Mistletoe Mystery by Sally Quilford Read Free Book Online Page B

me play this out
my way, and then I’ll be able to give you all you want.”

 
    Chapter Five
    “You’re very quiet,” said Matt, as they walked back up to
the house. Philly had made sure that he did not know she overheard his
telephone conversation by slipping back behind the small tower and waiting for
him to come looking for her.
    “I’m thinking more,” she said shortly. It was something her
godmother used to say when she was in one of her rare bad moods.
    “Thinking about what? I hope it’s not me, because I’m not
sure I like the look on your face.”
    Philly was not ready to tell him what she had heard. She wanted
to find a way to catch him out properly. Then she could have him arrested for
whatever it was he was up to. One thing of which she was certain, he would not
get the key to the attic, no matter how much he thought himself capable of
seducing her. Not that there was anything in the attic worth bothering about.
It was a matter of principle.
    “There were loads of hearts with dates and time inside the
small tower,” she said. “I was thinking about the romance that led to them. I
wondered if it had anything to do with Dominic DuPont.” There, that was not
exactly a lie. It was exactly what she had been thinking before she overheard
the telephone conversation and realised that Matt was a sneak-thief.
    It all made sense now. His sudden attraction to her. She had
known all along it was too good to be true. No doubt he saw the Robespierre
painting, heard about Bedlington Hall and decided she must be richer than she
said.
    “You think she ran off with this guy?”
    “It did occur to me yes, though that doesn’t answer the question
of why her family didn’t come forward.” Philly hoped she sounded plausible and
interested enough in Dominique’s story. In reality all she could think was that
her heart was beginning to break, despite all her best efforts to protect it.
Not that she would ever let him see that. If he knew how she really felt, then
it would give him power over her, and she would not allow that to happen. “Or
perhaps,” she said, unable to stop the bitterness flowing from her lips, “he
thought she was rich and killed her when he found out she wasn’t.” She searched
his face for a flicker of guilt, conscience, anything that might give him away.
He looked just as gorgeous as ever, which did not help her at all.
    “Wow, that’s a big jump from clandestine meetings in a folly
at the side of a lake,” said Matt. “What would he stand to gain from that? I
mean, if they didn’t marry first so that he inherited all her wealth? Surely a
conman would just cut his losses and leave her heartbroken but alive.”
    “Yes, that’s a good point. Unless he was really desperate.
He might have owed money to someone, and pitched all his hopes on her.”
    “Then if he had any sense, he’d run like hell, without
stopping to look behind him.”
    “You don’t know how desperate he was.”
    “Nah, it doesn’t make sense, Philly. I’m not saying that she
didn’t meet some guy who killed her, but it would have been a crime of passion.
Or a suicide pact. Or maybe he was just a sicko. If he was a conman who found
out she had no money, then he would have switched his attentions to someone who
did.”
    “You sound as if you know a lot about it.”
    “I’ve met a few conmen in my time, yes. They’re not
generally the passionate type. Oh sure you get the odd one who has some other
psychological problem, and maybe kills his prey to stop her talking, but mostly
they’re the type who don’t waste time on cons that have come to nothing. They
move on to the next one.” She could not help noticing that his voice became
harder.
    “So maybe he killed Dominique to stop her talking,” she
said, pressing on regardless. “Perhaps she found out about him and was going to
blow the whistle.”
    “I still think he’d have cut and run. If she was the only
one who ever saw him, and if he used a false