Eva's Sins.

LVII

„Never trust people that hadn't been ever your friends"

  „Are you leaving somewhere, Mrs. Fabeau?" Keen asked Lorenne in a cheerful voice, seeing her coming out of Mrs. Bircham's house and heading in a hurry toward the backyard where Simon was waiting for her with the carriage ready to go.

  Seeing the detective in front of her, grinning from ear to ear, Lorenne grimaced and, after turning her head to the right, looking for Simon to demand him at least by a glance to bring the carriage closer and thus to escape, she whispered: „who the hell brought this one here?" but she saw herself forced to get out from under that unpleasant moment of surprise and, smiling tensely, she offered her hand to Keen, trying to look surprised to see him there.

  „Oh, detective Keen, what a surprise to see you here!"

  Keen instead only stared at her: „I also think that it was a surprise to you!" he mumbled, but anyway he also offered his hand, shaking hers. However, he didn't do that just to greet her, but he also tried to play into her hands only to buy some time to find the perfect manner to pump the secrets out of her. „I must accept that I've been the surprised one because I never expected to see you here! I thought you were still in Brighton!" he teased her.

  „Damn jerk!" Lorenne thought while staring at him. „In Brighton? Why so? From what I remember, I think I've told you that I'll come to London for ... business," she said with a hypocritical, innocent voice.

  Keen sniggered: „businesses?! Interesting businesses you actually have here, Mrs. Fabeau. Especially finding out that you are here and, related to „I told you that I'll leave Brighton," - I still think that you never mentioned this."

  „Really?! I didn't say that?! Probably I forgot this. It wasn't done with any mean or hidden intention, anyway. I just ... was in a rush and..."

  „I also think that you've been in a rush. Especially realizing the fact that I never believed your whackers about Albert Shin's death," Keen spoke in his beard.

  Yet, he had decided that playing that cat and the mouse's game wasn't something proper for him and he decided to attack, how he used always to act with someone he considered damn suspicious. „Is Miss Davis by chance also here?"

  Lorenne swallowed hard while staring at Keen. „Emily? Here? On what occasion?" she asked, pretending to be surprised.

  „How should I know that?! I just thought that passing through such difficult times, she backtracked. Or maybe... she thought that turning back to London she'll find Miss Stonebridge and she'll accomplish her plan."

  Mrs. Fabeau instead disliked the detective's half-word and right away, she pierced him with her glance: „detective, you are playing a damn dangerous and foul play," Lorenne hissed through the teeth. „Just as you are trying to reformulate my words and to make me look like an idiot. But... it won't work for you."

  „Why? From what I remember, I didn't say anything wrong."

  „Do you think so? What I think is totally the opposite of it. More the fact that you started to talk about Eva. I don't think that child deserves to be backbitten and more by the same detective hired to find her, who eventually didn't fulfill his commitment, but he tried to reach his own peddling purposes," Lorenne told him, this time in a serious voice, preferring to chase away the fake smile off her face and talking to Keen to their level because she passed through a lot of harsh times during her life to be forced now too to face a bounder as she considered Vincent Keen to be.

  Keen instead changed his tactics and instead of a large smile on his face he sniggered, only moving a little bit the corner of his lips to the right, a fact that was revealing his intention to look out for what she was really trying to do by talking to him this way. „She knows why I came to Brighton. The last time we saw each other she had no idea or at least she was only suspecting why. However, it's something known to her now because someone told her about my plans. But... who? Emily? Christine Bircham or the puppeteer?" Keen thought.