Today's Reading
Caitrin could not believe what she was hearing. "You're not pressing charges?"
"On my poor old Cyril? No, never, not in a month of Sundays. Let him go. With a good cuppa tea inside him he'll be fine in the morning, and he's got to go to the docks early. I hope you haven't hurt him too much; we can't afford for him to miss work. C'mon, missus, let him go. He'll be all right."
Caitrin freed Cyril from the handcuffs, and the woman helped him hobble back into the house. The front door closed with a bang, leaving Caitrin standing alone in the middle of the street. She stifled her frustration, dusted herself off, and hurried away to catch Florence before she could call for the Maria. And stopped.
A man stood underneath the street lamp just a few feet away, watching her.
He wore a long greatcoat and a trilby that cast a deep shadow over his face. "Miss Colline," he said in a dry, accent-less voice.
"It's Constable Colline."
"We have been watching you."
"We?"
In reply, he thrust out a hand and offered her a pasteboard card. "I was asked to give you this. Call first thing tomorrow morning."
Caitrin took the card and half-turned away from the man to catch the light.
On it was a handwritten telephone number and a name: Goodman.
"Who is this Goodman?" Caitrin said as she looked back, but the man had vanished. It was another Friday night on Ryers Road. But this one was just a bit different.
CHAPTER TWO
The next morning, Caitrin called the number from the police station. It was answered on the first ring by a woman's soothing voice. "Good morning, this is Bethany Goodman."
"Why have you been watching me?"
"Thank you for calling so promptly, Caitrin."
"How did you know it was me calling?"
"Shall we have tea?"
"Tea?"
"Why not? It's a civilized way to get to know each other."
"You can be civilized by leaving me alone, and if I see your amateur detective skulking around again doing his bad American gumshoe act, I will arrest him. Then I will come and arrest you. No tea."
She slammed down the receiver, left the room, and was almost through the front door when the phone rang again. The duty sergeant answered and called after her, "It's for you, Caitrin."
She returned and put the receiver to her ear to hear Bethany say, "Coffee, then?"
"You are persistent."
"I have to be to keep things running smoothly, but I am also quite harmless, I can assure you. Shall we say ten tomorrow morning at the ABC Tea Shop on Rathbone Place? It was a favorite tea shop for Bernard Shaw and his Fabian lectures—which were often enlightening, sometimes pretentious—and we won't be noticed because it's always busy."
"Why should I meet you?"
"Because we desperately need you, Caitrin."
"Who's we?"
"England."
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