlight by Amanda Quick

such modern notions. As I said, when my past was exposed at my previous post at the girls’ school, I was dismissed instantly.”
    He gave that some thought. “You were perfect for Alexander Larkin’s purposes, weren’t you?”
    â€œI beg your pardon?”
    â€œYou were desperate for a position and you possessed no family connections. If you had disappeared after Larkin was finished with you, no one would have asked any questions.”
    She shuddered. “A chilling thought.”
    â€œI wonder if Miss Bartlett fit the same requirements.”
    â€œWhat do you—? Oh, I see. It does appear that way, does it not? She vanished from the castle, and as far as I know, no one came to inquire after her.” Concordia hesitated. “Then again, no one would have mentioned any such inquiries to me. I was just the teacher, after all. For the most part I was ignored.”
    He nodded slowly, a familiar sense of awareness uncurling inside him. This was the sensation he always experienced when he knew himself to be closing in on the answers he sought.
    â€œSomething tells me that you are the key to this affair, Concordia,” he said softly. “I think that, when it came to you, Larkin made his fatal blunder, the one that may well bring him down.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œHe underestimated the teacher.”

10
    T he innkeeper’s wife did not like the man who was questioning her husband so closely. It was not merely because the stranger had made his disdain of their modest establishment evident when he walked through the door a short time ago. She had been in this career a very long time. Wealthy, arrogant gentlemen who treated her neat, respectable, well-kept inn as though it were a hovel were a fact of life. At worst, they got drunk, tried to accost the serving girl and sometimes soiled the sheets. This one was different, though. She doubted that this elegant man would be the sort to commit any of those small, annoying crimes. Very neat and proper, he was. He had come all the way from London on the train the day before, spent the night in the village near Aldwick Castle, toured the ruins this morning and then hired a carriage to go about making inquiries.
    Yet in spite of all that dashing around the neighborhood there was not so much as a speck of dust on his fine coat. His shirt collar was clean and crisply ironed.
    Over-nice by half, she decided. The type who traveled with his own sheets and towels because he did not trust the cleanliness of inns such as the one she and her husband operated.
    She sat in the office, pretending to busy herself with the accounts while Ned spoke with the man. But the door was open. She could see the front desk out of the corner of her eye and hear everything that was discussed.
    â€œFour young ladies and their teacher put up here for the night?” The man from London tossed some coins onto the counter. “They left early yesterday morning?”
    Ned did not touch the coins. “Something was said about wanting to be at the station in time to take the morning train to London.”
    â€œDid they remark on the fire at the castle?” the stranger asked sharply.
    â€œNo, sir. The old castle is a fair ride from here. We didn’t get the news of the blaze until after the ladies had left for the station yesterday.” Ned shook his head somberly. “Heard the place was burned right down to the ground and that one man died in the flames.”
    â€œYes, that is true.” The stranger’s words were edged with impatience, as though the loss of the man was more of a nuisance than a tragedy. “The cause of his death is somewhat uncertain, however.”
    â€œI beg your pardon, sir?”
    â€œNever mind, it’s none of your affair. Is there anything else you can tell me about the young ladies and their teacher?”
    â€œNo, sir. Like I said, they arrived very late and left quite early.”
    The