A Cruel Deception by Charles Todd

Author:Charles Todd [Todd, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 9780062859839
Google: QKYXwAEACAAJ
Amazon: B07H4ZGXHN
Barnesnoble: B07H4ZGXHN
Goodreads: 43309522
Publisher: William Morrow
Published: 2019-10-22T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

CAPTAIN JACKSON PUT me into a taxi as we left the café, and I gave the driver my direction.

I didn’t know whether to be relieved or apprehensive about his assistance. But I had little choice in the matter. Arriving at the Moreau house, I slipped up to my room and sat down in the chair by the window overlooking the garden. I’d have preferred to pace, but I didn’t want to disturb Marina next door to me or Madame Moreau downstairs, who was hosting a tea for one of the American delegates, a doctor from St. Louis. Early in the war, long before the Americans had entered the fighting, the physicians and nurses of that city had provided a base hospital in the old racetrack in Rouen with an invaluable X-ray machine. The number of lives it had saved was beyond counting, particularly in finding bits of shrapnel in wounds where it would have been far too dangerous to probe.

Madame Moreau had mentioned his visit over breakfast this morning, but I had forgot until now, when I’d seen the motorcar outside our door.

Occasionally I could hear laughter from the guests.

There was a tap on my door.

“Come,” I said over my shoulder, thinking it might be the maid bringing up the fresh uniforms that Madame had sent to her own washwoman.

But it was Marina.

She was already beginning to look so much better. Proper rest, regular meals, and a warm house were taking away some of the tension, but there were still shadows behind her eyes.

“Bess? Any news?”

“Not so far.” I summoned a smile and rose. “A good sign, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know. Is it? Should we go back to St. Ives, on the off chance that he might have only meant to frighten us into letting him have his way? I can’t bear to think that he found the house closed up, and no idea how to find us.”

I was tired, more than a little cross with Lawrence Minton, and I wanted to say, That was his fault, not ours. Instead, I replied, “Do you feel so strongly about that? Do you want me to go to St. Ives and have a look?”

Her face brightened. “It would put my mind at rest. Dr. Moreau tells me that my arm is healing well, and in two or three more days, I can return to my school. He thinks the danger of infection has passed.”

Burns were bad enough, but if the raw wound got infected, there was little we could do.

“That’s very good news, Marina,” I said genuinely pleased. “All right, I’ll go back to St. Ives in the morning. Just to be sure.”

That was the last thing I wanted to do. On the other hand, what if she was right, and the Lieutenant had been playing games with us, hoping to frighten Marina at least into asking me to leave? I had to be sure.

We could hear sounds of departure below. Marina said, “They have been so kind. Dr. and Madame Moreau.

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