An Unwilling Accomplice by Charles Todd Read Free Book Online Page B

studied me for a moment and then took out a card. “I’ll leave this with you. If you remember anything, or think of anything that might be useful to us, please contact me at the Yard.”
    I couldn’t have said, if my life had depended on it, whether the Inspector believed me or thought I was concealing information from him.
    “Thank you, I will most certainly do all I can to help you.” I took the card, and he rose to leave.
    “I appreciate that, Sister.” He walked to the door, then turned. “Would you aid this man if he came to you for help?”
    “I was kind once. And it has cost me dearly. I would do what I could, if he were hurt, it’s what I’m trained to do. But I would have no hesitation in turning him over to you or the nearest policeman I could find.”
    Inspector Stephens smiled. “I very much hope you mean that.”
    And he was gone, closing the outer door behind him.
    What on earth had Sergeant Wilkins dragged me into?
    It was the question foremost in my mind as I sat there, staring at nothing. I wouldn’t have said, if I’d been asked a few days ago, that Sergeant Wilkins was capable of desertion, much less murder. But then I’d accepted him at face value. As had the Palace and the King and even the hotel staff.
    But he’d killed all those German soldiers manning the machine gun. Hadn’t he?
    That was war. Not a quiet town in the north, not too far from Shrewsbury.
    Still, I now had to wonder how this would affect my own circumstances.
    Had Inspector Stephens believed I was a party to whatever Sergeant Wilkins had done? Even if I could prove I hadn’t left London, I’d been involved in his escape.
    I rather thought he’d given me the benefit of the doubt. And the more I considered that, the more I believed it must have been because of Constable Williams.
    The Inspector had accepted the judgment of one of London’s experienced policemen that I was a young woman of good family and here was a stranger asking to see her privately, something that Mrs. Hennessey had felt was not quite proper. Constable Williams had stepped in to assure two women that all was as it should be. Or else he would have escorted the stranger out to the street and seen him off.
    It might have been enough, that encounter, to assure Inspector Stephens that I wasn’t harboring a fugitive in our flat, and that I wasn’t the sort of young person who had a reputation with young men.
    I heard the outer door open again, and Mrs. Hennessey’s footsteps hurrying across to her door, eager to hear what this visit had been about.
    And what was I to tell her?
    She came bustling in, smiling. “Wasn’t it fortunate that I met Constable Williams just at the corner? And he told me afterward that we had done the right thing, summoning him. I didn’t care for that man at all. And if he’s someone you know, I’m sorry for it, but I think it was a wise precaution.”
    “Yes, indeed, it was very fortunate,” I agreed. “He was from the police, as it happened. The caller. About one of the wounded I’ve treated. He appears to have got himself into some sort of trouble,” I added evasively.
    “But why turn to you, Bess?”
    “I expect, to see if I could give the man a good character.”
    “Ah, yes, of course. Then I won’t ask any more. It’s just as well I went on to the butcher’s while I was out. He’s kept back a bit of ham for us. Do you think Diana will care to join us for dinner? There’s barely enough, I’m afraid.”
    As it happened Diana had other plans, and that left me to spend the evening with Mrs. Hennessey. I’d been wondering how to let Simon know what was happening, but I didn’t like writing it down and mailing the letter. Better to explain face-to-face.
    And so I tried to be lighthearted and listened to the gossip Mrs. Hennessey had gleaned while visiting the butcher’s shop. The evening seemed endless, but after our second cup of tea, dear Mrs. Hennessey began to nod, and I covered her with a shawl before