Read Online The Devil's Due: An Irish Historical Thriller by L.D. Beyer - Free Book Online Page A

something more in her eyes. Her brow was furrowed and she glanced once or twice toward the rear of the train. I frowned. It was a look I was familiar with for it was one I had seen on my own mother.
    Once the train stopped, the passengers in my car began climbing out of their seats, their excited voices filling the air. I peered out the window again. Mary was looking down the platform toward the rear of the train. She bit her lip, then seemed to catch herself. I realized I had misread the tension I had spotted before. Something was happening outside. When she turned back, she held my eyes and shook her head twice.
    What was happening outside I didn’t know. I turned to the family behind me, looking for something to delay getting off the train until Mary signaled that it was safe.
    “Here, let me,” I said with the biggest smile I could manage. I helped them with the luggage and the pram, holding it steady as the mother laid the baby inside. All the while, I kept one eye on Mary. She glanced my way and shook her head again. I felt a prickle on the back of my neck as I sat back down. Outside, two men passed Mary and they too glanced over their shoulders toward the rear of the train. The worried looks on their faces were a match for that on Mary’s. They quickened their pace and hurried away. A moment later I knew why. I heard the scrape and staccato clack of footsteps—sounds that could only be made by hobnailed boots. Then I heard the voices—British voices—and a moment later six soldiers appeared. I spun away from the window, tilting my head down, trying to hide my face. Wasn’t there supposed to be an amnesty? In a moment of panic, I wondered whether the truce had failed. I watched the soldiers out of the corner of my eye. Except for the officer who carried a revolver in his holster, they weren’t armed like the ones I remembered. What type of patrol is this? I wondered. As they passed by the car, Mary bit her lip and glanced down the platform again. As the soldiers disappeared, I realized that something else troubled Mary.
    “Is everything alright here?”
    I spun at the voice. The conductor frowned. He held a small silver watch in his hand, the chain connected to his waistcoat. Letting out the breath I’d been holding, I told him I would be off in a minute. He glanced at his watch, slid it back into the pocket of his vest, nodded once, and then left to check on other passengers. Most of them were gathering their luggage and making their way to the door and the steps that led outside. From the platform, I could hear the high-pitched voices of people who hadn’t seen each other in years.
    Unsure what to do, I waited for Mary’s signal. The soldiers had disappeared, but Mary still wore a worried look. Cautiously I pressed my face to the glass, trying to see down the platform. I felt the shiver creeping up my neck again and a moment later I knew why. I jerked back at the sight: the broad shoulders; the dark, hooded eyes, filled more often with menace than they were with laughter; the thin upper lip that sat over a square jaw; the crooked nose that came from Liam’s stone. It was Billy.
    Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t, my mother would say. But as I ducked below the window again, fussing with my boots now—or so I hoped it seemed—I knew she was wrong. It was the devil I knew that caused me worry. Eyes darting around, I searched for some means of escape.
    I slid out of my seat. Leaving my luggage, I kept my head low as I made way through the car to the rear, dodging the few remaining passengers, hearing a few rebukes in my wake.
    “Here now!” I heard the conductor shout behind me. I ignored him too.
    How could he have known? My mind raced as I debated what to do. The train would continue on to Abbeyfeale but there were several stops along the way. I could ride the train to Patrick’s Well, get off there, and find a farmer or someone heading back to Limerick and ask for a ride. I stole