The Hyde Park Headsman (55 page)

BOOK: The Hyde Park Headsman
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Behind her, Landon Hurlwood was so white his eyes looked like holes sunken into his skull.

“And the oilskins,” Charlotte continued relentlessly. It must be finished. “Which you used to protect yourself from the blood.”

“That’s stupid!” Woodrow said with a strangled gasp. “Why would Mrs. Arledge ever think of such a dreadful thing? That’s wicked.”

“To be free to marry Mr. Hurlwood, now his wife is dead too; to escape from a dead marriage and revenge herself for twenty years’ betrayal,” Charlotte said, her voice strangely
level in the awful silence. “She took advantage of the Headsman’s crimes to kill him and open the way for her.”

Woodrow turned to Dulcie. Landon Hurlwood had moved a step away from her, a terrible comprehension filling his face, like the knowledge of death.

Dulcie shot a look of hatred at Charlotte so intense Emily stepped backwards away from her, and Charlotte felt the cold run right through her body. Then Dulcie turned to Hurlwood.

“Landon!” She let out a single cry, then saw his expression—the horror, the tearing bruising guilt, and the revulsion—and knew that everything was lost.

It was impossible to say what she might have done next, because the garden doors had opened without their hearing them and Pitt stood wild-haired and ill-dressed not a yard from them.

Dulcie turned to him, opened her mouth, but no sound came.

Pitt’s face was filled with a disillusion that carried all the pain of every awakening from a sweet and gentle dream into a bitter reality. Then even as Charlotte watched him, she saw the admiration and tenderness bleed away until there was only an agonizing remnant left, that small shred of pity that never left him, no matter for whom or what the wound or the guilt. And with a coldness that ran right through her, leaving her shaking, she realized how deeply he had been moved by Dulcie, and how close she herself had come to losing a part of him which she could never have regained.

“Constable, take Mrs. Arledge to the Bow Street station. She is under arrest for the murder of Aidan Arledge,” he said very quietly.

Woodrow gulped. “Yes sir. Yes sir!” And he moved forward to obey.

Landon Hurlwood stood rooted to the spot like a man already passed beyond the world of ordinary exchange and the small businesses of life.

Pitt turned to Charlotte and Emily.

“Your own husband can take care of you,” he said to Emily. “You, thank God, are not my problem.” He turned to Charlotte. “You have some explaining to do, madam. You deserve to be taken in charge for breaking and entering!”

“You’ve got her.” Charlotte disregarded his words completely. “Will you be restored to your position now?”

For several seconds he struggled manfully to retain his anger,
and lost. In spite of his best efforts his face broke into a smile of overwhelming relief. “Yes. I got the Headsman today, too.”

“You did?” She did not even care who he was, or why. She launched herself forward and threw herself into his arms. “You are brilliant! I always knew you were brilliant!”

He clasped her as closely as he could and kissed her cheek, her hair, her eyes, and then her mouth. Then he put out his other arm and took hold of Emily as well.

“Shall you tell Jack?” Emily asked in a very small voice.

“No,” Pitt replied with a muffled laugh. “But you will!”

TRAITORS GATE
by Anne Perry

“In the tradition of Margaret Millar and Ruth Rendell, Perry saves her largest, tastiest revelation for the very last paragraphs.”

—Los Angeles Times

Someone in the Colonial Office is passing secrets to Germany about England’s strategy on Africa. While Police Superintendent Thomas Pitt investigates this matter of treason, he is quietly looking into the tragic death of his childhood mentor, Sir Arthur Desmond. Pitt believes he was murdered, and that the crime is connected with the treachery in the government. When the strangled body of an aristocratic society beauty is found floating near lonely Traitors Gate, Pitt and his clever wife, Charlotte, begin to see clearly the pattern of tragedy and frightening evil that he must deal with, at the risk of his career—and his life….

Published by Fawcett Books.
Available wherever books are sold.

If you liked this novel, you won’t want to miss

The William Monk Novels
by
Anne Perry

A DANGEROUS MOURNING

DEFEND AND BETRAY

A SUDDEN, FEARFUL DEATH

THE SINS OF THE WOLF

CAIN HIS BROTHER

WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE

THE SILENT CRY

A BREACH OF PROMISE

THE TWISTED ROOT

SLAVES OF OBSESSION

FUNERAL IN BLUE

DEATH OF A STRANGER

THE SHIFTING TIDE

DARK ASSASSIN

Ballantine Books
Available at bookstores everywhere.

BOOK: The Hyde Park Headsman
9.29Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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