Duly warned, Jeb nodded. “Is there anyone else?”
He was starting to worry they would have the time to discuss everyone before they began to arrive, but thankfully Algernon seemed to be nearing the end of tonight’s guest list.
“Just one more guest is coming; Mavis Arbuthnot.”
Jeb froze and stared at his father as though he had lost his mind completely.
“Mavis Arbuthnot is coming?” He closed his eyes on a wave of disbelief, and knew now the evening was going to be extremely difficult to get through.
Mavis Arbuthnot reminded Jeb of a crow. Always dressed in black, her small round brown eyes peered somewhat evilly out from a rather too pale face that when accompanied by a crooked nose, gave her a slightly sinister look that frightened children, worried adults, and generally terrified men.
Algernon coughed uncomfortably. “Before you ask, no, I do not know who invited the woman to the first occasion. Everyone has denied being the first to invite her. She just turned up to one of the events and has attended each one since.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t invite herself,” Jeb snorted, and made a mental note to ask the staff to seat him as far as possible from the dratted woman.
As the churchwarden, Mavis Arbuthnot would certainly see herself perfectly in the right to invite herself. If only to ensure that no heathen dared to step off the path of enlightenment and cavort in sin. Jeb’s recollection of her was as a devout Christian, who would often launch into a biblical tirade without provocation that often finished with a prophecy of doom.
A part of him wished now that he had remained in London and sent, say, Marcus instead. Marcus was the charmer of the group. He would have known how to handle an evening such as the one that now lay before Jeb.
Jeb, meanwhile, rather wished he was standing in some darkened East End docks, in the pouring rain, watching someone else get on with their lives. Anything would be better than listening to a sermon from Mavis Arbuthnot.
He mentally promised himself right there and then to get to the bottom of the recent spate of thefts in the village, preferably before the group got round to Mavis being their host.
The old grandfather clock in the hallway suddenly chimed seven o’clock. Algernon looked toward the doorway for a moment then he threw Jeb a rueful look.
“I suppose I may as well start to get ready,” he murmured reluctantly.
“You sound like you are going to your execution man,” Jeb sighed as he stood up and followed his father out of the room.
“Is there any difference?”
They climbed the stairs in companionable silence.
“I just wish I knew which one was stealing,” Algernon grumbled. “I don’t know what I would say to them, but I'd like to know which one is the viper in the nest. I would like to discount the Vicar and Mavis, purely because of their religious connections, but –” He shook his head sadly.
“Don’t discount anybody, father. It would be foolish to do so without any evidence to support their innocence. It is my experience that sometimes the most innocent looking of them all can be the most treacherous. Just leave it to me. If you are ready before I am I want you to do something for me.” He waited until Algernon nodded. “Find two small artifacts, about palm size, that you don’t mind losing for the time being.”
Algernon’s brows rose. “What are you planning to do?”
“Set a trap,” Jeb said darkly, and went to get ready.
Half an hour before the first guest was due to arrive, Jeb met his father in the study.
Algernon was staring blankly into the roaring fire, waiting for the evening to begin. Thankfully he wasn’t pacing around anymore, but he was no less tense than he had been earlier. It irked Jeb to see his father dread an evening in his own home.
“Do you have the items I asked you for?” Jeb asked, more determined than ever to catch the thief so his father could get on with his life without torment.
“Will those do?” Algernon asked. He pointed to the table beside him.
Jeb looked at the two small matching trinket boxes on the table. They were exactly what he was looking for.
“I should like to say that they won’t be gone long, but I cannot make any promises that I will be able to find them again at all. Does it matter?”
Algernon shook his head. “I don’t care about them. They are old, and only plate so have little value. Although they look it they aren’t real silver all the way through. They are the cheapest I could find.” He looked at his son somewhat defiantly. “I have put everything else away until that lot go home.”
“I don’t know why you just don’t cancel the entire evening,” Jeb sighed. “If it is so tedious then give it a miss. After all, you are the highest ranking man in the area. Who cares if they are offended? As Christian people, the Reverend and Mavis should understand. As for the others, one of the group is a thief anyway so who cares if their noses are put out of joint. If they are not good friends, why do you waste your time on them?”
“Because it would be a foolish person indeed who lived in Framley Meadow and didn’t keep abreast of what is going on in the area. Everyone at these things exchanges gossip and news. I have a man of business who is excellent but doesn’t speak to people outside of this house unless he has to. Even then, his conversation practically always relates to business. What else can I do?” Algernon threw Jeb a dark look. “Besides, since the thefts began, I have attended the events purely to reiterate just how unfavourably I look upon thieves. As you quite rightly say, I am the highest ranking person in the village. I had hoped that my disapproval and determination to capture the culprit might but the thief off.”