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being in this neighborhood than he and Charlotte?
    Is something wrong, Mr. St. Ives? Why are you staring out the window?"
    11 1 was merely examining the street." The shadowy figure had disappeared. Baxter let the curtains fall
    back into place. "I believe we have done a sufficiently thorough job on this bedchamber. Let's move on
    to the next one. " "Yes, of course. I wish to find Mrs. Heskett's chamber."Charlotte scooped up the
    lantern and hurried toward the door.
    She gave him a sharp, reproving glance as she went past hini. Her cloak billowed out behind her in a
    seething, rolling movemem that seemed to reflect its owner's irritation.
    Baxter followed slowly. A few minutes later, in the midst of searching the last bedchaniber, Baxter
    heardCharlotte give a soft gasp of surprise. "Find something?" Baxter turned to look at her.
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    She was down on her knees again, bent at the waist, tugging on
    some object she had discovered beneath a large, mirrored wardrobe. ,What lo you make of this, Mr. St.
    Ives?" She hauled out a
    large leather-bound volume and flipped it open. "What is it?" He walked across the carpet to join her.
    "A journal?" "No, it's a watercolor sketchbook."Charlotte turned a few pages to reveal a series of
    delicate pastel drawings. "Very likely it belonged to Mrs. Heskett." She paused abruptly and stared at
    one of
    the sketches. "Good heavens."
    Baxter raised his brows as he surveyed the watercolors. "Mrs. Heskett appears to have had a great
    interest in classical statuary." "Indeed,"Charlotte said dryly. "Greek and Roman gods for the most part, I
    believe. They are, uh, exceptionally well-endowed fig ures. "Indeed."
    Together they both gazed silently at the pictures of nude male statues that filled the sketchbook.
    Charlottecleared her throat. "I have seen a few of these statues myself in theBritishMuseum . I think it's
    safe to say that Mrs. Heskett has taken some artistic liberties with certain portions of the
    anatomies.
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    "One could certainly say that."
    Charlotteclosed the book with a snap. "Well, her choice of subject is not of interest to us. The important
    thing Is that I found this sketchbook shoved out of sight beneath the cabinet." "What's so odd about that?
    Many ladies enjoy painting with watercolors."
    Quite true. My sister, Ariel, enjoys watercolors also."Charlotte raised her head, her eyes gleaming. "But
    she does not hide her sketchbook under a cabinet."
    He suddenly understood where her deductions had led her. "Hold on a moment, Miss Arkendale. I
    would advise you not to leap to baseless conclusions. It's highly unlikely that Drusilla Heskett
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    Amanda Quick
    deliberately hid her book of watercolors. It was no doubt acciden tally kicked under there by one of the servants when they packed up after her death."
    "I disagree, sit. I think it was deliberately concealed there." "If so, it may well have been because of the
    subject matter.
    Perhaps Mrs. Heskett did not want her staff to know that she en joyed drawing pictures of oversized phalluses."
    Charlotteblinked. She looked away and suddenly became very busy attempting to tuck the large
    sketchbook inside her cloak. "Nevertheless, I shall want to examine it. I'm going to take it with
    me." She gave up trying to stuff the book inside her cloak and
    clutched it very firmly in front of her.
    Baxter frowned at her sudden agitation. It took him a few sec onds to realize that he had embarrassed her. The notion of the
    formidable Miss Arkendale being disconcerted by the use of the
    word phallus amused him. "Miss Arkendale, I feel compelled to point out that if you take that volume out
    of this house you will have committed what some
    would call an act of theft."
    "Nonsense. I'm merely going to borrow it for a while."
    "Borrow it?"
    "I am involved in an inquiry into the circumstances of my client's death, after all," she reminded him
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