"Yes, uh, thank you," Edmund responded, taking the woman's card and sliding into the pocket of his vest.  His face remained cheerful, if stern, and a brief smile crossed his lips as she continued talking, though the smile never touched his eyes.  In fact, his heart began to beat heavily, and it took all his effort to maintain his composure.<br/><br/>Edmund had never been a great detective - he knew that, even if all the world, save Annabelle, thought otherwise.  He simply had no mind for it - remembering facts, keeping track of clues, all that was rubbish, to him at least, and he never could get a grasp on it.  There was one thing, however, that he excelled at...and that was acting.  It was his one true passion, his one great calling.  For all his blustering and pretentiousness, for however worthless he may be at actually detecting anything, the one area that he could honestly take pride in was his ability to act, to fool, to deceive...and to pick up when someone else was doing the same.<br/><br/>He missed the fact that Miss Lake had addressed Annabelle first.  With a flourish, he stalked behind Miss Lake, and then placed his hands gently, reassuringly on her shoulders.<br/><br/>"I am sure that whatever information you have will prove quite useful," he said cheerfully, but his eyes lacked cheer as he locked gazes with Annabelle, his facial expressions, hidden from Miss Lake, conveying his doubt in this woman's story to the true detective.<br/>