The Actuary's Wife by K T Bowes

Author:K T Bowes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: historical romance, forbidden love, small town romance, england 1800s, mystery thriller and suspense, lies and betrayal, stepbrother romance, english schoolgirl, deceit and murder, russian lover

Chapter 22

Emma sighed and pulled herself from sleep, feeling the mattress rise and depress near her feet. The heat from the bedroom fire pressure cooked one side of her body and a faux fur blanket felt heavy over her shoulders. “Nicky?” Emma’s voice sounded dull and filled with confusion as she struggled to sit up. “Sorry, baby. I only laid down for a second.”

“Aye, well that’s how it happens.” Christopher Dolan’s voice sounded wistful and Emma’s consciousness level snapped her fully awake.

“What’re you doing in here?” she gasped, yanking the blanket around her neck and keeping the fingers of her left hand hidden. “Get out of my bedroom. Where’s Nicky?”

“He’s fine. He and the wee dog made a sandwich and then fell asleep in the sitting room watching a movie.”

“What’s the time?” Emma yawned and fought the need to stretch, keeping her wedding band safely out of sight.

“It’s after three o’clock,” Christopher replied. He eyed the bed with proprietary interest and Emma’s brown eyes flashed.

“Don’t even think about it, Dolan!”

He shrugged. “It wouldn’t be the first time, Em.”

“That’s true. We spent a night on the same dirty mattress, huddled underneath your jacket, as I remember. Nothing happened because we were both waiting to die.”

“Ach, you know how to spoil a memory,” he replied, his long lashes brushing his cheek as he stared at Emma sideways. “The cops are still outside the front gate.”

Emma groaned at the memory of the dead Chinaman on the roadway, his battered body now the source of a criminal investigation. “You know who did it, don’t you?” She leaned up on her right elbow and studied the Irishman. “Did you see it happen?”

Christopher raised his dark eyebrows and then nodded. “Aye. I watched him get out of his car and walk towards the gates. He tried to work out how to get in without buzzing the house and I realised there was another vehicle I hadn’t noticed. Its lights were off and it started moving from about a mile away. The moon was almost full and picked up a flash of metal. I don’t know how long it sat there before it began rolling but it kept coming. The guy went back to his car and reached inside the driver’s door for something and as he stepped back out and closed the door, the other car side swiped him.”

“So it was on purpose?” Emma asked, her eyes wide. “They meant to do it?”

Christopher pulled a face, contorting his features in thought. “I think the cops will go for a hit and run but then why would the other car just sit there watching, before running him down? It was definitely deliberate and really sloppy workmanship.”

Emma winced at the professional appraisal of a tragedy. “You said he had a car, so where is it now? Did the police take it away?”

“No. After the impact, the car stopped on the road and the passenger got out. He checked the body and snagged his keys from the dead man’s trouser pocket.

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.