Read Online Sherlock Holmes and the Knave of Hearts by Steve Hayes - Free Book Online Page A

professionals or businessmen, but emotional robbery was something else; and troubled by their grief, she soon realized she could not justify her actions or ignore her conscience any longer, and started searching for other ways to con money from the rich.
    Lydie had always been careful – or so she’d thought. But somewhere along the way she had come to the attention of this man Absalon and his mysterious employers.
    Common sense told her that she should call his bluff, simply say no and then do as she had done so many times before – vanish overnight, set up somewhere new, as
someone
new.
    But he had promised money and power. And the way he had promised them told her that he knew well that these were as necessary to her as food and drink, something she needed for her very survival.
    ‘Very well,’ she said at length. ‘I accept your proposition. When do I start work?’
    He smiled, and the smile, like the forked beard, was devilish. ‘We will be in touch.’
    And a month later they were.
    The jobs consisted of travelling around the country under a variety of aliases, showing interest in the workings of local politics, getting to know the public and private sides of various officials and councillors, and reporting back to Absalon. She had no idea why she carried out most of her duties, and knew better than to ask. Absalon would never come right out and tell her. But she was happy with that. Absalon scared her. The nameless organization for which he worked scared her. The less she knew, the safer she felt she would be.
    So she resigned herself to being a good little foot soldier in Absalon’s army – and it
was
an
army
. Whoever he was, whomever he worked for, Absalon had minions everywhere, digging, bribing, listening, reporting back. And at the centre of his web yet more minions collated and deciphered and interpreted that information.
    To what end? She had no idea. At least, not at first. But inevitably her curiosity grew and she began to wonder.
    Eventually it was the very name of the organization that gave her the answer. And then she understood what Absalon had meant about almost limitless power.
    At last the coach slowed enough to tell her they were nearing the end of the journey. She composed herself as best she could. It would do her no good to let them see just how much this stone-and-slate chateau tucked away at the heart of the Forêt Domaniale de Malvoisine intimidated her. She had to presentconfidence, dedication to the cause … whatever the cause might be.
    The coach followed one of the two gravel drives through a mixture of formal lawns and Italianate terraces. Though it had fallen into decay following the Revolution of 1848, the chateau had been rebuilt during the reign of Napoleon III and now stood in magnificence at the centre of seventeen hectares of land. It had its own lake, a guesthouse and numerous outbuildings, and was hidden away behind a protective enclosure of box and yew trees.
    A few moments later the coach pulled up before the wide stone steps that led to the house. One of Absalon’s other agents, alerted to her arrival by the telegram she had sent from Amiens immediately following her meeting with Bessette, was waiting to meet her in the cathedral-like reception area, with its cold flagstone floor and central cantilever staircase.
    This was Lacombe; she had never discovered his first name and had no particular desire to do so. He was a short, portly man in his mid-forties with a jowly face, a constant shadow to his soft jaw and unruly iron-grey hair that always seemed to be in need of a trim. He was devoted to Absalon, or at least gave that impression. And he had never bothered to disguise the lust she saw in his grey-blue eyes every time he looked at her.
    ‘You’re late,’ he said. His voice was soft and breathless, the voice of a man who could be almost unimaginably dangerous.
    ‘I am right on time,’ Lydie replied.
    He shrugged and led her into the spacious downstairs family