The Hunt (A Case for Frey & McGray) Read Online Free PDF

to be impudent,’ she said, barely noticing her bleeding nephew. ‘This matter does not concern you. As my nephew Alistair said, we are within our legal rights to –’
    ‘Oh, don’t throw that legal waffle at me again!’ Clouston snapped. ‘If you really thought this was legal, you’d have brought your lawyers to witness it.’
    The woman drew her fan close to her chest.
    Clouston pulled Adolphus away, staring fixedly at Lady Anne. ‘Go away and do not bother this family any more. I will not have you try anything against them.’
    ‘Doctor’ – Lady Anne stepped towards them – ‘you cannot interfere in my affairs. You cannot do –’
    ‘Lady Anne, you know damn well what I can do!’
    She stopped, her face livid, as if she’d hit a brick wall.
    ‘You would never dare,’ she whispered, her chest swollen, her bony hands clutching the black feathers.
    ‘
You
,’ Clouston said, edging closer, ‘would not dare risk it.’
    Few people had ever intimidated Lady Anne – and she’d been in the world for a good many years – but for the briefest of moments she looked as meek as a cat.
    Adolphus let Clouston drag him into the house. He was about to ask what had shaken Lady Glass so badly, but then he saw that old George was struggling to lift Pansy.
    Despite the excruciating pain in his hand, Adolphus rushed to lift his sister and carried her inside. He did not want the neighbours to see her in such a sorry state.
    The McGrays would not hear from Lady Anne for a good while.
    ‘There you go,’ Clouston said, tying up the last end of the fresh bandages.
    Adolphus turned his head back, for Clouston had made him look away while he worked. The bandaging looked as bulky as before, but the cloth was clean and the bleeding had finally stopped.
    It had been the ring finger of his right hand: chopped off less than cleanly, leaving only a phalange. It would be an eternal reminder of that terrible night.
    And the news would travel fast, eventually becoming part of the city’s lore. From then on, everyone would know him as Nine-Nails McGray.
    ‘At least I can still give Lady Glass the two fingers,’ he said, smiling bitterly.
    Dr Clouston did not laugh. If possible, he looked even more miserable.
    ‘What is it?’
    Meticulously, the doctor placed his instruments back into his case, and then he looked at Adolphus with almost fearful eyes. ‘I need to take her to the asylum.’
    Adolphus could barely reply. His voice came out as a gasp. ‘What? She’s not a lunatic!’
    ‘Just for the time being. You know she needs proper treatment.’
    Adolphus jumped to his feet. ‘Ye cannae take her there!’
    Clouston could not look him in the eye. ‘Please, don’t make me say out loud what she’s done.’
    Adolphus felt a nasty chill. It was as if those words opened the box he’d been trying to keep locked. He frowned, his lip trembled, and for the first time in his adult life he burst into tears in front of someone else. He sank back into the seat, covering his face in utter shame and sobbing like a young child.
    A sharp, cold realization of the full weight of the tragedy had struck him.
    Amy had murdered their parents.
    It materialized as an icy pain in his chest, a physical distress that would not go away for months.
    Clouston squeezed Adolphus’s shoulder and gave him a few minutes to grieve.
    ‘I will take good care of her,’ he said at last. ‘You know that, don’t you?’
    Adolphus used the clean bandages to wipe his tears. ‘Aye, I ken.’ He looked up at the doctor and asked an unnecessary question: ‘When d’ye want to take her?’
    ‘Right away, I’m afraid.’
    Adolphus nodded, his eyes lost, and stood up before the sorrow overwhelmed him again. He realized it would be better not to think.
    Just move,
he told himself.
Don’t think, just move
.
    He dragged himself to the small study, the room where his father had liked to lock himself with a book or a cigar. Adolphus pushed that image away.
    Pansy was