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"Is this how you generally behave toward family?" I sniffed "And you wonder why ht vanished, and the beater’s feet dropped down on the floor "My apologies," Harry said ets the better ofa little
"Help me with him," I said
"I can’t be a part of this conflict," he said as he moved to the door "Good-bye, Charo after hio ofaway"
"Yes, and you’re not" With another groan he shoved hi my wrist with an iron hand He bellowed out two names, and a pair of his beaters rushed into the roorandfather
"Lord Travallian has just assaulted ht in the head Find hi him back to the station" Doyle held up a hand "Be discreet"
The beaters touched the brims of their helmets before they trotted out
"Brilliant" I wanted to slap hiht, it’s an ancientthat possessed his body, and if we don’t stop hi to start a war" He prodded the back of his head and winced "How does he ain? Toss a few pebbles at the whole of the militia?"
"More like a thousand or so Talians," I snapped "He can command entire armies with his mind, and he has Dred your eyes at me like that He’s an immortal warlord, I tell you"
He shook his head "You’ve been drugged and knocked about, Kit If Dredmore had told you he was the Queen, you’d have believed hi he was as he hustled me from the room, down the stairs, and out the hotel I repeated the entire story as he pushed me into his carri and told his driver to take us to a street in the better part of the working-class quarter I didn’t begin begging until we arrived at a narrow greystone sandwiched between a carriwright and a pottery
Doyle dragged me out of the carri, issued some terse instructions to his driver, and led reystone As I proo with me to the docks, he pushed me inside and bolted the door behind us
I paused for breath and took into several flats, we stood in a tidy front roo walnut and leather furnishings Someone had banked a fire in the broad-based riverstone hearth, beside which sat a little cart loaded with a filled BrewsMaid, neatly wrapped finger sandwiches, and a cloth-covered mound of tiny jam cakes
"Sit down" He proddedon the brewer "Not on your life," he added without looking at me "You’ll nottoward the door "Why did you bring me here?"
"I can’t take you back to the Main They’ll toss you in a cell and lose the latchkey" He took off his jacket and carefully rolled up his sleeves before he used the basin to wash his hands "The Crown’s seized everything of yours, so Walsh’syour friends"
"Walsh can’t watch everyone" I occupied the settee closest to the door "I have friends in other places"
"You’re staying here" He filled a plate with sandwiches before he brought it to me "Until I sort this out, you’re under house arrest"
Chapter Eight
I didn’t want Doyle’s food or protection, but le loudly, and I needed to rest and think I accepted the plate he offered with all the ladylike grace I could e before I attacked its contents
"Dredmore couldn’t keep me locked up," I mentioned between bites of some rather marvelous salt-cured haant ass" He went back to the cart and returned with a stearant country black "I’m your friend, and this isn’t a prison cell" He offered me the tea "It’s my home"
"So I’m under your house arrest I see" I put the plate on"Do youimmovable? Perhaps that secretary in the corner there Looks too heavy for e"
He chuckled "No doubt you’d find a way, even if you had to drag it out of here after you"
He ht ainst my will, but Doyle did care He was also a decentinvolved in this Especially after IMy thoughts turned the food I’d wolfed down into an unpleasant lump in my belly "You don’t want any part of this, Inspector If they find out you’ve shelteredYour shield, your money and property Maybe even your life"