Almost a Princess Read Online Free PDF Page B

tell.
    It had taken the magistrates a month of dithering before they called in Special Branch. It had taken the chief of staff five minutes to decide that his own brother-in-law was the best man to handle the investigation. Case had a vested interest in finding a killer whose signature was a smooth-faced pebble left on or near his victims.
    That pebble might as well have been a letter as far as Case was concerned. What it told him was that a man he believed was dead, a man he
hoped
was dead, might well have embarked on another cycle of murder and mayhem.
    Gideon Piers.
The very name was enough to fill Case with a cold, relentless resolve. Corp. Gideon Piers, deserter turned bandit, had cut a swath of terror throughout the Spanish countryside with his band of desperadoes.
La Roca,
the Rock, the Spanish called him because he left a smooth-faced pebble in his victims’ pockets, just so that everyone would know how he dealt with anyone who tried to cross him.
    He went too far, however, when he began to attack British convoys and steal British gold. He was no longer an annoying bandit on the fringes of the war, but a major disruption that had to be stopped. Case was given the task of recovering the gold, if possible, but above all, of wiping Piers and his bandits off the face of the earth. No quarter asked or given—those were his orders.
    With a unit of hand-picked men and a group of partisans, they tracked Piers and his brigands to their hideout, an abandoned monastery in the hills near Brugos. And that’s where they’d perished, every last one of them, or so he’d hoped.
    It took a moment or two before Case realized that Harper was speaking to him, and another moment after that for the haze in his mind to clear. He pressed a hand to his eyes. “I’m sorry, Harper. My thoughts were elsewhere. What did you say?”
    Harper spoke slowly. “I asked if you wanted me there when you question Mrs. Gray.”
    “No. Two of us might be one too many, and I don’t want her to feel threatened. Keep an eye on the house, and stay out of sight.”
    Harper nodded. “And what was you thinking when that look came over you?”
    Case gave a short, muffled laugh. Tact was not one of Harper’s outstanding virtues. The trouble was, he’d allowed him too many liberties. If they got any cozier, they’d be the best of friends, then there’d be no holding him back.
    Case said, “It’s been a month since Collier was murdered. What is Piers waiting for?”
    “Maybe he’s come and gone. Maybe Collier was the only one he was after. And maybe we’re looking for the wrong man. Piers could be dead, you know, and somebody could be copying his methods.”
    Case was silent. He’d heard these arguments before. But if Piers was alive, there was no doubt in his mind who his ultimate target would be and that was himself. This wasn’t the time for complacency.
    All the same, he was left with the same perplexing question. What was Piers waiting for? Why the delay in coming after him?
    Jane paid off the hackney outside St. Ninian’s church in Hans Town. A light drizzle was falling so she turned up her coat collar to cover the back of her bonnet and entered the churchyard. The vicarage was on the other side of the church, through the side gate and up a steep paved path.
    It was an old house, its stone walls embraced by the barren vines of winter ivy. A lamp had been lit in one of the front rooms and the sound of children’s laughter brought a bittersweet smile to Jane’s lips. Some women were lucky in love, others were not so fortunate. Letty was one of the lucky ones. She’d married a gem of a man and had two darling, mischievous children.
    And if anyone deserved to be happy, it was Letty. Before that train of thought could lead her down a treacherous path, Jane squared her shoulders and rapped smartly with the knocker. A moment or two later the door was opened by Letty’s maid-of-all-work. A young vicar with a family to support couldn’t afford