The Missing Mariner: A Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James Mystery (The Sherlock and Lucy Mystery Book 25) by Anna Elliott & Charles Veley

Author:Anna Elliott & Charles Veley [Elliott, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wilton Press
Published: 2021-02-25T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9: LUCY

The man didn’t so much as glance at Becky—perhaps he didn’t even see her; she was partly behind him, over by the door, and his entire focus was on me and the still-open hole in the floorboards.

He was medium height, muscular, dressed in dirty blue trousers and a worn pea coat. Only a few wisps of hair clung to his otherwise bald head, but as though to make up for that, the lower half of his face was covered by a dirty blond beard whose bushiness I’d only seen rivalled by one of Holmes’s disguises.

Unfortunately, that didn’t make him any less of a threat, particularly in a closely confined space like this one, where speed and agility didn’t count as much as sheer brute strength.

He probably outweighed me by a solid seventy or eighty pounds.

“Who are you?” he growled. “And where’s old Ronny boy? Got himself a new fancy piece, has he?” His eyes narrowed as he looked me up and down. “His old lady’s not going to like that much, I can tell you.”

I shifted, wishing that I hadn’t set my own knife down a few feet away when I pried up the loose floorboard.

“Don’t move!” the stranger barked.

Even that small motion drew him a step nearer, brandishing the knife.

“Not unless you want me to carve up that pretty face of yours! Now, tell me: where is Ronald Stiles?”

I had learned that the next best thing to having an actual weapon in hand was to let your opponent to underestimate you. I held my hands up, trying to look frightened. “I don’t know where he is—I swear it!”

Actually, it wasn’t hard to inject a quaver of fear into my voice. My attention had been suddenly caught by Becky, who was still standing unnoticed several feet behind the stranger.

Completely by chance, she was in exactly the same position as she’d been for attacking Jack in his intruder’s guise.

I could see her eyes flick to the stranger’s broad back, calculating the distance between them.

My heart hammered as I gave a barely perceptible shake of my head, hoping to catch her gaze. If I was unlikely to win in a physical confrontation with the intruder, then Becky’s pitting herself against him would be like a kitten trying to attack a rampaging bull. Her best option was to try to slip out the door and hope that there was a policeman nearby—

I was so focused on Becky that I missed the first part of the stranger’s reply.

“—don’t believe you!” he was saying. He brandished the knife again. “Thought he could double-cross me, but he’ll be sorry when I catch him. Now where’s old Ronny hidden himself, eh?”

“I don’t know,” I said again. “I—”

Behind the stranger, Becky charged, running full-tilt and diving to strike the back of the big man’s leg with her joined fists.

My pulse skittered to a standstill. Although at least she’d had the sense to aim for a vulnerable point of attack.

The man stumbled forwards, but didn’t entirely lose his balance.

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.