Page 66 of Married to the Earl

“Then you’re not ready to serve customers,” Vivian said. “Your job will be to collect empty mugs. Don’t talk to any of the men. Don’t offer anyone anything. Collect the empty mugs, take them into the back, and put them in the sink. That’s all. Do you think you can manage that?”

Vivian was clearly under the impression that she’d given Astrid some kind of onerous chore, but Astrid couldn’t have been any happier with her assignment. Collecting the mugs would give her the perfect excuse to walk around the place and observe what was going on without talking to anybody. She wouldn’t be noticed, but she would be in a perfect position to notice everything.

And if Killian O’Flannagan ever comes by to visit his pub,she thought,he’d better be careful. Because I’m going to have my ears out, and if he says anything that’s even remotely incriminating, I’ll go straight to the police.

Chapter 26

The rest of the night seemed to go by in a blur. Astrid kept expecting things to slow down, waiting for a moment when she would be able to stop and collect her thoughts, but that moment never came.

“There are mugs all over those tables,” Vivian barked at her when she found an empty chair and sat down for a moment, eager to rest her aching feet. “No patrons will take them if they look occupied, and then the pub won’t do business. Go and clean them up.”

And Astrid was off again.

How long is the Angry Boar open?she wondered. She had no idea how long she’d been working, but it felt like it must have been hours. Surely Betsy—the real Betsy—couldn’t have stayed awake this long. She would be asleep now, and Astrid would just have to pray that nobody caught her on her way in later.

The clientele were another problem. Even though Astrid wasn’t directly in charge of serving them, it didn’t take her long to see that Betsy had been right about the kind of treatment she could expect from pub patrons. Hands seemed to find her every time she walked too close to a table. Astrid had no idea whether their little pinches and pokes were deliberate, nor could she decide what to do about it.

Just bear it,she told herself, gritting her teeth.You’ll only have to be here a few days, most likely. Just long enough to find out something about Killian O’Flannagan that you can use to help Conor win his freedom.

She didn’t dare ask any of the other girls about O’Flannagan. The last thing she needed was for Conor’s rival to find out that the new hire at the Angry Boar had been asking about him.

That would make him start asking questions about me, she thought.And once he does that, it won’t be hard for him to figure out who I am. I’m only safe as long as nobody is looking at me too closely.

Eventually, the pub’s crowd began to die down. Astrid took a last load of mugs back to the kitchen, put them in the sink, and began to fill it up with hot water. She didn’t know whether washing dishes was part of her job, but she supposed someone would come and stop her if she wasn’t supposed to be doing it.

“You’re the new girl, right?”

Astrid looked up. A girl she hadn’t seen yet this evening was standing in the kitchen doorway with a tray of glasses in her arms.

“I’m Betsy,” Astrid said.

“I’m Harriet.” The newcomer looked harassed. “We’ve got a man passed out on the bar out there. Ordinarily it would be my responsibility to wash the mugs, but we’re trying to get him out the door before Mr. O’Flannagan shows up. Would you mind finishing up in here?”

“Not at all.” Astrid’s heart raced. “Mr. O’Flannagan is coming?”

“He comes at the end of every shift to make sure things have gone smoothly,” Harriet said. She glanced over her shoulder, and Astrid could see that she was distracted.

“Go ahead,” Astrid said. “I’ve got things under control in here.”

“I owe you one,” Harriet said, and rushed out the door and toward the bar.

At the end of every shift!This was perfect. Astrid had hoped she would see O’Flannagan before too long, but she couldn’t have asked for anything more than an exact predictor of when he would be in the pub. All she had to do was wait around each evening for him to arrive and hope he said something that gave her a clue as to what had happened to his murdered friend.

I’ll introduce myself to him tonight,she thought. The situation was ideal. She was the new employee in his pub. He would want to know who she was. He would be excited to meet her. And perhaps in his excitement, he would let something slip.

It’s the best opportunity I’ll get.

But first she had to finish washing the dishes.

That was for the best, though. The evening had been so full of new and strange experiences that Astrid felt she could use a few minutes to herself to relax. She hadn’t been responsible for washing dishes since she had left her father’s house, of course. But growing up, it had always been a chore she’d found peaceful.

She submerged her hands in the warm water and closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of it. The muscles in her fingers relaxed—she hadn’t even realized how tightly clenched they’d been. She scrubbed her hands together to wipe away the stickiness of dozens of spilled drinks and dirty mugs.

This job truly is disgusting,she thought ruefully.I feel terrible for the women who have no choice but to do this throughout their lives. I’m going to be getting out of here in just a few days, and I already feel as if I’m going mad.

She lingered washing the mugs, but finally the job was done, and she could put it off no longer. She made her way out of the kitchen and into the main room of the pub.

All the patrons were gone. Horace stood behind the bar, wiping up. “How was your first night?” he asked.

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