At last I fell asleep, but it felt as if I’d been unconscious for only a minute or two when running footsteps came up the stairs. A fist thumped against the door, followed by Tabby’s voice, hoarse and breathless. ‘There’s a lady dead in the park.’ I jumped out of bed and opened the door. She was wearing her old boots with a shawl over her head, much as she’d been in her pre-apprentice days. I think she wandered in the dark for old time’s sake. ‘Where?’ ‘By the naked statue.’ I guessed she meant the enormous Achilles at Hyde Park Corner, set up in honour of the Duke of Wellington’s victories and so anatomically detailed that delicate ladies averted their eyes. ‘Did you see her yourself?’ ‘No. One of the boys that works in the mews just told me.’ ‘When did they find her?’ ‘He said she wasn’t there last night. Some man found her just now.’ ‘Have the police been sent for? ‘S’pose so.’ I told her to wait on the landing, while I dressed and scrawled a note to leave on the mounting block for Amos, saying I was sorry I’d been called away.
What do You think about When The Devil Drives (2011)?
