The Stranger in the Asylum by Alys Clare

Author:Alys Clare [Clare, Alys]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-10-31T16:00:00+00:00

TEN

Lily has the strange sense that the sudden wave of emotion set off by Miss Chibb’s impassioned announcement must be given time to dissolve and disappear.

Pushing the idea firmly aside, she says briskly, ‘What is Wilberforce planning to do next?’

Miss Chibb gives a frustrated sigh. ‘He has no plan, other than run away and hide. He—’ Abruptly she shuts her mouth.

‘He must have known you would offer to help him,’ Felix says. ‘He came here from Brittany because he knew he could trust you.’

‘He did not know anything of the sort,’ Miss Chibb corrects him firmly. ‘He hoped he could trust me, and he discovered that his hope was justified.’ She smiles slightly. ‘He came here for one reason. An elderly woman such as I – and I am elderly, I shall be eighty in November – can offer little practical help to a young man running from the forces of law and order. But I could and did give him money.’

Into the short silence that follows, Lily says quietly, ‘You claim to know, Miss Chibb, that your great-nephew is no murderer.’ Miss Chibb’s head jerks up and her steely eyes fix on Lily’s. ‘How can you be so sure?’

She thinks at first she has unleashed a furious outpouring, for Miss Chibb’s lean face works violently and her pale cheeks flush. But then, subsiding, she says, ‘It is, I suppose, a logical question.’ She is still gazing at Lily, her mouth a hard line. ‘I have just explained: I understand the character of my great-nephew. That must suffice.’

Into the uneasy silence Felix says, ‘Where is he now?’

Miss Chibb fixes him with a hard stare but does not reply.

After a moment she sighs. ‘One thing I must tell you: Wilberforce is very afraid.’

Lily looks at Felix, who nods almost imperceptibly.

‘We believe he has reason to be,’ she says. She pauses, wondering if what she is about to say will prove too much for an elderly woman in a health hydro. But there seems to be no option. ‘A man was shot in Pont-Aven,’ she says bluntly, ‘and it seems whoever killed him thought he was Wilberforce.’

Miss Chibb draws a sharp breath.

‘Whoever it was cannot know where he is now,’ Felix begins, ‘and I’m sure—’

But Miss Chibb isn’t listening. She is staring at Lily. ‘You will of course continue your pursuit of my great-nephew, for that is what this Miss Westwood is paying you to do. In addition,’ – Lily has the uncomfortable feeling that the old woman’s intelligent gaze is penetrating through her skull and into her mind – ‘I believe you and your associate will provide Wilberforce with the help and support that I cannot. But you must be careful!’ And, clenching one hand into a fist, she thumps it three times on the table beside her.

‘Miss Raynor and I are professionals,’ Felix says.

But Lily is watching Miss Chibb’s face. ‘You didn’t mean that, did you?’ she says softly.

‘No,’ Miss Chibb says with a wry smile.

‘You meant we must be careful how we search, because if we let our vigilance slip, we might lead others to him.

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