A Most Naked Solution Read Online Free PDF Page B

the vileness of the ale.
    “Trust me. This is one of the better taverns on the west side,” Huntford said.
    The barmaid sauntered back to the table, a plate of mutton in her hand. “Compliments of the house, constable.”
    Huntford shook his head. “I don’t think—”
    The coy look disappeared from the maid’s face. “Please, Mr. Huntford. It’s the least I can do. If it weren’t for what you did for my Melvin—”
    Huntford cut her off with a coin pressed into her hand. “I’ll take your fine food. But I insist on paying for it. Your little ones need to eat, too.”
    The maid blinked through red eyes as her hand closed around the money.
    Huntford shifted uncomfortably as the woman walked away. “Shall we walk and talk at the same time? I have work I must do.” He wrapped up the mutton in a handkerchief.
    The London air crowded Camden’s lungs, heavy with smoke and soot as they left the inn. He turned up his collar and Huntford followed suit.
    “I suppose this would have been easier if I’d waited till morning.” But once the idea had occurred to him, he’d acted. When he decided something needed to be done, he was incapable of not doing it.
    “Or you could have written,” Huntford pointed out.
    “Would you have left London?”
    Huntford sighed. “Perhaps not, but I could have met you in a better neighborhood.” He pulled the napkin from his pocket and handed it to a small girl huddled in a doorway. She sniffed it suspiciously before a grin lit her haggard face. She took a bite. Her eyes closed, and she chewed slowly, savoring the morsel of stringy meat.
    Surely they could do better for the child. But Huntford stopped him before he could retrieve any coins. “The other children will beat her for the money. It’s better to leave her alone.”
    Camden’s hands fisted. The large meals that had gone uneaten while he’d worked now seemed obscene.
    “So the widow is your primary suspect?” Huntford asked, bringing Camden back to the reason he had come.
    “I no longer know.” Camden explained about the shooting that morning. Morning? Hell, it had been a long day.
    Huntford glared at the prostitute who’d started slinking toward them. The woman shuffled off. “Could she have arranged for the shooting to make you doubt her guilt?”
    Camden hadn’t even considered that. He shifted through possibilities in his head. “No, I do not think so. She had no idea I was coming to visit her. I gave her no notice. And I saw how shaken she was. I don’t think her reaction was feigned.”
    Huntford nodded. “It also wouldn’t have made sense for her to stay around after the murder. Why not return to London or to her family?”
    “So you’ll investigate?”
    “I don’t leave London often.”
    “Weltford is only two hours from here. Think of it as a holiday.”
    “I see you still think you’re humorous.” Huntford paused briefly to peer into a dark alley, then continued on.
    Camden shrugged. He no longer expected anyone else to think so.
    “I might be able to come in a day or two. I have to testify in court tomorrow.”
    “The sooner I can hand off this bloody case, the better. I wasn’t meant for this.”
    Huntford drew deeper into his jacket. Camden cursed his words. Huntford hadn’t intended to become a Runner. He’d been forced into it by his sister’s murder. “I’ll come when I can,” he said.
    Camden wasn’t free yet, then. Someone had tried to kill Sophia. He couldn’t simply sit back and do nothing for several days. “I’ll continue the investigation until you arrive.”
    He reworked his schedule in his head. If he investigated during the day, he could work on his equations in the evening. If he worked late, he wouldn’t lose too much time. He knew from his years in the army that he could get by on three hours of sleep a night for several days. By the time he keeled over from exhaustion, either he would have found his suspect or Huntford would have arrived. “Any tips to save us