Todd, Charles - Ian Rutledge 19 - Racing the Devil by Todd Charles

Author:Todd, Charles [Todd, Charles]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-12-28T00:00:00+00:00

He made a decision, as he turned the crank and got into his motorcar, to go on to London from Eastbourne. And there was one other stop he intended to make on the way.

Melinda Crawford had been close to his parents before their deaths, and her affection for them had included their son and daughter. Melinda herself had led a very interesting life. Her father had been stationed in India during the Great Mutiny, and while he was away with his battalion, the rebels had attacked Lucknow, besieging the residency where English women and children and other noncombatants had retired for safety with the small garrison. Before the first siege was lifted eighty-seven days later, young Melinda had been hailed as a heroine, bringing water and cartridges to the defenders. She had grown up to marry a cousin who was also a British officer, and after his death she had made her way back to England by the most roundabout way she could devise, traveling with only her Indian servants. It had been an outstanding feat in itself. Making her home in Kent, she maintained her contacts with the Army and with many men in the government—if rumor was true, refusing the proposals of half of them—and Rutledge had no doubt that she knew more about the conduct of the Great War than any other civilian alive.

As a resource, she was priceless. More than that, he was particularly fond of her.

And so he arrived in time for dinner, to the delight of his hostess and her staff.

Shanta, Melinda’s Indian housekeeper, came smiling to take his coat, and he was ushered into the small drawing room.

“My dear,” Melinda said, holding up her face for his kiss on her cheek. “This is a lovely surprise. There’s just time for a drink before we go in. And the fire is blazing away.” After living in the tropics, she kept fires going most of the year, and in this season, what appeared to be a log was burning away on the oversized hearth.

Rutledge winced, remembering the fire in the stable last night, but allowed himself to be led to the best chair and handed a whisky.

“And what have you done to your face?” she asked as he took his first sip. It was very good, a single malt that was as smoky as the Highlands she got it from. He could feel himself relaxing.

“There was a fire last night, a stable being used to house a motorcar. I was on the scene.”

“Oh, yes? And who struck you while you were fighting this fire?”

It was no use. Melinda Crawford had seen war firsthand. She wouldn’t be palmed off with a tale of ladders collapsing.

He lifted a hand, accepting defeat as gracefully as he could. “I wish I knew,” he told her. “He got away. Whether he’s a murderer or not, I don’t know, but there’s every chance that he is.”

“Constables on the beat have their clubs. Why don’t you have some means of defense?” It was an old argument, and he had no hope of winning it.

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