Read Online The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry - Free Book Online

in a place where we can have complete privacy.”
    The pier was built of thick cedar planks faded by yearsof sun and salt. Wide cracks let her see between the boards as they walked, and her stomach lurched as the shore gave way to a rush of blue. She had never stood over water before. They passed the two fishermen still angled over the side of the pier watching their lines bob in the water. Black cormorants perched like carvings on pilings, and seagulls wheeled overhead. No people strolled the far end of the pier. Alone now with the birds, they walked toward the pier’s end.
    The wind stung Lena’s face and made her eyes water. She clutched her shawl more tightly across her shoulders while strands of her black hair whipped out behind.
    “I think this is far enough.” The pressure on her back eased. He smoothed his mustache with two fingers. “Miss Mattacascar, I want you to talk with Tobias Beasley. Ask him about being your guide into Scree. It would be a favor to me.” His smile was heartbreaking.
    “Why should I? Why should I help you at all?” She dared not look at his eyes, soft now and inviting.
    “Because, Miss Mattacascar, it would be beneficial to us both. You have your own reasons for wanting to visit Scree. I need to know what Tobias Beasley is up to. And I believe that it would behoove you to help me. Your father, Saul, is a wanted man, is he not?” He dropped her father’s name casually like a rock into a pool. The surface rippled.
    She was trapped. She did want to find the man who had so easily abandoned her and her mother. And she certainlydidn’t want the marshal finding him. Most of all she needed to discover if Peculiars really did exist.
    The marshal’s familiarity put her on edge. How old was he anyway? It was difficult to tell, but Lena guessed he was in his mid-twenties. Young to have so much responsibility. “How would this help me?” Lena worked to keep her voice level, thinking that she could never tell him the real nature of her quest.
    He smiled his slow, thin smile. “You mean besides distracting me from the case of a missing felon? I’d find you a reliable guide into Scree, Miss Mattacascar. If you still decide to go, I wouldn’t stop you.”
    A felon? She had not heard her father called a felon before. Was that worse than a convict? She didn’t know. “What would I have to do?”
    “Keep an eye open at Beasley’s house. Your father isn’t the only man I’m interested in. See if Beasley is doing anything illegal.” The marshal took her hand and pressed it between his two strong ones. “Answer a few questions for me. May I call you Lena?”
    She nodded.
    “You’d be helping your country, Lena, not just me.” His dimple flashed with his smile. “Margaret is right—Beasley is odd. But she doesn’t know the half of it. Beasley is up to something wicked.” He paused and searched her eyes, still firmly clasping her hand in his. “When I have the information our country needs, you’ll be free to go.”
    The sun had finally bested the last of the fog. All around her, the sea called in its innumerable voices. She was standing on the edge of the world as she knew it with a man who confused her, one she didn’t know if she could trust. What if he was right? Perhaps Beasley was wicked. She could help, make up for some of the trouble her father had caused and get a reliable guide into Scree in the bargain. That would please the marshal. She looked into his pleading eyes. Her answer seemed as inevitable as the tide.

 
    THREE MILES OUTSIDE OF TOWN, NORTH ALONG THE COAST ROAD.
    The directions had been short and simple when the marshal had given them to Lena the previous day.
    “You’ll see the house clinging to the cliffs. There’s a long track leading to it, bordered by a row of poplars. I’ll have a coach drop you near the track. It’s best if he thinks you came on your own.”
    “But what pretense do I have for showing up uninvited?” Lena had worried her lower lip