The Sugared Game - K.J. Charles Page 0,73
how she’ll react?”
“I’m afraid she’ll hate me. I’m afraid she won’t believe me, or that she’ll choose her father over me, or worst of all, that she’ll forgive me. I’m afraid it will knock the joy out of her. Her life is going to be divided into Before and After by this, whatever happens, and I wanted to make Before as long as possible because After will not be good. You needn’t tell me I’m a coward. I already know.”
“I wasn’t planning to,” Will said. “I’m sorry for the things I said before.”
“Why? You were right. I’ve treated you abominably.”
“You have, yes. And you drank my Scotch.”
“That carried its own punishment.”
“But I don’t know what else you could have done, except bring your own booze. This is the stuff of nightmares. I’d have done no better in your place, and probably worse. And it is going to end horribly because there’s no way for it to end well, but I’m telling you now, that won’t be your fault.”
“Of course it will.”
“You need to stop that,” Will said. “Right now. You’ve got plenty to feel guilty about, but if learning her old man is a criminal mastermind hurts Phoebe, that’s his fault. What are you going to do, let him carry on regardless? Zodiac have killed people, blackmailed people, tortured people. They chained me up in a room for six days and for all I know I’d be there now if you hadn’t come to get me. Mrs. Appleby’s a harmless woman who’s been turned into a criminal. Leinster’s dead. If you can stop Capricorn, the only thing you should feel guilty for would be turning your back on what needs doing.”
“Ah, yes. One must always sacrifice love on the altar of duty.” Kim’s jaw was tense. “Because only duty matters. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.”
“Beaumont loves Mrs. Appleby. Someone probably loved Leinster.”
“But I don’t care about them. I’m sure I should, but I don’t. I’m going to put out the light in Phoebe’s eyes, and no matter whose fault it is, I’ll extinguish my own soul doing it.”
The Daimler purred on.
“Here’s the thing, though,” Will said after a while. “I told you Maisie was at Etchil an hour or two ago, and we’re in the car now, and you’re driving pretty fast. Why’s that?”
“Because I do not want a woman Waring doesn’t value in an isolated house with him as he works out how to best use her against me or you.”
“Right. And that’s not ‘duty’, that’s doing the right thing to stop an innocent woman getting hurt. Two innocent women, because do you think Phoebe would forgive herself if something happened to Maisie?”
“I know she wouldn’t. I know you’re right. I know.”
“You want to stop him. You’re doing your best. So how about you don’t hand him yet another weapon by loading yourself with so much guilt you can’t move under it? Bloody hell, Kim, I’ve killed more men than you ever will, and I’m not wandering about repenting at people. Do your damned job.”
There was a short silence.
“You really do have a way with words,” Kim said at last.
“Be dramatic on your day off. We’ve got to stop Waring doing anything to Maisie, and while we’re there we might as well find the evidence he’s Capricorn, right?”
“Easy as that?”
Will shrugged. “You seem to be pretty good at locks these days. Get into his study. Or tell him lies, that’s your area. Tell him you got more from Mrs. Skyrme than you did. Something.”
They drove in silence for a while. Will thought about the situation, going over what he knew, what he could do, what their chances were. It wasn’t pretty.
Kim pulled off the main road at Berkhampstead and onto a smaller road through fields, lined overhead with skeletal branches and the odd burst of pink blossom.
“Questions,” Will said. “First, are we going to have more trouble with that policeman?”
“No. I put my lawyers abreast of it, and more to the point told DS everything. This is very much the Private Bureau’s area of expertise.”
“Everything?” Will repeated. “You don’t mean us?”
“He doesn’t like not knowing things. Don’t worry about it.” Kim glanced over at what must have been a dumbfounded expression. “I didn’t tell him anything he didn’t already know or couldn’t have found out. The pressing issue here is a policeman on the Zodiac payroll, and Sergeant Thomas is currently being skinned like a rabbit. Don’t give it another thought. And the same for Fuller, by