Better that way . . .
He drove to the hotel where he had used a telephone before, and put through the call.
He tried to order his thoughts as he waited for the connection to go through. They refused to be ordered.
He’d had to ask who he would be replacing. It was one thing to step into a dead man’s shoes, and quite another to step into those of someone he’d respected and then destroyed.
It took ten minutes to get through to Kent and Melinda’s house.
He had to know, he had to be sure.
Then Shanta was on the line, and he had to wait again for her to find Melinda.
When at last he heard her voice on the other end of the line, pleasant and cheerful, he asked her straight out.
“Did you speak to someone in the Home Office? Is that why I’ve just been given a promotion at the Yard?”
There was a brief silence. “This is the first I’ve heard of it, my dear. But I am quite pleased. Did I have anything to do with it happening? No. May I be among the first to offer you my good wishes? Well done!”
He could hear the warmth in her voice. The sincerity. But he had to be sure.
“Please. This matters. I have to know.”
“You have always wanted to be your own man, Ian. Even as a boy. I’ve always respected that. It’s why I stood by you when you told your father and David Trevor that you didn’t want to be a solicitor in your father’s firm or an architect in David’s. It was your choice to make, no one else’s. You earned this promotion on your own. You’re a very good policeman, far better than you realize. It’s time others recognize that as well.”
He had to believe her. He wanted to believe her. But Melinda Crawford knew half the Government and most of the Army. If anyone could pull strings, it was she.
“Markham was against it. I could see it in his face, hear it in his voice. If he’d had his way, I’d have been passed over. He would never have agreed on his own.”
“Well, someone disagreed, and I’m very glad he did.” There was a pause. “Do you feel you can make a go of it?”
She knew that he was shell-shocked, although he wasn’t sure just how much she knew. Whether Dr. Fleming had confided in her. On the whole, he didn’t think Fleming would tell anyone about Hamish.
He took a deep breath. “I’m damned well going to try.”
He heard her chuckle, a rich laugh that came clearly down the line.
“Good for you. I’m very glad, Ian. You are very much like your father, you know. And mine as well. I loved and admired both of them. Come and visit when you can. You know my door is always open.”
And she put up the receiver at her end, giving him no more chance to doubt himself or her.
He held the receiver for another moment, then put it up before the operator could ask if he wished to make another call.
Hamish said, “Do ye ken she was telling the truth?”
She wasn’t one to lie. And yet for the life of him, he could think of no one else who might have put in a word for him at the Home Office. There was no one he knew whose voice carried such weight.
Hamish had the last word.
“Ye’ll no’ fail. You wouldna’ gie yon Chief Superintendent the pleasure of seeing it.”
Rutledge remembered something. Markham still kept his letter of resignation in his desk drawer . . .
The man would enjoy nothing so much as finding an excuse to use it. Especially after the Home Office had overruled him.
The news was beginning to seem real, finally.
He found himself wishing he could share it with Kate.
About the Author
CHARLES TODD is the New York Times bestselling author of the Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries, the Bess Crawford mysteries, and two stand-alone novels.
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Also by Charles Todd
The Ian Rutledge Mysteriess
A Test of Wills
Wings of Fire
Search the Dark
Legacy of the Dead
Watchers of Time
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
No Shred of Evidence
Racing the Devil
The Gate Keeper
The Black Ascot
A Divided Loyalty
A Fatal Lie
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
The Shattered Tree
A Casualty of War
A Forgotten Place
A Cruel Deception
An Irish Hostage
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.
a game of fear. Copyright © 2022 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.
first edition
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
Digital Edition FEBRUARY 2022 ISBN: 978-0-06-290561-1
Version 01182022
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-290559-8
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