Read Online Betrayal by J. Robert Janes - Free Book Online

watch.’
    â€˜Kevin’s looking after things. His cousin’s come to join us.’
    Nolan swore softly under his breath, his voice rising to, ‘That’s all we need.’
    â€˜Oh, and is it now? And who was it that saw you into Eire? Who was it, I’m asking?’
    Fay Darcy had spoken through the gap that had been left by a missing pane of glass in one of the windows. The round, chubby cheeks and chin appeared jaundiced in the half-light.
    The woman turned away suddenly and gave a low whistle. In no time the one called Kevin had joined her and they crowded inside.
    â€˜The coast is clear enough, Liam,’ he said. ‘Let’s settle this and be away.’
    â€˜I wasn’t followed to that bridge where you met me. No one has any reason to do that.’
    â€˜Oh?’ It was the woman who had asked this. ‘A “You”-boat captain is it, Mrs. Fraser? Handsome, I take it?’
    â€˜Fay …’
    â€˜Liam, you shut yours. Why’re you doin’ this, Mrs. Fraser? For love, is it? It can’t be for patriotism, now can it?’
    â€˜It’s all a mistake. Look, I didn’t know anyone would be involved other than Erich’s cousin. I simply delivered a letter for him in an envelope to which I had attached a postage stamp. I was to mail it to a German address if she wasn’t at the White Horse Inn.’
    â€˜Taken past the sentries at the castle, was it? That’s treason, I should …’
    â€˜Fay …’
    â€˜Kevin, be quiet. She’s got jam on her fingers.’
    Fay plucked at a sleeve of Mary Fraser’s brown velvet jacket. She took in the soft yellow mohair pullover and the plain white cotton blouse with its tidy little Peter Pan collar that was buttoned up close and tight around that milk-white slender throat. Everything she saw spelled ‘kept woman,’ including the green tartan skirt which was not of the Fraser Clan at all and therefore must spell ignorance of such things.
    â€˜D’ you know what an Orangeman is, Mrs. Fraser?’ she asked, forcing her way round the one called Kevin to stand behind her now.
    Again Mary found herself looking at Nolan whose eyes flashed mischief as they flicked back and forth between her and the Darcy woman.
    â€˜An Orangeman’s a Protestant,’ she said at last, swallowing tightly at the intended humiliation.
    â€˜A Prod she says, boys. A blackhearted booger with murder in his heart, Mrs. Fraser, and the blood of his manliness in his hands. And me with his knackers to show for it!’
    â€˜Fay, cut it out!’ swore Nolan angrily.
    â€˜Why should I?’ she shot back, baiting him.
    â€˜Because this is getting us nowhere.’
    â€˜Then she’s all yours, Your Eminence, and only the more so if you were to bed her.’
    â€˜Liam, pay her no mind.’ The one called Kevin stepped closer to Nolan. Offering a cigarette, he held the match for him, then lit his own.
    Kevin had the wiry, short, curly jet black hair of some of the Irish, but his dark grey eyes squinted out from under dark, thick brows that slanted away and down. A man of forty or so. A man who kept himself back a bit. Stocky and of shoulder height to Nolan, the expression one of, Well, what are we to do with you now?
    The hairline was receding at the sides. The mouth was wide, the lips slightly parted. Sharp cleavages cut across the corners of the lips, slanting in towards the nose while two strong troughs shot up the middle of the weather-beaten cheeks to meet the crow’s-feet at the corners of his eyes.
    Did he have to wear glasses, and by not doing so, was he trying to hide this from her? she wondered.
    Kevin … Kevin who?
    The ears stuck out a little more than they should have, and the chin was cleanly shaven and round.
    â€˜Give us an answer then, Mrs. Fraser,’ he said at last, knowing that she had memorized the look of him. ‘Tell us why you’re