Blood on the Water Read Online Free PDF

towering stupidity. Occasionally, on the battlefield where death was a reality, she had won. But once back in England, making such arguments was like trying to write in the sand; the weight and complexities of the hierarchy of power erased her efforts like an incoming tide.
    For seconds she did not answer, even though she knew Monk was waiting. Then at last she stepped back a little.
    “How unfortunate for Lydiate,” she said quietly, judging her words as she would the pressure of a bandage on a raw wound. “He’ll be completely out of his depth because he doesn’t know the river well enough to deal with this. But then I wonder if anyone can. It’s going to be a terrible mess. Just at the moment we are all numb with shock, still trying to realize what has happened. But it won’t be long before the anger comes. People will want to blame someone. Rage is so much easier than facing loss. They’ll demand answers. The newspapers will be on it all the time. Why did it happen? Why didn’t somebody prevent it? Why haven’t the police caught whoever it is? No matter what Lydiate does, it won’t be enough.”
    She smiled bleakly, and her voice became even softer. “That is, if he can do anything at all. Nothing will bring those people back. They’ll want to blame somebody, hang somebody, even if it isn’t the right person. Catching someone will make everyone feel as if they’re not completely powerless. There’ll be all kinds of crazy theories and rumors. It’s stupid that they have taken the case from you. You’re the one person who might have been able to solve it—but realistically, maybe no one can …”
    He let out his breath in a sigh. His voice shook a little. “They should have let me try! The victims deserve that! I promised …” Heblinked hard. “Hester, I spoke with the survivors, all huddled up, battered, freezing, and stunned with loss. One man was on the boat with his daughter. She had just recovered from a long illness. They were celebrating. One moment she was laughing, the next she was gone.” His voice cracked. “I promised I’d find whoever did this …”
    “I know,” she whispered. “I’ve made promises I couldn’t keep. I know how it hurts …”
    “Do you?” he demanded, his voice tight with pain.
    Memories of the battlefields surged back into her mind, drenched with the smell of blood. “I’ve promised soldiers I’d save them, and I couldn’t always …”
    He drew in a breath. “Oh, Hester! I’m sorry …” His arms tightened around her again and it was moments before he let her go. Only then did he notice Scuff standing in the doorway, pale-faced but with a thin, shy smile.
    “You all right?” Scuff asked nervously. “You want a cup o’ tea, or something?”
    “Yes,” Monk replied immediately. “Yes, please. And what are you doing here at this time of day? You should be at school. You ducking it again?”
    “Couldn’t go till I knew you was all right,” Scuff replied.
    “You—” Monk began.
    “Couldn’t leave Hester, could I?” Scuff glared at him. Then he swallowed hard and turned on his heel to go and make the tea.
    Hester started to laugh a little jerkily, trying to stop it turning into tears.
    A S SOON AS HE had drunk his tea, Scuff left Paradise Place, but he did not go to school. Actually he had not said that he would, not in so many words, although he knew both Hester and Monk had assumed he was headed there.
    But this was not the time to go and learn things in books, however important they may be one day. Right now he must return to the river.Some stupid man in a clean shirt and a woolen suit had taken away Monk’s right to work this momentous case, when the damage was not just on the river but actually in it. Well, under it, now! Policing the river was Monk’s job. That was who he was. They had no right to do this, no matter what Hester had said to comfort him about it being a bad case that maybe no one could solve. Monk could do all