In a Manner of Speaking by Barbara Cutrera

Author:Barbara Cutrera
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller suspense, mystery suspense, romance action adventure, mystery action suspense thriller
Publisher: Barbara Cutrera

Chapter Sixteen

When I woke in the morning and surveyed the master bedroom in the daylight, I was dismayed. The beautiful four-poster bed was the only decent piece of furniture occupying the space. A chest-of-drawers that had seen better days and a highboy had been chucked carelessly against the wall nearest the door. Moth-eaten white drapes with yellowing sheers could not conceal the dingy square windowpanes. There was no rug to either warm the floor or conceal the obvious fact that no one had done anything to refinish the surface in eons. I could not readily discern the color of the wallpaper.

The bathroom was just as dysfunctional and just as drab as the one downstairs.

“Weren’t you embarrassed?” I asked from the tub, as Ewen concentrated on removing the stubble from his face with his razor. “If you had company to the house –”

“I never entertained for business or pleasure here.”

“And if there was a woman, then where did you…?”

“Her flat. Let others’ neighbors wag their tongues. My neighbors do enough of that without my giving them fodder for more gossip.” He grinned at me and admitted, “Of course, I’ve gone and done it on a grand scale now, havena I? I’ve gone off to America and brought home a wife. Mrs. Crump will be brassed off!”

“Don’t try to change the subject. This place is a disaster, except for the kitchen and your office. Ginger’s room is on the right track, but the rest of the house is a disgrace. Ginger said you’ve lived at this address for ten years. Why haven’t you done something to it?”

He shrugged and said, “I told ye life with Angus was hectic.”

“So, why did you buy the place if you weren’t going to make it habitable?”

“It is habitable.”

“Barely.”

Ignoring this, Ewen explained, “Angus gave me a sizable sum for my twenty-first birthday. Three years later, I decided to invest part of the money in something tangible.

“Angus was thrilled when I told him what I’d done. He’d given the same sum to Camden and Blair when they each came of age. Camden wasted his on impressing his friends by renting a lavish flat, throwing outrageously expensive parties, and doing who knows what else? Blair put it toward a flat she couldn’t afford and a man who didn’t love her. Angus said that I was the only sensible one of the lot and that was why he’d always wanted me to work for him. Because I’d used my head, he also gave me a bonus of sorts under the strictest of orders that it be spent on something completely impractical.”

“What did you do with this bonus?”

“Ye’ll laugh.”

“I will not,” I said, the corners of my mouth already twitching.

“I had a fancy dress ball for disabled members of the working class and their families. Costumes were provided for men, women, and children. I hired a band and had food, tea, and drinks served. It was one of the most enjoyable fancy-dress parties I’ve ever attended. It lasted well past dawn.”

“Were

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