The Grave Robber's Secret by Anna Myers

Author:Anna Myers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Walker Books
Published: 2011-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Two days later a scream woke Robby. His mother had risen early and gone to help Miss Stone with dressing and preparing for the day, but she had found her in bed, cold and lifeless.

Robby left his pallet and raced up the stairs, knowing what he would find. He stopped at the open door. His mother still stood beside the bed, tears rolling down her cheeks. “She’s gone, Robby. Our Miss Stone is no more.”

“No!” he cried. “Are you sure?”

“She’s cold, son, cold as ice.”

“What do we do now?” he asked.

“We’ll have to tell your da,” she said. “The undertaker must be fetched.” She looked about the room. “Her things must be sold to pay for her burial—but then, she did pay her rent early. T’wasn’t due until next week, but she give it to me yesterday.” Quickly she turned, went to the door, and shut it. “Listen, Robby. I put the money in the kitchen in a jar. Something told me to wait to give it to your da. Let’s see if we can keep her death a secret. We’ll wait until he’s gone out to send for the undertaker. We can use the rent money and let on like the undertaker was paid in advance by Miss Stone.”

“Da wouldn’t use the money to bury her, would he? Even though her rent wasn’t due yet?”

“He would not, and if he got to the body first …” Ma stopped and pushed the gray hair from Miss Stone’s eyes. “You know what your da would do with her body.”

The truth of his mother’s words left him weak-legged, and he sank into the rocking chair. “I’ll go on down,” she said. “There’s breakfast to cook. You stay here until you’re able to face the others.” She went out, closing the door behind her, and Robby listened to her feet on the stairs.

Tears started pushing at his eyes, but he wiped the first ones away. “You can’t cry now,” he said aloud to himself, “not if you want to save her from being cut up.”

He looked around the room and wondered if his father would allow him to keep the books. He would not fight for them, but he would fight if Da found out she was dead and wanted to sell her body. “I know you wanted me to have the books, Miss Stone,” he said, as if she could hear him, “and I would be proud to make them mine, but that’s not the main thing. The main thing is to see you in a grave. Maybe we can put you beside Lolly.”

When the smell of sausage cooking reached the hall and seeped under the door, Robby knew it was time to go down. He had heard Martha and her father already on the stairs. He would need to find a way to get the message to Martha not to go into this room. He pulled the red and blue diamond-patterned quilt his mother had thrown back over the body and, at first, over the face.

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