One Penny Surprise by Rebecca King

Author:Rebecca King
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: R L King; 1 edition
Published: 2016-03-07T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

She shook her head when the maid offered her food or a drink and waited while Luke took a seat beside her. She should object to him sitting so close, and ask him to put some more decorous between them, but nobody within the busy tap had given them even a cursory glance so to do so would just waste time she didn’t have.

Luke decided to just cut to the chase. Aware that he was sitting far too close to her than was polite for a lady he didn’t know, he made a point of leaning closer still and smiled when he saw a flicker of awareness in her eyes when she looked at him. It pleased him to note that she wasn’t as averse to him as she pretended to be and for the first time since he had met her, he started to feel fairly confident that he could get the truth from her.

“Firstly -” he began softly, “- why didn’t you wait with the body like I told you to?” He didn’t take his eyes off her as he waited for her to reply and watched the shadows flicker in her eyes a moment before her gaze dropped to the table top. He knew immediately from that look that she was hiding something and glanced down at the bags tucked carefully behind her legs, protected from view by her skirts.

“I needed to leave,” she replied evasively. “Why should I stay?”

Luke snorted. “Because you knew the man had been murdered. You saw the marks on his neck. The magistrate has questions for you about what you saw that morning.”

“I didn’t see anything,” she protested quickly, then closed her mouth with a snap when she realised she was going to make herself sound guilty if she continued to be so defensive. It wasn’t like her at all to be so brisk with anyone; especially someone who had been nothing but polite and helpful. She glanced around the tap and winced when she realised several people had paused their conversation to look at her. She glared at them and waited until they resumed their conversations before she took a moment to calm down. Once the lull in chatter had eased, she turned her attention back to the man who seemed to occupy her every waking moment.

“I didn’t do it,” she whispered.

“I didn’t say you did,” he countered.

“So why are you asking me? The only people I saw in that park were the pick-pockets and you. It wasn’t me who killed him. I doubt the pick-pockets were big enough.”

“I only have your word that it wasn’t you,” he said silkily.

Poppy’s gaze flew to his. “I have only your word that it wasn’t you either!”

Luke nodded. He saw nothing but pure honestly flashing back at him and was inwardly relieved that she may not be connected to the murder after all.

Aware that people were seated only a few feet away, Poppy kept her voice low. “How could I strangle someone of

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