Read Online Trifling Favors (Redcakes Book 7) by Heather Hiestand - Free Book Online Page B

apparently, so I don’t know if he was notorious there or here.”
    The constable made a noncommittal noise. “Speak to your guv, then, but I think you should be getting home, now. He’s vouched for your being with him the entire evening.” He tucked his tongue into his cheek.
    The mere idea. The constable must think they were having some sort of sexual encounter. “It was a business meeting.”
    “Of course, of course.” He crossed his arms.
    Stone-faced, she left the constable, reluctantly returning to the tearoom to ask Mr. Redcake for the keys. “The constable wants the back rooms opened up.”
    Mr. Redcake nodded. “Keep an eye on them, will you? Let’s not allow them upstairs if we can help it.”
    “He’s telling me to go home. Doesn’t think this is any place for a woman.”
    Mr. Redcake scrubbed his eyes with his hands. “Look, Miss Popham, I know who the dead man is now, and I’m going to have to tell the family.”
    “Oh, dear. Is he connected to Redcake’s in any way?”
    “I’m afraid so. Now, I know you don’t want your father to worry, but with you as second in command, I need you here, so I can leave.”
    “Of course, sir. I’ll do anything you need me to do.”
    “Very well. I suppose we’ll have to keep the tearoom closed tomorrow, but the bakery will be open. One of us is going to need to be here at first light, to speak to the cleaning staff and the bakers.”
    The tall constable reappeared, accompanied by a cadaverous man in a black frock coat, holding a Gladstone bag. “I have the doctor here to do the examination.”
    The constable who seemed to be in charge appeared in the tearoom doorway and gestured the men in with some impatience.
    “I could stay upstairs on the sofa outside your office,” Betsy offered, turning her attention back to Mr. Redcake. “You have children to go home to.”
    “It’s not suitable. And it is eight hours or more until Mr. Soeur arrives.” His hands went to his tie and he loosened the knot slightly. “Now I see we do need a bakery manager, so that we have more men around in a crisis.”
    Betsy froze. Was she going to lose her position because Mr. Redcake and the constable didn’t think she could be relied on? “If I could get word to my father, he would come.” She glanced out the window and happened to see Grace and Prissy walking by again, with a package wrapped in newsprint. The sausages, probably.
    She trotted to the door and opened it. “Grace?”
    The girl saw her and came up to the front door. Her color had been restored, though she looked exhausted.
    “I’m sorry to trouble you, but I need to get word to my father in Chiswick and it’s too late to send a letter. Is there any chance you or your father could go to my house and ask him to come here?”
    “I’ll do it,” Prissy said. “What’s the address? If you give me money for a cab, I’ll go right away.”
    Betsy was reluctant to have the woman assist her, but she was older than Grace. She went back inside and asked Mr. Redcake for the cab fare, then borrowed a piece of paper from the constable to write her father a note.
    Five minutes later, she’d sent Prissy on her way, not knowing what the sight of the young woman would do to her father. She didn’t even know if she or Prissy looked particularly like her mother, Sarah. Her father had made sure not to have any photographs of her around, and her memories from early childhood were cloudy at best.
    At least, when she demanded the truth about Prissy Weaver from her father, he would know exactly who she spoke of.

Chapter Five
    “I ’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your wife’s brother, Manfred, has died.” Greggory sat in a comfortable chair in the private study of Lord Judah Shield’s new Mayfair home. While the man had a decent income from managing the flagship Redcake’s, he’d also made a fortune trading in gems, due to his contacts from his days serving with the army in India. “I was there when the