Why Shoot a Butler by Georgette Heyer Read Free Book Online Page B

that no one was going to make a cat's-paw of him, maundered a little of hidden dangers and of dark plots, and asserted loudly that whoever else got murdered it would not be himself. As Amberley swung the car into the lane that led to Ivy Cottage he suddenly grasped his sleeve and said earnestly: "I didn't think there was anything in it. Shirley thought so, but I didn't. A hoax. Thash what I thought. But it isn't. I see it isn't now. I've got to be careful. Not speak to anyone. Not give anything away."
    "I shouldn't," said Amberley, drawing up at the gate of the cottage. He got out of the car and went up the flagged path to the front door. He knocked, heard a dog bark, and in a few minutes was confronting Shirley Brown.
    She was evidently startled to see him, but she tried to conceal it. "May I ask what you want?" she said brusquely.
    Mr. Amberley wasted no time on delicate euphemisms. "I want to get rid of a damned nuisance," he said. "I've brought your brother home. He's extraordinarily drunk."
    "Oh, my God, again!." she said wearily. "All right, I'll come." She glanced up at him. "Decent of you to bother. Thanks."
    "Stay where you are," said Amberley. "I'll fetch him." He went back to the car and opened the door. "Your sister's waiting for you."
    Mark allowed himself to be assisted out of the car. "I didn't say anything I shouldn't, did I?" he said anxiously. "You'll tell her I didn't."
    "All right." Amberley guided his erratic steps up the path.
    Shirley looked him over. "Oh! You'd better go and sleep it off," she said. She took his arm and nodded to Amberley. "Thanks. Goodbye."
    "I'm coming in," said Amberley.
    "No, thanks. I can manage him."
    "Nevertheless, I am coming in," he repeated. He put her aside without ceremony, and guided Mark into the house and up the narrow stairs. "Which room?" he said over his shoulder.
    She was standing at the foot of the stairs frowning up at him. "On the left."
    When he came down again some minutes later she was still standing where he had left her. She said: "I daresay it's very kind of you to take so much trouble, but I wish you'd go."
    "I'm sure you do. Where did you learn your pretty manners?"
    "Where you learnt yours!" she shot back at him.
    "Do you know, I think I'm treating you with a remarkable amount of forbearance," he said. "Did anyone ever slap you really hard when you were a child?"
    An unwilling smile crept into her eyes. "Often. Thank you so much for bringing my brother home. I'm most awfully grateful, and I do wish I could ask you to stop, only unfortunately I'm rather busy just now. How's that?"
    "I prefer the original version. You might ask me into your sitting room."
    "No doubt, but I'm not going to."
    "Then I won't wait for the invitation," he said, and walked in.
    She followed him, half angry, half amused. "Look here, I admit I owe you a debt of gratitude for not making trouble the other night, but that doesn't give you the right to force your presence on me. Please go. Why are you so anxious to pursue our acquaintance?"
    He looked sardonically across at her. "I'm not in the least anxious to pursue it. But I'm interested in that murder."
    "Of which I know nothing."
    He said unpleasantly: "Lie to me by all means, Miss Brown, but choose a better lie than that. If you've any sense you'll stop being mysterious and tell me just what you're playing at."
    "Really?" She raised her brows. "Why?"
    "Because your extreme reluctance to behave in a normal manner is fast convincing me that you're up to some mischief. I don't like lawbreakers, and I have every intention of finding out what your game is."
    "You'll be very clever if you do," she said.
    "You are likely to discover, my misguided young friend, that I am considerably cleverer than anyone you've yet had to deal with."
    "Thanks for the warning. But I have no game and I am not at all mysterious."
    "You forget I've spent half an hour in your brother's instructive company."
    Her calm left her; she cried hotly: "So you pumped a