Quick, Amanda by Affair Read Free Book Online Page B

for ye, Miss Charlotte.
    It's not as if there's any number of gentlemen running aboutLondon who would be willing to help ye
    investigate a murder. "
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    "I'm aware of that."Charlotte scowled. "I've agreed to hire St. Ives, have I not?" "Aye, and thank the
    good Lord. I don't mind tellin' ye, I don't much like this situation. Making inquiries into a bloody murder
    ain't in our usual line around here." "I'm aware of that as well."Charlotte watched Mrs. Witty pour fresh
    coffee.
    The housekeeper was an imposing woman whose monumental proportions would have done credit to an
    ancient goddess. In the three years since she had joined the household,Charlotte had had cause to be
    grateful for her steady nerves. Not many housekeepers would have tolerated an employer engaged in a
    career such as the oneCharlotte had carved out for herself Fewer still would have been willing to provide
    valuable assistance.
    Then again, there were not many housekeepers as well dressed as Mrs. Witty,Charlotte thought. When
    one required unusual services from one's staff, one naturally paid very well. "She's right." Ariel's
    expression grew more serious. "What you are proposing to do could prove dangerous,Charlotte ." "I
    have no choice,"Charlotte said quietly. "I must discover who killed Drusilla Heskett."
    V3axter was in his laboratory unpacking a new shipment of glassware that had been designed to his
    exacting specifications when the knock came on the door. "What is it, Lambert?" He removed a gleaming
    new retort from the box and held it up to the light to admire it. "I am occupied at the moment."
    The door opened. "Lady Trengloss, sir," Lambert announced in his tomblike accCnts.
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    Baxter reluctantly put down the retort and looked at Lambert.
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    Amanda Quick
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    His butler had a pained expression on his pinched face but that was nothing new. Lambert always
    looked pained. He was sixty-six years
    of age, well past the time when most men in his position retired
    with their pensions.
    The years had taken their toll. He suffered greatly from painful
    joints. His hands were gnarled and swollen and his movements had
    grown noticeably slower in the past year. "I suppose my aunt wants a full report on my new career as a
    man-of-affairs," Baxter said, resigned to the inevitable interview.
    "Lady Trengloss appears to be somewhat agitated, sit." "Show her in here, Lambert." "Aye, sit."
    Lambert made to remove himself and then paused. "There is something else I should mention, sit. The
    new house keeper departed an hour ago." ,, Bloody hell." Baxter scowled at a small flaw in a glass flask. "Not
    another one. That makes three in the past five months." "Aye, sir." "What did this one have to complain
    of? There have been no
    explosions of any significance in the laboratory in weeks and I have taken care to make certain that
    noxious odors did not permeate the hall." "Mrs. Hardy apparently concluded that you were attempting to
    poison her, sit "' Lambert said. "Poison her?" Baxter was outraged. "Why in God's name would
    she think that? Bloody damn difficult to keep housekeepers as it is.
    The last thing I would do is poison one."
    Lambert cleared his throat. "Something about the bottles of chemicals that she found in the kitchen last
    evening, I believe." "Devil take it, I only put them in there because I was preparing
    an experiment that required a very large pneumatic trough. You know I always use the kitchen sink for
    that purpose." "Apparently the sight of the bottles disturbed her, sit." "Damnation. Well, there is nothing,
    for it. Take yourself off to
    the agency and find us another housekeeper. God only knows what
    we'll havc to pay this time. Each one seems to be more expensive than the last." "Aye, sir." Lambert
    shuffled backward a pace and winced. He pressed ii Is. hand to his lower back.
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