Read English Trifle for Free Online

grabbed his hand. “We already called the police,” she said. “We better not touch anything else.”
    “You called the police?” Liam said, looking at Breanna.
    “Of course,” she said. “I tried calling you; we didn’t know what else to do.”
    “Did you see anyone?”
    They shook their heads. “We were waiting for Mrs. Land to come back to the kitchen,” Breanna said.
    “But you didn’t see anything or hear anything?”
    “No,” Breanna replied, but she sounded annoyed by the fact that he kept repeating himself.
    Liam nodded, staring at the wall for a few more seconds. Sadie was just about to ask him if he was okay when he reached out and grabbed Breanna’s wrist. She startled, as did Sadie.
    “I want you both to go back up to your room,” he said. He turned and began pulling Breanna toward the door.
    “Wait a minute,” she said, trying to twist her arm free of his grasp. He didn’t let her go and Sadie had no choice but to follow. “Liam,” Breanna continued, “you’re hurting me!”
    He let go of her then, but he didn’t apologize and he didn’t slow his steps. “Right now,” he said. “Go up there, lock the door and wait for me.”
    “But,” Breanna said, “we—”
    “Bre,” he cut her off. “Please, upstairs now.”
    Sadie watched the exchange, too shocked by Liam’s reaction to be of much help in either side of the battle. Liam was always so soft-spoken and meek, to see him jump into action was . . . impressive, but a little unnerving as well. Breanna opened her mouth to protest again, but Liam took a step toward her, bringing himself intimately close to her face. “Please, Breanna,” he said in a fierce whisper, almost a growl. “I’ll call you when it’s safe, but until we figure this out, I want to make sure you’re safe.”
    Breanna looked like she wanted to argue, but she didn’t. “Come on, Mom,” she said, heading for the stairs. Sadie paused, looking between a retreating Breanna and Liam who stood in front of the sitting room door, watching Breanna. The last place Sadie wanted to be right now was in her room, twiddling her thumbs. There was a body to find, a murderer to pin it on, and clues to sniff out in order for those two ends to be realized; and she was going to wait around in her room? She’d already assisted in the capture of one murderer. Liam should probably go to his room and let Sadie take charge.
    Breanna was three steps up the marble staircase when she turned. “Mom,” she said. “Come on.”
    “But—” Sadie looked at Liam, trying to send him a telepathic message to insist she stay behind. He needed her; she knew he did.
    “Please go with her, Sadie,” he said quietly, so Breanna couldn’t hear. “I don’t want her to be alone. It’s not safe.”
    His receptors for telepathy were horribly out of service. However, she couldn’t argue with his reasoning and so she turned and followed Breanna, all the time letting the questions run through her head like the ticker tape at the bottom of a news program. She remembered the assistant cook running out of the kitchen. Should she tell Liam that?
    At the top of the stairs, Sadie and Breanna headed toward the west wing, where their room was located. They’d been offered separate rooms, but preferred staying together, even if it seemed to offend the staff a little bit. As soon as the door closed behind them, Sadie inspected the room closer than she ever had before. It was a beautiful room, to be sure, and both she and Breanna had oohed and aahed when they arrived and then tried to determine the cost of furnishing this room. A huge four-poster bed, draped with a satin bedcover, was centered on the wall opposite the door. At the foot of the bed was a bench upholstered in the same fabric as the drapes and several of the accent pillows on the bed. The walls were covered with a light green wallpaper, the tone picked up from a contrasting fabric used to trim the pillow shams and the ruffle on the bench.