The Angel Court Affair (Thomas Pitt 30) by Anne Perry Read Free Book Online Page B

Barton Hall, then she would certainly have told us,’ he answered for Ramon. ‘The situation between them is . . . unpleasant. He has no understanding whatever of her mission. I have no idea why she wished to see him. And I am certain that she has not done so yet.’
    Ramon gave him a withering look. ‘Her business is private. She would certainly have gone alone, but not in the night, and not without telling anyone.’
    ‘An emergency?’ Pitt was still looking for an answer that displayed thoughtlessness possibly, but not danger.
    ‘What emergency?’ Smith said bitterly. ‘We have no idea why she wanted to see her cousin in such a hurry, or even at all! They were not close. Her family has treated her very badly. Without understanding. They are steeped in their own past, their own knowledge, their own importance! Rigid . . .’ He stopped and flushed very slightly, aware that both Pitt and Ramon were staring at him. He cleared his throat. ‘I apologise. I have never met Barton Hall. I know only what she told me, and what I read between the lines of her words.’
    Ramon was irritated. ‘How can you know this much about a man that, by your own admission, you have never met? I do not believe she spoke ill of him, whatever she thought.’ He turned to Pitt. There was anger and warning in his eyes.
    His blind defence of Sofia was possibly hampering the investigation, but nevertheless Pitt admired it, which was unreasonable in itself. If any woman looked capable of defending herself, and willing to do so, it was Sofia Delacruz.
    ‘You wouldn’t,’ Smith said with an edge of contempt. ‘Your views of her are tinged with affection, even though at the moment only the truth is of any help to us.’ He turned from Ramon back to Pitt. ‘Their differences are an old wound to Barton Hall’s family pride. To his standing in the world, if you like.’
    ‘He has no standing in the world,’ Ramon snapped back. ‘He is a banker and a layman in the Church of England. He is important in his community, that’s all. When he retires someone else will take his place, and he will sink into obscurity. The señora will be remembered for ever. The world will be changed because of her.’ His dark face with its gentle lines was filled with a passionate enthusiasm that made him momentarily beautiful.
    Pitt was a little taken aback. He saw emotion transcending the trivial details of Sofia’s preaching or healing a family rift. It momentarily ignored even the hierarchy of this odd sect whose differences he was beginning to appreciate.
    Then common sense returned like a cold wind erasing words written in sand. Sofia had gone away, unaccountably. Judging from his face, Smith’s feelings were very mixed. He seemed too angry to be frightened for her yet, and was denying to himself the possibility that she had come to harm. Was that because he knew perfectly well where she was? Or was he unable to contemplate something serious having happened to her?
    Ramon’s expression was different. He looked fearful of the worst, as if in his vision she was important enough that all the power of evil, human or otherwise, would quite naturally gather against her. It was there in the panic to his voice, the intensity of his speech.
    Pitt clung on to the details of fact and reason.
    ‘The two women who went with her,’ he said, returning to the issue, ‘Cleo Robles and Elfrida Fonsecca – tell me something of them. I remember seeing them at the meeting. They seemed to be close to her, but why would she take both of them, in the middle of the night?’
    Smith and Ramon began speaking at the same time, and then both stopped. It was Smith who began again, asserting his seniority.
    ‘Cleo Robles is very young, twenty-three. She is well-meaning, full of enthusiasm, but she has much yet to learn of the way to teach people.’
    ‘There are as many ways as there are people to teach,’ Ramon interrupted. ‘And often enough it takes more than one person