Snippet #1837482

ORP: Sorry! Another long stretch, I know. I shan't be doing it again. Something came up, no need to worry though. I'll have to edit my post to fit in with that.

Richard sat down, awkwardly trying to avoid messing up his fine clothes as this chair was rather different from the one in the lavish sitting room they had been in earlier. He listened intently to the chef, who was thankfully still acting nicely, but frowned at the mysteriousness of her statement. An unknown host hiring a chef all for this. Who was this host? And why were they doing this? Not that he didn't like the whole event, but he was intrigued by the mystery of it all. Perhaps his fascination with mystery came from his childhood reading of Sherlock Holmes; in fact, his own books, which had sold a miserable amount of copies and been received with less than great critical reception, had been detective stories.

Before Richard got too involved in his thoughts, Juliana asked a question. He smiled as he realised what she'd done, and the chef looked surprised. *Here was I thinking how influenced I was by the great detective* he thought. As Juliana continued to press her advantage and push the woman, Richard marvelled at Juliana's reasoning. He hadn't been so quick thinking, unfortunately, and simply sat there as Juliana pressed the woman further. He also noted that Juliana was much different, even more different from before when she had changed so much from the near wreck he'd first met. He decided to take a turn at breaking the woman. He really should have felt bad about trying to do such a thing, but somehow the heat of the chase had taken hold of him. *The game,* thought Richard with a touch of a smile at his lips, *is afoot. And it's really very...fun.* He wondered once more whether it was wrong to think that, but only for a second, for he said, "You can tell us the truth, surely? We are guests, invited here (in a sense) for a purpose. So we surely have a right to know what's going on? Come now, unless there's some secret you can't tell us, you can tell us. Or is there a secret? Does your state inform us that there is?" Richard's voice had taken on a tone of mock innocence and questioning.