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

sighed. "Audley
Penrose?"
    "Yes."
    "Oh dear. Does she love him?
Or think she does?"
    "No. She is horrified—and
apparently hurt," he said wearily. "She would rather be put out in
the street as an immoral woman than have Julia know what happened."
    Hester bit her lip. "Has she
any conception what that would be like?"
    "Probably not," he
replied. "But that hardly matters. Julia won't allow that to happen—I
don't think. But Marianne doesn't want me to tell anyone. She says she will
deny it anyway, and I can understand that Audley will deny it, naturally. He
has to. I have no idea what Julia will believe, or what she will have to say
she believes."
    "Poor creature," Hester
said with sudden passion. "What a fearful dilemma. What have you told
her?"
    "That I cannot find out who
assaulted Marianne and I wish to be released from the case."
    Hester looked across at him, her
face lit with warmth of admiration and respect.
    He was caught unaware by how sweet
it was to him. Without warning the bitterness vanished from the decision. His
own pride slipped away.
    "And you are content with
that?" Callandra broke the moment.
    "Not content," he
replied. "But I can think of nothing better. There is no honorable
alternative."
    "And Audley Penrose?" she
pressed.
    "I'd like to break his
neck," he said savagely. "But that is a luxury I can't afford."
    "I am not thinking of you,
William," Callandra said soberly. She was the only person who called him
by his given name, and while it pleased him with its familiarity, it also
brought her close enough that pretense was impossible.
    "What?" he said somewhat
abruptly.
    "I was not thinking of your
satisfaction in revenge," she elaborated. "Sweet as that would be. Or
the demands of justice, as you see it. I was thinking of Marianne Gillespie. How
can she continue to live in that house, with what has happened to her, and may
well happen again if he believes he has got away with it?"
    "That is her choice,"
Monk returned, but it was not a satisfying answer and he knew it. "She
was extremely insistent on it," he went on, trying to justify himself.
"She begged me to promise that I would not tell Julia, and I gave her my
word."
    "And what disturbs you
now?" Callandra asked, her eyes wide.
    Hester looked from one to the other
of them, waiting, her concentration intense.
    Monk hesitated.
    "Is it purely vanity, because
you do not like to appear to be defeated?" Callandra pursued. "Is
that all it is, William, your own reputation?"
    "No—no, I'm not sure what it
is," he confessed, his anger temporarily abated.
    "Have you considered what her
life will be if he continues his behavior?" Callandra's voice was very
quiet but the urgency in it filled the room. "She will feel terrified
every time she is alone with him in case it happens again. She will be
terrified in case Julia ever discovers them and is devastated with grief."
She leaned farther forward in her chair. "Marianne will feel she has
betrayed her sister, although it is none of her choosing, but will Julia know
that? Will she not always have that gnawing fear that in her heart Marianne was
willing, and that in some subtle way she encouraged him?"
    "I don't believe that,"
he said fiercely. "She would rather be put out on the street than have
Julia know it."
    Callandra shook her head. "I
am not speaking of now, William. I am speaking of what will happen if she says
nothing and remains in the house. She may not have thought of it yet, but you
must. You are the only one .who knows all the facts and is in a position to
act."
    Monk sat silent, the thoughts and
fears crowding his mind.
    It was Hester who spoke.
    "There is something worse than
that," she said quietly. "What if she became with child?"
    Monk and Callandra both turned
slowly toward her and it was only too apparent in their faces that such an idea
had not occurred to them, and now that it had they were appalled.
    "Whatever you promised, it is
not