Tales: Short Stories Featuring Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford Read online

  I couldn’t imagine Mrs. Ashton doing anything rash, but I thought the words were meant for Mark as well.

  He nodded to me, then turned to his niece. Clara was striving to hold back tears as she said good-bye.

  “It might be best for you to go home,” he urged her. “Will you think about it?”

  And then he was conferring in a low voice with his son, close by the window.

  Without looking at us, three women still standing there like marble statues, unable to speak, he crossed the room. Mrs. Ashton put out her hand then as if to stop him, but let it drop. He opened the door, stepped through it, then shut it firmly behind him, and we could just hear voices as Inspector Brothers took him in charge. As well as the soft clink of handcuffs.

  The spaniel went to the door, scratching on it and whining.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  CHARLES TODD is the author of the Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries, the Bess Crawford mysteries, and two stand-alone novels. A mother and son writing team, they live in Delaware and North Carolina.

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  BY CHARLES TODD

  The Ian Rutledge Mysteries

  A Test of Wills

  Wings of Fire

  Search the Dark

  Watchers of Time

  Legacy of the Dead

  A Fearsome Doubt

  A Cold Treachery

  A Long Shadow

  A False Mirror

  A Pale Horse

  A Matter of Justice

  The Red Door

  A Lonely Death

  The Confession

  Proof of Guilt

  Hunting Shadows

  A Fine Summer’s Day

  The Bess Crawford Mysteries

  A Duty to the Dead

  An Impartial Witness

  A Bitter Truth

  An Unmarked Grave

  A Question of Honor

  An Unwilling Accomplice

  A Pattern of Lies

  Other Fiction

  The Murder Stone

  The Walnut Tree

  COPYRIGHT

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  TALES: SHORT STORIES FEATURING IAN RUTLEDGE AND BESS CRAWFORD. Copyright © 2015 by Charles Todd. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

  “The Kidnapping.” Copyright © 2010 by Charles Todd.

  “The Girl on the Beach.” Copyright © 2010 by Charles Todd.

  “Cold Comfort.” Copyright © 2013 by Charles Todd.

  “The Maharani’s Pearls.” Copyright © 2014 by Charles Todd.

  Excerpt from A Pattern of Lies copyright © 2015 by Charles Todd.

  EPub Edition July 2015 ISBN: 9780062443755

  Print Edition ISBN: 9780062443762

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