A Christmas Hope by Anne Perry Read Free Book Online Page A

determinednot to be interrupted. “A fight that became more unpleasant than was intended. However, the poor young woman died, so now the police believe it was murder. Although I think that that is overstating it a bit.”
    Squeaky stared at her as if she had suddenly turned into a monster in front of him. “God help us, woman! What have you done?” he squawked.
    She gulped. “I have helped someone … I helped Dai Tregarron escape from the police, although I didn’t know he would be accused of murder at the time,” she explained.
    “What did you think it was, for God’s sake, if the police were after him?” he accused her.
    She took a deep breath. “I told you, I thought it was just a fight that got rather … out of hand. The girl—Winnie Briggs—she wasn’t dead then,” she added.
    “If she wasn’t dead, why were the police after you … or … whoever?”
    “Because it was a nasty fight, and … and the wrong person was blamed. I think—”
    “You think?” His voice rose higher. “You think! If you had anything in your head to think with you’d have left the whole thing alone and got the hell out of … whatever it was! You didn’t think!”
    She felt angry and vulnerable. She was already perfectly aware that she had not exercised the best judgment. It only made it worse that Squeaky, the one person who might have helped her, had nothing to offer but blame. She responded with the greatest insult she could think of.
    “You sound just like my husband.”
    Squeaky paled. “That’s a terrible thing to say, Mrs. B. I’m cut to the heart!”
    She consolidated her advantage immediately. “Wallace will not even consider that the wrong man is being accused, because the other three who might have done it are all rich, respectable young men. The man accused, Tregarron, he drinks too much, is older, and has a somewhat dubious reputation,” she added for good measure.
    His eyes narrowed. “And why is it you think this drunkard is not guilty?” He knew her opinion of strong drink and those who overindulged in it.
    She was trapped and recognized his awareness of it immediately. She raised her chin in defiance, but finding the words was less easy. “Because he’s a womanizer,” she replied. “He has charm—in fact, he’s notorious for it. Why would he resort to violence? It’s stupid, and it’s unnecessary.”
    “Oh, well,” Squeaky said sarcastically, “nobody ever does anything stupid or unnecessary under the influence of drink. Everybody knows that!”
    “He’s a drinker, so he must be guilty,” she retorted. “I forgot.”
    “There’s no need to be snippy,” he replied. “What did you do, exactly?”
    His tone brought sharp and very unpleasant childhood memories to Claudine’s mind, of standing in her father’s study while he required her to explain her misbehavior and then be appropriately penitent.
    “He escaped from the immediate scene,” she replied stiffly.
    “How?” he asked at once. “I suppose you helped with that, too, did you?”
    “No, I did not! He came as a footman on my carriage, and I had no idea until the following morning …”
    Squeaky’s eyebrows shot up.
    “Do you think I look at footmen’s faces?” she snapped. “It was dark. The coachman didn’t notice, and I certainly didn’t. I ride inside my carriage, not on the footboard!”
    “Then how did you learn of it the following morning? He wasn’t still on the footboard, I presume?”
    Having to be this civil to Squeaky Robinson was a high price to pay for anything. She would rather have told him to mind his manners and be about the job he was paid for. But she simply could not afford to. “One of the maids found him in the stable and gave him something to eat,” Claudine explained. “She told me. I went out to see what she was talking about, and I found him. I gave him breakfast and sent him on his way.” She took a deep breath. “When the police came looking for him, sometime after