Evans Above by Rhys Bowen Read Free Book Online Page B

wondering if you were going to be one of the chaperons?”
    â€œI said I might,” Evan said, “but I’m not so sure I can make it now. I’ve got a lot of things on my plate this week.”
    Dilys’ face fell. “Oh, but you have to come,” she said. “I was hoping you’d dance with me once.”
    â€œYou’ve never seen me dance,” Evan said, laughing. “Anyhow, you’ll have the boys lining up to dance with you. I won’t get a look in.”
    â€œNo, they won’t,” Dilys said, her face still very red. “They make fun of me because I’m taller than they are. They call me Telephone-pole Thomas.”
    â€œI wouldn’t worry if I were you,” Evan said. “That will all sort itself out soon enough. But I’ll try my best to come to the dance and I promise I’ll dance with you if I’m there, okay?”
    â€œThanks, Mr. Evans,” Dilys said. She gave him a dazzling smile. “Bye now. I have to get home or my ma will kill me.”
    Evan watched her run off, marvelling at her innocence. Why couldn’t childhood be like that for all kids, he thought, her biggest worry that she had grown before the boys of her age. How come some lives were trouble-free and others were cut short by tragedy? It didn’t seem fair and it didn’t make sense. Evan liked things to make sense.
    â€œAre you not speaking to me today then?” A soft, smooth voice made him jump. Then it was his turn to blush. “Oh, Bronwen, I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you. I was thinking.”
    â€œThat’s all right. I forgive you,” she said, and gave him a smile that warmed him right down to his boots. “So they let
you go hiking on work days now, do they? I saw you coming down the track through the classroom window.”
    â€œI’ll have you know I’ve been up that bloody mountain twice within the last twenty-four hours,” Evan said, a little put out. “Once last night and then again first thing this morning. And it wasn’t too pleasant, either.”
    â€œI know—the climbing accident,” she said. “I was only teasing because I imagine it can’t have been too nice for you, getting out a body.”
    â€œIt wasn’t just one body,” Evan said. “It was two.”
    â€œTwo? Were they roped together?”
    â€œNo, it wasn’t even the same accident.”
    â€œThat’s very strange.” Bronwen shielded her eyes to gaze upward at the peak. “You and I were both up there yesterday and I’d have said it was perfect weather for climbing or walking. No excuse for falling, was there?”
    â€œLike you say, it was very strange,” Evan said. “Sergeant Watkins thinks it was just a horrible coincidence.”
    â€œAnd you don’t?”
    â€œI’m still thinking about it,” Evan said. “One man’s wife came today to identify him. I expect the other man’s next of kin will show up soon enough. Maybe we’ll know more then.”
    â€œYou look tired,” Bronwen said. “Long day, huh?”
    â€œAnd I’ve only had a packet of crisps and a cup of tea since seven,” Evan said. “I could eat a horse right now.”
    â€œI got the impression that was what Mrs. Williams had in mind for your tea,” Bronwen said, smiling. “I met her in the shop and she was very upset that you’d missed your lunch. She seems to think you’re about to waste away any moment.”
    Evan gave an embarrassed smile. “I feel like a prize turkey being fattened up for Christmas sometimes,” he said. “I keep
telling her I don’t need lunch but she cooks it anyway, and it’s there, dry and nasty on a plate in the oven, waiting for me whenever I show up.”
    â€œThat’s one of the problems with landladies,” Bronwen said.
    â€œShe means well and she’s good-hearted