A Death in the Woods by M B Vincent

Author:M B Vincent
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 2020-06-10T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

DAVID

Still Sunday 8 November

The roast beef lay like ballast in Jess’s stomach. She was tired, she was crotchety, and she couldn’t shake the image of the little coffin, now neatly bagged in a police file.

On the scarred desk in the corner of her bedroom, essays waited to be marked. To Jess, they were as dense as the old Icelandic of The Edda; she was falling behind with her work.

Work not done needs no reward. Those Vikings had a saying for everything.

She put down her red pen. Looked at the ceiling. Up there, beneath the eaves, Mary snored, under strict instructions from Eden to stay out of the barn during the hours of darkness. Along the hall Bogna slept, a mallet beneath her pillow.

If Norris breached the perimeter (Jess had picked up jargon from the uniformed sentries), Mary had her Taekwondo, Bogna had her God-given ferocity, the Judge had his ceremonial regimental sword.

And me? Jess could quote him to death.

She felt alone. Even with those three helping the house hum with their breath. Moose, she thought. A dog always helps.

Tiptoeing down the landings – all lights left on, no dark corners that might embrace an intruder – Jess heard St Luke’s bell begin to toll midnight.

It was usually a comforting sound when she was up late, reading or marking or thinking. Now it was a warning; the day had tipped over into Monday the ninth. If Norris kept to his pattern – and oh! how a serial killer loves a pattern – then the next few hours would bring messy death to Castle Kidbury.

To Harebell House.

The last mournful chime sounded as Jess passed the study.

A slice of light showed beneath the door. The floorboard squeaked beneath her bare feet.

‘Jess?’

She said nothing. Stayed still. Jess didn’t want to see her father. She was tired of being angry with him. Tired of his refusal to talk about their family. Resentful at his selfishness in refusing to accept the danger of their situation.

‘Come in, Jess. Please.’

She did as she was asked. The Judge’s chair was turned toward the window. A bottle of something sat on his desk.

‘Dad?’ The hush felt wrong. The Judge was always doing something. Reading something. Disapproving of something.

‘Sorry.’ The Judge turned his chair. ‘Lost in thought.’

‘There’s a lot to think about.’ Jess took a step onto the rug. The golden rug with the blue flowers across it. It felt good beneath her toes.

She wished the curtains were drawn. The dark outside was too big. It was designed for the crack of a gun, the sound that haunted her since the trance.

‘David,’ said her father.

‘Eh?’ said Jess. She was tired. It was a sudden swerve.

‘You want to know. And you deserve to know. Just like David deserves the truth.’

Jess sank to the carpet. She waited. And waited.

‘Talking about such matters was your mum’s territory,’ said the Judge eventually. ‘I don’t really know how . . . ’ He sighed. Collected himself. ‘Life was hard for David. None of us knew why.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.