Unseen, in the background, Fate was quietly slipping the lead into the boxing-glove. -- P. G. Wodehouse, Very Good, Jeeves

A hotel in London

20 April, 19—

The Honourable Louis Gresham was many things. According to his parents he was a hopeless spendthrift, according to his brother he was next door to an imbecile, and according to his boss he was the worst worker the foreign office had ever employed.

He was, however, loyal to his friends. And when his old friend David Eames wrote to him to say he and Alexander Lennox were going to Armenia, Louis obligingly pulled a few strings to get their passports approved in record time.

Why exactly two otherwise sane people wanted to travel to the middle of nowhere was beyond Louis' comprehension, but he was damned if he didn't help out.

Dear Eames, he wrote. Here are your passports. He paused, trying to decide if it was tactless to mention the death of Lennox's wife when he knew neither of them would be grief-stricken. Finally he settled for, If you want my condolences for recent events, consider them given. If not, ignore this.

The sound of a key turning in the lock alerted him to his current boyfriend's return. Louis had to share a house with two other clerks, and he had no idea where Leopold lived. For the sake of discretion they stayed in hotels together under false names, pretending to be brothers.

"How was rehearsal?" Louis asked.

Leopold Colman hung his hat beside the door and took off his coat as he answered. "Better than the last one. Miss O'Hara managed to get one out of twenty lines right, and that idiot Jefferson has finally figured out which side of the stage to enter from. With any luck we'll be able to get through the first act without being booed off."

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Experience of Leo's complaints about his fellow actors had taught Louis that he exaggerated their mistakes. He had no doubt that when opening night came, they would perform a perfectly good production of Nicholas Nickleby.

Leo took a letter out of his coat pocket. "This was left at the theatre for me today."

"I'm writing to an old friend. He and his lover are going to Armenia," Louis said. He and Leo had no intention of having a permanent relationship, but while it lasted each made sure the other knew they weren't seeing anyone else.

Leo had kicked his shoes off and lain down on the bed to read his letter. He was silent for so long that Louis looked round to see what was wrong. Leo stared at the sheet of paper as if it was a cheque for a million pounds and he didn't know what to do with it.

"Bad news?" Louis asked.

Leo came out of his daze with a start. "No, the best news I've ever had. She wants me to write to her!"

A slight flicker of jealousy stirred in Louis' chest. He quashed it at once. Leo had made it clear from the start that he liked both men and women, and that he was in love with a woman he had no hope of ever seeing again.

Louis' earlier words finally seemed to register with Leo. "Armenia? I was near there once. In Georgia. Why are they going there?"

To tell the truth Louis had no idea. He had a vague impression that David's parents were from Armenia, but he couldn't have said where he got that impression. "Lennox's wife was murdered and the detective couldn't catch the culprit. I suppose they're travelling because they want to forget."

"Not much of a detective," Leo said scornfully. "I met a detective once who could solve any crime you gave him."

Louis reread David's letter. "This was some foreign detective. I suppose he wasn't as good as a local one."

Leo sat bolt upright. "Was his name—" he said something that sounded like Suh Johann "—by any chance?"

"Er... David just says he was a Korean detective called See-oh."

"That's him," Leo said. "And he couldn't catch the culprit?"

He sounded like this was a personal insult. Louis wondered what on earth his history was with this detective.

A funny look crossed Leo's face. "What exactly was the case about?"

Louis tried to summarise what he knew about the Miss Whare–Alexander Lennox–David Eames fiasco. "...And then she and her lover got murdered, so David and Lennox are going to Armenia."

"And the detective didn't catch the culprit," Leo said thoughtfully. He really had a bee in his bonnet about that. He smiled suddenly. "Well, well, who'd have thought it of Seo Yo-han?"

THE END