Read Online A sudden, fearful death by Anne Perry - Free Book Online

been far from friendly. As so often happened, they
had quarreled about something more of manner than of substance. In fact, he
could not remember what it was now, only that she had been abrasive as usual
and unwilling to listen or consider his view. Now she was sitting in
Callandra's best chair, the one he most preferred, looking tired and far from
the gently feminine creature Julia Penrose was. Hester's hair was thick and
nearly straight and she had taken little trouble to dress it with curls or
braids. Pulled as it was it showed the fine, strong bones of her face and the
passionate features, the intelligence far too dominant to be attractive. Her
gown was pale blue and the skirt, without hoops, a trifle crushed.
    He ignored her and smiled at
Callandra. "Good evening, Lady Callandra." He intended it to be warm,
but his general unhappiness flavored it more than he wished.
    "Good evening, William,"
Callandra replied, the tiniest smile touching the corners of her wide mouth.
    Monk turned to Hester. "Good
evening, Miss Latterly," he continued coolly, his disappointment
undisguised.
    "Good evening, Mr. Monk,"
Hester answered, turning around but not rising. "You look out of temper.
Have you a disagreeable case?"
    "Most criminal cases are
disagreeable," he responded. "Like most illnesses."
    "They both happen,"
Hester observed. "Very often to people we like and can help. That is
immeasurably pleasing—at least it is to me. If it is not to you, then you
should look for another form of employment."
    Monk sat down. He was unexpectedly
tired, which was ridiculous because he had done very little. "I have been
dealing with tragedy all day, Hester. I am in no mind for trivial
sophistry."
    "It is not sophistry,"
she snapped. "You were being self-pitying about your work. I pointed out
what is good about it."
    "I am not self-pitying."
His voice rose in spite of his resolution that it would not. "Good God! I
pity everyone in the affair, except myself. I wish you would not make these
slipshod judgments when you know nothing about the situation or the
people."
    She stared at him in fury for a
moment, then her face lit up with appreciation and amusement. "You don't
know what to do. You are confounded for the moment."
    The only answer that came to his
lips was in words he would not use in front of Callandra.
    It was Callandra who replied,
putting her hand on Hester's arm to restrain her.
    "You should not feel badly
about it, my dear," she said to Monk gently. "There was never much of
a chance of learning who it was—if it was anyone. I mean, if it was really an
assault."
    Hester looked to Callandra, then to
Monk, but she did not interrupt.
    "It was an assault," Monk
said more calmly. "And I know who it was, I just don't know what to do
about it." He ignored Hester, but he was very aware of the change in her;
the laughter was gone and suddenly her attention was total and serious.
    "Because of what Mrs. Penrose
will do with the knowledge?" Callandra asked.
    "No—not really." He
looked at her gravely, searching her curious, clever face. "Because of the
ruin and the pain it will bring."
    "To the offender?"
Callandra asked. "To his family?"
    Monk smiled. "No—and
yes."
    "Can you speak of it?"
Hester asked him, all friction between them brushed aside as if it did not
exist. "I assume you have to make a decision, and that is what troubles
you?"
    "Yes—by tomorrow."
    "Can you tell us?"
    He shrugged very slightly and sat
back farther in his chair. She had the one he really wanted, but it hardly mattered
now. His irritation was gone.
    "Marianne lives with her
married sister, Julia, and her sister's husband, Audley Penrose. Marianne says
she was raped when she was in the summerhouse in the garden, but she did not
know the man."
    Neither Hester nor Callandra
interrupted him, nor did their faces betray any disbelief.
    "I questioned everyone in the
neighborhood. No one saw any stranger."
    Callandra