Kate and Julia: Abducted in India Read Online Free

How are you, Penelope?”
    Penny glanced around the expensively furnished room before meeting the eye of the man sitting at the table. “Well enough, thank you.
    You seem to be enjoying continuing success.”
    James Macdonald had been a civil servant who, like many another, had dabbled in a little private enterprise on the side. He had begun importing treadle-powered sewing machines, had made such a fortune at it that he had resigned his post, and was now the representative for a multitude of companies eager to sell their goods in the sub-continent. For years rumour had had it that he dealt in items of more questionable legality than the refrigerators and gramophones that filled his warehouses, but they were only rumours and Penny had never heard that he included slaving amongst his activities. Nevertheless, his customers included the chieftains and princelings of the semi-independent states along the frontier, frequent buyers of the flesh the slavers peddled. Part of the reason for Macdonald’s success was that he kept himself well informed.
    Penny accepted the cup of coffee he offered her and drew out a chair from the table, angling it to ensure he had a good view of her shapely calves before she sat down. She fitted a cigarette into her holder and lit it.
    Leaning back in his chair, Macdonald looked a little red-faced and seemed to be breathing rather quickly. Penny looked down to ensure she was not revealing more than she had intended, and then at the whisky bottle that stood beside the empty bowl on the tablecloth before him. She had heard he was given to adding a dash of whisky to his breakfast porridge each morning, but surely he was not drunk so early in the day.
    “Are you all right?” she enquired, sincerely hoping he had not become a drinker since they had last met. If so he would likely be of little help.
    Macdonald grinned. “Oh, much more than all right, Penelope, to be sure. What’s it been? Five years since I saw you last?”
    “Not quite that long,” Penny said.
    “I was sorry to hear about Tom,” Macdonald continued.
    “Unfortunate business that. I hear he left you without a feather to fly with. Damned nuisance, I’ll bet.”
    “Quite,” Penny agreed quickly, embarrassed and anxious to turn the conversation to her business. She raised a surprised eyebrow when the man gave a low grunt for no apparent reason.
    He grinned again. “Well, you’ve only been in Peshawar since yesterday,” he said, revealing he was still well informed about what went on. “I doubt I was top of your list for social calls, so what is it you want from me, Penelope?”
    Penny gave a quick, succinct account of what she had discovered that morning and the conclusions she had drawn, and looked at Macdonald hopefully.
    “You haven’t reported it to the authorities?” he asked, and gave another strange grunt followed by a soft gasp.
    “You know how they react if a white woman disappears,” Penny said. “There’ll be a wholesale crackdown that will only drive the kidnappers deeper into hiding, and their victims along with them.”
    Macdonald nodded. “You can rule out anyone at the hotel being involved. The only illegal activity they get up to is watering their gin. I would expect your girls were taken out of the city the moment they were seized.”
    “I’m aware of that,” Penny said, failing to hide her impatience.
    “What I need to know is where they were taken.”
    “And you think I can tell you?” Macdonald chuckled and gave another grunt as he did an odd shuffle on his seat.
    Penny again raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow, momentarily distracted from her purpose by his unusual behaviour.
    “You know everything that goes on for miles around, James,” she said, forcing a smile to her lips. “I’m sure that includes where the upcoming slave auction is going to be held this year.”
    The smile Macdonald returned was neither relaxed nor friendly.
    “Indeed I do, Penelope. I also have a pretty good idea who