A Trick of the Light by David Ashton

Author:David Ashton [Ashton, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Biographical, Police Procedural, Mystery & Detective, Crime
ISBN: 9781846972027
Google: jBxdewAACAAJ
Publisher: Birlinn, Limited
Published: 2011-04-06T00:00:00+00:00

Hannah Semple, the only person Jean held in credence on this earth was at the safe house by Leith Links, the giant Angus to hand, making ready to scour the streets with their people once more to find the acid-pourer.

Jean’s reasoning was that the little swine would not show his face during the day and she had decided to stay at the Just Land to await results, part because she was too restless to sit on her backside and part because she did not want another incident like the Galloway one.

Then lo and behold the man himself had sent a missive.

And it chimed with some uneasy feelings that had been nagging away at her since this war with the Countess had begun.

Who could she really trust at the bitter end?

Once before she had let slip the reins of the bawdy-hoose when her heart had been usurped by an unscrupulous man who had twisted her like a fool.

Never again.

She had betrayed herself.

But what if this time it was another agent?

Jessie Nairn, for instance? Or was that too obvious? She had taken in a bunch of new magpies recently, wear and tear the cause. What if the Countess had been plotting ahead, and put her own agents inside to burrow and destroy from inwards like a worm in the gut? To steal? To destroy?

A bawdy-hoose, not unlike a merchant bank, stands or falls by reputation.

Jean had been queen bee for a long time and now there was another on the scene.

Had she grown too indolent, soft, lost her edge?

So she now found herself walking down the shadowed hall to prove or disprove all the thoughts milling round in her mind.

She called out softly, one hand inside her reticule firmly grasped upon her surgeon’s knife.

‘Mister Galloway? If you are present, step forward. Let us make peace and parley.’

No answer. She was not afraid. The man was a pipsqueak. But did he have a tale to tell?

She pushed at the partly opened door and it swung inwards to disclose a form wedged against the window, facing away from her. The room was in semi-darkness and the figure barely outlined by the light from outside but it seemed to be Logan Galloway, hands pressed up against the sill as if to steady himself.

Jean stepped in. Hand with the knife now by her side. A girl can’t be too careful.

‘Mister Galloway? You’re away in the wrong direction. I am here, sir. Ready to attend your proof.’

He made no response, stubbornly gazing out of the window as if deaf to her words.

‘Are you in the huff, Mister Galloway?’

Having said this, Jean stepped up with the intention to swing him round by the shoulder.

As she did so, there was a sharp movement behind her and a sudden accurate blow, crisply delivered, separated her from consciousness.

She fell to the floor, the knife in her outflung hand.

A girl can’t be too careful.

Not long after, Constable Ballantyne marched up Iona Street modestly aware that he was on time for his new beat, the previous constable having reported sick.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.