Crimson Snow Read Online Free Page B

police. Hilda felt much the same way, but she couldn’t say so now. “They are better now, under Mayor Fogarty. They will do all they can. This kind of crime—” She stopped, suddenly aware that she had said too much. She wanted, if possible, to keep the sordid details from Erik.
    He was sharp. “What kind of crime?” he asked instantly.
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    Well, he would hear from others, anyway. Perhaps it was better that it come from her. She would tell him as much as she could. “It was—very violent. I am sorry, Erik. I did not want you to know. Miss Jacobs was badly beaten. Probably some man had too much to drink and—and saw her and tried to make her talk to him. She was pretty, was she not?”
    Erik nodded and moved to the next stall. He didn’t look at Hilda.
    â€œHe must have wanted her to—to walk with him. And when she would not,” Hilda continued hurriedly, “he became angry, because he had been drinking, and hit her. Perhaps he was a tramp or some such person. The police are good at solving that kind of crime. That is what I meant.”
    Erik ignored most of what she had said. “I like tramps,” he said. “They’re nice to me. They wouldn’t do a thing like this.”
    It was certainly true that some hoboes had once been kind to Erik. “Some of them are good, but not all are like the ones you knew. And when a man has been drinking, he may do anything.”
    â€œPatrick drinks,” retorted Erik. “He doesn’t do bad things.”
    â€œPatrick is Irish. He—”
    â€œSure, and I’m from the good auld sod, and what of it?” said a genial voice in stage Irish.
    â€œPatrick!” Hilda jumped to her feet. “I am glad to see you! Erik and I have been talking about Miss Jacobs. I told him it was probably a drunken man who thought she was pretty and wanted to walk with her.” She put the slightest of stresses on the last few words and looked warningly at Patrick. “I am sure that the police will soon find him.”
    â€œIt’s to be hoped they will,” said Patrick soberly. “It’s a sad day in South Bend when a respectable young woman can’t walk a few blocks of a winter’s night without being struck down by some scum of a man.” He hesitated a moment. “Hilda, I know you don’t like me tellin’ you what to do, but you’ll be careful, won’t you? The dark comes early in winter.”
    â€œI will, I promise, Patrick. I am almost never out at night. You know how strict Mr. Williams is about the rules.”
    â€œI do, and it’s glad I am of it at a time like this. No decent woman is safe while a man like that walks the streets.”
    Hilda shook her head slightly and flicked her eyes toward Erik. Patrick grimaced and nodded. Erik probably knew exactly what they meant. He was thirteen, after all, and a farm boy was no stranger to the facts of life. But there were things one did not talk about.
    â€œHilda breaks the rules all the time,” said Erik, sticking to his point. “She can get away from that Mr. Williams any time she wants.”
    â€œBut I cannot, Erik. Not anymore. I told you, he watches me day and night. Now that Norah is gone and the new waitress is bad at her duties, he is in a terrible temper. I dare not disobey him.”
    â€œYou’re out now,” Erik pointed out. “And you’re seeing Patrick. The old stick-in-the-mud wouldn’t like that, and neither would Mama.”
    â€œIt is my half day. He cannot object. As for Mama, she does not dislike Patrick as much as she did. She knows how much he did for you.”
    â€œOh, she’s grateful to him, but you should hear what she says about you maybe marrying him. She’d turn over in her grave, she says.”
    â€œShe is not in her grave,” said Hilda impatiently.
    â€œAnyway, I don’t know why you don’t just