The Amazing Adventures of Vane and Troy
Jul. 14th, 2017 09:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerI have to leave Lily Dale today, and feel rather as though I am being pushed out of paradise. It is so quiet here! So quiet – and so many flowers – and I’ve gotten such a lot of work done – 7,000 words on a new novel!
Which is perhaps too similar to The Time-Traveling Popcorn Ball in some ways, by the by, but perhaps that one was not quite ready for prime time yet, poor thing.
But there are no rooms at the inn, so I must be moving on. I’m heading up toward Oneida, I think. We shall see if I actually make it all the way to my stated destination this time…
***
Oh, and also – I hope you’re happy, you monsters:
“Lord Peter Wimsey was one of your schoolfriends?” Troy asked.
“A schoolmate, at least,” Alleyn said, after a slight hesitation. “We investigated a case together at school.”
Under other circumstances, Troy might have laughed, or pressed for details. But now she simply smoothed the letter in her hand and frowned down at it again. “And now he wants me to paint his wife, the suspected murderess.”
“Acquitted,” Alleyn reminded her. “Not all suspects are guilty, you know.”
“Of course,” Troy said. Her own days as a murder suspect rose in her mind. She pushed them ruthlessly back. “But no one seems to have impressed this on the press. A suspected murderess painting a suspected murderess – soon I will be painting nothing but pretty murderesses for their rich foolish fans. So many criminals have the most boring faces.”
As she spoke, a newspaper photograph from the Vane case floated up in her mind. The girl had looked almost ugly, with a sullen mouth and a strong, dark brow.
It was the brow that made Troy pause now. There might be something in that. One could not tell from a newspaper photograph.
“I suppose,” she acquiesced, “it will do no harm to meet her.”
Which is perhaps too similar to The Time-Traveling Popcorn Ball in some ways, by the by, but perhaps that one was not quite ready for prime time yet, poor thing.
But there are no rooms at the inn, so I must be moving on. I’m heading up toward Oneida, I think. We shall see if I actually make it all the way to my stated destination this time…
***
Oh, and also – I hope you’re happy, you monsters:
“Lord Peter Wimsey was one of your schoolfriends?” Troy asked.
“A schoolmate, at least,” Alleyn said, after a slight hesitation. “We investigated a case together at school.”
Under other circumstances, Troy might have laughed, or pressed for details. But now she simply smoothed the letter in her hand and frowned down at it again. “And now he wants me to paint his wife, the suspected murderess.”
“Acquitted,” Alleyn reminded her. “Not all suspects are guilty, you know.”
“Of course,” Troy said. Her own days as a murder suspect rose in her mind. She pushed them ruthlessly back. “But no one seems to have impressed this on the press. A suspected murderess painting a suspected murderess – soon I will be painting nothing but pretty murderesses for their rich foolish fans. So many criminals have the most boring faces.”
As she spoke, a newspaper photograph from the Vane case floated up in her mind. The girl had looked almost ugly, with a sullen mouth and a strong, dark brow.
It was the brow that made Troy pause now. There might be something in that. One could not tell from a newspaper photograph.
“I suppose,” she acquiesced, “it will do no harm to meet her.”
no subject
Date: 2017-07-16 03:24 pm (UTC)(Peter is all too delighted to tell the press about how Alleyn's sterling qualities and steadfast friendship have informed his career. Alleyn, needless to say, rather wishes he wouldn't).
no subject
Date: 2017-07-16 07:43 pm (UTC)Do you think Peter realizes that he is a thorn in Alleyn's side, or is he dazzlingly oblivious? I could see it going either way. I imagine they belong to at least one of the same clubs - possibly it's Alleyn's only club; I can't see him collecting clubs - and whenever they meet there, Peter is wreathed in smiles and Alleyn wishes that he'd stayed down at the police station, where one is safe from amateur detectives.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-16 10:08 pm (UTC)Peter probably plays up being dazzlingly oblivious to hide the fact that he's slightly hurt, maybe a little more than slightly, because he's always genuinely happy to see Alleyn (who is intelligent and conscientious and can be counted on never to want to talk detection shop or posh nonsense). And they used to be such good friends! Meanwhile, Alleyn is too polite to tell Peter he's a disgrace to the profession.
no subject
Date: 2017-07-17 03:27 am (UTC)There's perhaps some extra angst to be gotten out of this if Alleyn were ahead of Peter in school, so that Peter has always looked up to him and striven to please him. The timelines are elastic enough to make this possible, I think?
no subject
Date: 2017-07-17 01:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-07-17 03:12 pm (UTC)