I cheated a touch on this: I wrote a bunch of stuff when I thought I was doing a short story, and not Chapter One of the new book. So we can hit the ground running!
It looked like I had two traveling companions with me: a man and a woman, getting towards elderly, both sporting subtly matching high-class clothes and haughty expressions. I hoped they weren’t going south to loosen up, because from the way they looked, you’d need a jackhammer of the Old Americans to do the job right.
Blessedly, both appeared absolutely uninterested in talking to a mere Shamus. Most days, I would take that as a challenge. Most days, I’m still in bed at this hour.
I was starting to wonder whether the guy who bought the fourth ticket was also in bed, the lucky so-and-so, when we started hearing the sounds of what the papers call a ‘ruckus.’ Nowhere near us, and not coming any closer, but I opened up the window with a clatter and stuck my head out.
“I do not think that is any of our business,” offered the guy. His voice was exactly as snooty as I expected. The woman contented herself with a sniff.
“You never know,” I replied cheerfully. “Though you’re probably right. Unless one of you two knows Lady Serafina.”
“I beg your pardon?” That was the woman. “What is she doing here?”
“Yelling at…” I peered, “…I ain’t sure, but I think that’s the Baroness of Olmos. Hard to say: I’ve never seen her only wearing a bathrobe.”
There was the sudden presence of two more people by my side. The coach might have even rocked, a little. “Oh, dear,” eventually managed the man, who had pulled out a little spyglass and was peering at the scene. “I do believe that you are correct, Shamus. That is Angelica. She seems a bit upset, too.”