Restless Dead by Gatward David J

Author:Gatward, David J. [Gatward, David J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Crime, thriller
Amazon: B08YNXWSH6
Goodreads: 57463174
Publisher: Weirdstone Publishing
Published: 2021-04-30T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Liz was now sitting in a rather old-fashioned farmhouse-style kitchen and nursing a large mug of steaming hot tea. Jen was busy doing a sweep of the house to check windows and the like, and to make sure that the house was as secure as it could be. They had both been rather surprised to discover that such a large and impressive house had no high-end security system installed. Indeed, when they had asked to check it, James had laughed at them, said something about how no security system in the world could be a match for his years of military training, and then taken Jen off for a guided tour.

‘I’m sorry about my dad,’ Ruth said, sitting down opposite Liz. ‘He takes a lot of getting used to. By which I mean, never. I mean, he’s absolutely lovely, but right now, I don’t know what’s going on with him at all.’

Liz kept her response non-committal. ‘I’m really sorry about your mum,’ she said. ‘Must be very hard for you.’

Ruth nodded and Liz saw the pain in the woman’s eyes and the effort she was having to put into not breaking down. She was also still struck by how similar she looked to her mum.

‘It was a shock for us all,’ she said. ‘Mum was a wonderful woman.’

‘She looked very happy in the photos,’ Liz said.

Ruth just smiled but said nothing more.

‘You live with your son, next door,’ Liz said.

‘Yes,’ Ruth replied.

‘How old?’

‘Sixteen,’ Ruth said, then pulled out her phone and flicked the screen round to Liz. ‘There he is.’

Liz glanced at the screen to see a pale-faced boy smiling through long black hair. He was wearing a Black Sabbath T-shirt. But what Liz noticed most of all was, once again, that striking family resemblance.

‘I like his style,’ Liz said. ‘Good taste in music.’

‘Yes.’ Ruth nodded. ‘He’s a good lad.’

Liz heard something in Ruth’s voice, something hidden, but wasn’t exactly sure what. ‘And he’s at school, yes?’ she asked.

Another nod, though with more hesitation.

‘And he’s getting on alright, is he?’

‘On and off,’ Ruth said. ‘But then who’s really ever truly happy at school? Like most teenager boys I think he’d rather be listening to music and playing Call of Duty.’

Liz took a sip of her tea wondering not only about what Ruth was hiding behind her words but also if it was relevant. And she was getting hungry now as well, but no biscuits were on offer, so she’d have to ignore that till they were back in Hawes.

‘When we were back in the study,’ Liz began, not really knowing quite how to approach what had happened after Ruth had entered the room. ‘You seemed to suggest that—’

‘That my dad is seeing things?’ Ruth said, finishing off what Liz was going to ask. ‘Of course, he is! You saw the whisky glass in his hand, right? It’s only a week since we lost Mum and he’s not dealing with it well. Not that he will admit that, of course. No, not Dad.

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.