England is an offstage point of origin, possible destination, and contested idea of home in the book’s closing movement. Darcy O’Mara’s investigation begins with a commission from England, while the suspected thief’s possible return there gives the authorities a route to watch. For Georgiana Rannoch and Claire Daniels, England is also a prospective homecoming, though neither woman is eager to make the same journey for the same reasons.

An Offstage Base for the Investigation

England enters the investigation through Darcy’s account of why he came to America. He was sent from England to pursue a jewel thief who could move comfortably in upper-class society and might belong to it. The case had crossed the Atlantic before Darcy did: a valuable ruby was stolen aboard a ship, and the thief tried to negotiate its sale with a well-known gangster. A letter connected to the attempted sale was intercepted and posted in Los Angeles, bringing Darcy’s attention to the recent acquisitions of Mr. Goldman.

This chain makes England the mission’s point of departure, not the site of its central action. The investigation’s immediate clues and suspicions concern events in America, including Darcy’s suspicion of Stella Brightwell. Georgiana’s proof that Stella did not kill Mr. Goldman alters that suspicion, but it does not resolve the broader question of the jewel thief. England therefore remains present as the institutional background to a case whose decisive leads have carried Darcy far from it.

The Possible Return of the Thief

At the investigation’s close, England becomes a possible destination for the fugitive. Darcy knows who committed the crimes, but does not know where she has gone. He warns that she uses disguises and travels under a false passport, and says that the port authorities can watch for her if she returns to England. The warning turns the country into a point of anticipated interception: a place the suspect might enter, but not a location where her capture is assured.

Darcy’s prospects are correspondingly uncertain. He fears going home empty-handed and plans to cable Scotland Yard for instructions, including whether the American police should be involved. Since the thief has not stolen anything in America, he considers American police involvement unlikely. England is thus linked to the authority that sent him and to the next decision about the case, while the lack of an identified destination for the fugitive prevents that connection from becoming a successful arrest. The investigation can establish who the thief is without establishing where she will go.

A Homecoming Georgiana Cannot Promise

For Georgiana, England surfaces first as a question of what happens after the American film project ends. With no film left to shoot, she expects that she and Claire Daniels may have to return to the small house in Reno. Darcy asks whether he will see her when she is back in England, but Georgiana cannot tell him where she will be. She does not want to return to Castle Rannoch, and expects Claire to go back to Max. England is therefore not a definite next stop for her: it is one possible horizon, complicated by family arrangements and her reluctance to resume life at the castle.

Her parting with Darcy makes that uncertainty personal. He speaks as if a reunion in England might follow, but Georgiana cannot confirm it. Belinda offers her a different immediate option, saying that Georgiana can use her place because she will remain in America for a while. The contrast leaves England as a possible future rather than a settled destination, while the closing departure remains unresolved for Georgiana.

Claire Daniels’s Different Idea of Home

Claire’s attitude toward England is more decisive, though it arrives through her own practical circumstances. She reports that she has seen Homer Clegg in Reno and that he wants a quick divorce so he can marry someone else. His change of purpose means that Claire expects the divorce to be completed within days, freeing them to go home. Her prospect of returning is tied not to Darcy’s investigation but to the end of her marriage and the opportunity to leave America.

When Georgiana asks whether they should attend Mr. Goldman’s funeral, Claire dismisses the need, reasoning that many people will be there and that she and Goldman were not close friends. She says she has had enough of America and wants to be home, where, in her view, there are no foolish ideas of equality and she can buy decent face cream. Her complaints give the hoped-for return a sharply personal and socially conservative meaning. Georgiana, by contrast, admits she cannot wait to go home, revealing that mother and daughter do not share Claire’s enthusiasm. England closes the book as a desired refuge for Claire, a possible meeting place for Darcy and Georgiana, and a destination that Georgiana herself still cannot embrace.