Silence and Shadow by Erin Beaty

Author:Erin Beaty
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

CHAPTER 27

The coroner is pacing inside the gate when I return to the akademium. “There you are,” she snaps. “One of the advantages of you working in the hospital is that I know where to find you. A few more moments, and I would’ve had to leave without you.”

“Where are we going?” I ask, then realize she’s holding her autopsy bag. “Has there been another murder?”

“So it would seem, though the few details I have don’t make much sense.” She shoves the kit at me as she goes by, and I fumble to adjust to the weight as I turn to follow. It feels bulkier and heavier than usual.

“How did you hear about it?”

“A note from Martin Wellys, of course.”

But his brother specifically forbade his involvement in any investigations. “How does he know about it?”

“Because he was smart enough to figure out a way to keep himself and Simon aware of suspicious deaths. Think about it.” Haema Hespera glances sideways at me, but I have no idea what she’s referring to.

After ten steps and an increasingly exasperated expression, she tells me. “They’re gravediggers, Catrin. Simon and Martin are getting a good look at practically every body that goes into the ground.”

That was brilliant. It also makes me feel slightly better that he chose the grisly work rather than it being the only job he could find after having his reeveship stripped from him. My heart flutters against my ribs. “Will Simon be there, too?”

The coroner makes a noise of disgust. “I imagine he will be. And if you don’t promise here and now not to make a spectacle of yourself, you can turn around and go back home.”

“I won’t.” It will be impossible to tell him about my forming a plan for us to leave if she’s around. “I’ll act as though I don’t even know him.”

My steps are lighter anyway.

Our progress through the street is slowed by wagons and carts but when we exit the northerly gate and stay on the road heading to the other hospital, we’re able to walk much faster. It still takes us an hour, and the sun is low in the sky. Funerals are held at dusk; once the soul of the deceased has followed our Sun over the horizon and into the Beyond, the body can be buried.

“What do you know about this victim?” I ask when it’s finally unlikely we’ll be overheard.

“Same as the others. A man,” Hespera answers. “From what Martin said in the note, wild animals got to the body, which will make our job more difficult.”

It also means the man didn’t die recently. “How long ago do they think he was killed?”

“Yesterday. He was found this morning.”

Well, that at least was better for an autopsy. But it also meant if we’d managed to find out who the real killer was from the woman, this man would still be alive.

Simon and Martin are resting under an oak tree in the corner of the cemetery, waving reed fans to ward off the lingering heat of the day.

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