Read Online William Monk 02 - A Dangerous Mourning by Anne Perry - Free Book Online

were to wait until they were called. They were not permitted into the courtroom in case they overheard evidence which might affect their own.
    Hester sat silently, acutely uncomfortable. A dozen times she drew breath to speak, then knew that what she was going to say was pointless, and only to break the tension. Half an hour had gone by in stiff awkwardness when the outer door opened, and even before he entered she recognized the outline of the man’s shoulders as he stood with his back to them, talking to someone beyond in the corridor. She felt a prickleof awareness, not quite apprehension, and certainly not excitement.
    “Good morning, Lady Callandra, Miss Latterly.” The man turned at last and came in, closing the door behind him.
    “Good morning, Mr. Monk,” Callandra replied, inclining her head politely.
    “Good morning, Mr. Monk,” Hester echoed, with exactly the same gesture. Seeing his smooth-boned face again with its hard, level gray eyes, broad aquiline nose and mouth with its faint scar, brought back all the memories of the Grey case: the anger, confusion, intense pity and fear, the brief moments of understanding each other more vividly than she had ever experienced with anyone else, and sharing a purpose with an intensity that was consuming.
    Now they were merely two people who irritated each other and were brought together by their desire to save Menard Grey from further pain—and perhaps a sense of responsibility in some vague way because they had been the ones who had discovered the truth.
    “Pray sit down, Mr. Monk,” she instructed rather than offered. “Please be comfortable.”
    He remained standing.
    For several moments there was silence. Deliberately she filled her mind with thoughts of how she would testify, the questions Rathbone had warned her the prosecution’s lawyer would ask, and how to avoid damaging answers and being led to say more than she intended.
    “Has Mr. Rathbone advised you?” she said without thinking.
    His eyebrows rose. “I have testified in court before, Miss Latterly.” His voice was heavy with sarcasm. “Even occasionally in cases of considerable importance. I am aware of the procedure.”
    She was annoyed with herself for having left herself open to such a remark, and with him for making it. Instinctively she dealt back the hardest blow that she could.
    “I see a great deal of your recollection must have returned since we last met. I had not realized, or of course I should not have commented. I was endeavoring to be helpful, but it seems you do not require it.”
    The color drained from his face leaving two bright spots ofpink on his cheekbones. His mind was racing for an equal barb to return.
    “I have forgotten much, Miss Latterly, but that still leaves me with an advantage over those who never knew anything in the beginning!” he said tartly, turning away.
    Callandra smiled and did not interfere.
    “It was not my assistance I was suggesting, Mr. Monk,” Hester snapped back. “It was Mr. Rathbone’s. But if you believe you know better than he does, I can only hope you are right and indeed you do—not for your sake, which is immaterial, but for Menard Grey’s. I trust you have not lost sight of our purpose in being here?”
    She had won that exchange, and she knew it.
    “Of course I haven’t,” he said coldly, standing with his back to her, hands in his pockets. “I have left my present investigation to Sergeant Evan and come early in case Mr. Rathbone wished to see me, but I have no intention of disturbing him if he does not.”
    “He may not know you are here to be seen,” she argued.
    He turned around to face her. “Miss Latterly, can you not for one moment refrain from meddling in other people’s affairs and assume we are capable of managing without your direction? I informed his clerk as I came in.”
    “Then all civility required you do was say so when I asked you!” she replied, stung by the charge of interfering, which was totally