“No,” Tayte said, quickly. “Of course not. I’m asking because I’d like it.” He looked right into her eyes then and said, “I’d like it very much.”
Jean toyed with her glass, delaying her answer. Then she smiled and said, “In that case I’d love to.”
Tayte knew he had a cheesy grin all over his face and he didn’t care. “Great. That’s really great.”
“But I’m afraid three’s a crowd,” Jean added, suddenly serious again.
“How do you mean?”
She looked at the floor and couldn’t keep a straight face as she said, “I mean, don’t even think about bringing that bloody briefcase.”
Epilogue
Two weeks later.
Jefferson Tayte had been out for a morning jog in DC’s Lincoln Park wearing brand new running shoes - the likes of which he hadn’t owned since college. Ordinarily, he would have hit the shower as soon as he got back to his apartment, but today the morning mail delayed him. On top of the usual pile of junk mail was an airmail letter from England and it had piqued his curiosity. The postmark told him it was from London and as he took it into the kitchen with him and poured himself a coffee, it made him think about Jean again.
She was coming to visit him next month and he was looking forward to seeing her again more than he’d looked forward to anything in his life. He kept telling himself that he’d bought his new running shoes because he’d made that promise to himself and because that was what people did when they turned forty, but he knew the real reason was because he’d met Jean. He thought about her every time he put them on.
As well as exchanging emails every day, they telephoned one another regularly and through those conversations Tayte learnt of Fable’s death. It had saddened him more than he would have thought such a casual acquaintance could. A suspected heart attack is what Jean told him it said in the newspapers, but when Tayte had called New Scotland Yard he was told that the verdict was open and that no further information was available - at least not to him.
Fable’s death had made him think about Michel Levant. His instincts still told him the Frenchman was somehow involved and he hadn’t ruled out the possibility that he was also partly responsible for his friend’s murder. He knew there was unfinished business between them and he was in little doubt that their paths would cross again someday. He had denied the heir hunter what was arguably the ultimate heir and he figured you couldn’t get the better of someone like Michel Levant without repercussions. That suited Tayte just fine but he knew he’d have to watch his back.
He sipped his coffee and sat down with his letter. The name at the top of the headed notepaper read, Goldman, Goldman & Rose, Solicitors. He scrunched his brow.
A law firm?
The letter was brief. It was from the executors of the late Marcus Brown’s will and by the time Tayte had read it the colour had drained from his cheeks. He went over the salient points again to be sure he’d read it right.
There’s a key to a safety deposit box waiting for me in London. They’re only at liberty to discuss the matter further in person, but have been instructed to inform me that it concerns my family.
My family?
Acknowledgements
My continued thanks to all the online forum members who have supported me since I launched my debut book in 2011, and to those readers who have written to me and/or written reviews for my work. It will always be very much appreciated. I had written three books before I published In the Blood, each having taken about a year to write. Since then I have been rewriting and shaping those stories to fit into this genealogical crime mystery series because each book was originally intended to be the first outing for Jefferson Tayte in the hope that one would be accepted by a traditional publisher. Collectively, they are the result of seven years research, plotting and writing - The Last Queen of England perhaps being the most important to me as at the time I felt that it would be my last attempt at a writing career. So, my sincere thanks to you for helping to make this possible.
Special thanks to Inspector Pat Rawle for continuing to help with my enquiries, to Kath Middleton, Sherie Sprague, Sue James, Karen Watkins, Susanne Meyers and Judith Allison for their help with editing and proofreading this book, and as always to my wife Karen, for so many reasons.
About the Author
Steve Robinson was born in coastal Kent, UK, and now lives near London on the Essex/Hertfordshire border. His passion for writing began at the age of sixteen when he was first published in a computer adventure magazine and he has been writing by way of a creative hobby ever since. When a career in telecommunications ended in redundancy he began to write full time. His debut novel In the Blood was the result, with To the Grave following a year later.
I write for the crime, mystery and thriller genres with a family history angle, having become interested in genealogy as a means to tell the story of In the Blood and perhaps because at the time I had no idea who my maternal grandfather was, which is something that has always intrigued me. He was an American GI billeted in England during the Second World War. A few years after the war ended he went back to America leaving a young family behind and to my knowledge no further contact was made. I traced him to Los Angeles through his enlistment record and discovered that he was born in Arkansas, but until recently that was all I knew. Perhaps this is why my lead character is an American genealogist. In August 2012, following correspondence with an amateur genealogist in Maine, New England, who wrote to me about my books, I learnt more about my maternal grandfather and my wider American family. I hope to share that story on my website someday.
If you can find the time, please leave a review on the website you downloaded this eBook from. If you enjoyed it, please tell someone. If you would like to contact me, you can visit my website at www.steve-robinson.me, or you can send an email to [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you.
The Last Queen of England: A Genealogical Crime Mystery #3 (Jefferson Tayte) Page 30