Free The Medium (Emily Chambers Spirit Medium Trilogy #1) by C.J. Archer Page B

ask you some
questions." He spoke to her with his hands clasped behind him and a deeper
voice than he used when addressing me. I suppose he was fulfilling his role as master
of the house by asserting his authority over her but, like most men, he didn't
realize the best way to get answers was with kindness, not by frightening the
poor girl.
    "My name is
Emily Chambers," I said to her. "And you are?"
    "Finch,"
she said, eyes downcast.
    George looked at
me as if I had a memory like a sieve. Jacob, however, nodded his approval. He
at least seemed to know what I was doing.
    "Your first
name?" I persisted.
    "Maree, miss."
Her hands, reddened and chapped, twisted and stretched her apron to the point
where I thought she might tear it.
    "Well then,
Maree, Mr. Culvert tells me you started working here only a month ago."
    "On the
twenty-fifth, miss." Still she did not look at me.
    "Ask her if
she stole the book," Jacob said.
    I refrained from
rolling my eyes. Just. "Do you know the book Mr. Culvert claims was stolen
from this library, Maree?" I asked instead.
    Maree's gaze
flicked up to mine then lowered again. "I don't know nothin' 'bout no
books, miss. I can't read." Her hands twisted faster and faster and she
shifted her weight from foot to foot as if she would bolt at any moment.
    "Don't
fret, Maree," I said, touching her shoulder. "No one's going to hurt
you. You're not in trouble. I believe you."
    She looked at
me, her eyes not quite trusting. "You do?"
    "I do."
I smiled at her. "You must not have any need for books or the time to
learn to read them."
    "I don't, miss.
Them words and stuff all looked funny to me. And the pictures in that book scared
me, they did. I wanted nothin' to do wiv it."
    George shook his
head. "And yet—"
    "Of course
you didn’t," I said, cutting him off.
    George cleared
his throat and thrust out his chin. Jacob chuckled beside me. "He thinks
your methods aren't getting results."
    I had a feeling George
wasn't the only one. I gave Jacob a pointed glare. If he had a better way of
doing this, then he was welcome to feed me questions to ask the maid.
    "So if you
wanted nothing to do with the book," I said to her, "who did you give
it to?"
    Maree's gaze
remained downcast. After a moment her shoulders slumped and began to shake. She
was crying. Oh dear, I was going about this all wrong. I put my arm around her
but she stepped away and I let my arm fall to my side.
    George frowned
at the girl. "Answer Miss Chambers, Finch. Who did you give the book to?"
    "No one."
She wiped away her tears with her apron but still they came. And still she kept
looking at the rug. If she'd only meet my gaze I might believe her.
    "She's
lying," Jacob said.
    "I know,"
I said on a sigh.
    "Answer me,
Finch," George said. I was struck by the change in him. When it had been
just the two of us, he'd been gentle and kind, but now there was a commanding
note in his tone that would make an army general proud. I wouldn't want to be
in Finch's shoes. "Have you fallen in with a bad lot, is that it?"
George asked. "I was told by the school's administrators that your brother
was thrown out for thievery. Is he behind this?"
    "No! It's
nothin' to do wiv 'im, sir! Please, sir."
    "Was it one
of your friends from that school? Have they put you up to this?"
    "Sir, please,
sir, can I go? It weren't my fault! I don't know nothin' 'bout no book! Please,
sir."
    I caught
George's gaze and nodded. He dismissed the maid and she ran from the room. Her
footsteps and sobs finally grew distant and I sat down, defeated.
    "Good try,"
Jacob said, perching on the desk near me. He gave me a sad smile. "Are you
all right?"
    I blew out a
breath. "That was awful." I rubbed my temples where a headache threatened.
    "But you
see what I mean when I say she was lying," George said.
    I nodded. "I
know she was lying, but I wonder if we could have handled that interview
better. It's likely she stole the book for someone else."
    "Perhaps
she had no choice in the matter," Jacob