The Homecoming by Alison Stuart

Author:Alison Stuart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mira
Published: 2022-11-28T00:00:00+00:00

Heedless of the prohibition against women entering the main bar, Danny pushed open the door and ushered Charlie in, causing a small group of men sitting at a table by the window to raise their voices in protest. Joe Trevalyn stood behind the bar pouring a beer.

He looked up. ‘Charlie, you can’t be in here—’

‘We need to talk to you, Joe,’ Danny said, adding, ‘somewhere private.’

Joe finished his task and pushed the tankard across the bar to the waiting miner. He directed them to a door on the right, which led into a room that Danny recognised as once having served as Caleb’s rudimentary surgery. It seemed to have reverted to being a general office and going by the layers of dust it was not in much use.

Joe looked from one to the other and tried to smile. ‘What’s happened?’ His face sobered. ‘It’s bad. I can see from your faces.’

Charlie reached out and took Joe’s hand.

‘It’s Janet,’ she said. ‘She’s dead.’

‘No!’ Joe snatched back his hand and shook his head as if denying it would make the statement untrue. ‘She can’t be dead. We’re getting married. She …’ He slumped back against the desk and lowered his head into his hands. ‘She can’t be …’

‘I’m sorry,’ Danny said and laid a hand on the other man’s shoulder.

Joe swallowed and looked up, his eyes brimming with unshed tears. ‘How …?’

Charlie let out an audible breath. ‘We found her this morning, hanging from the big, old tree in the front of the hospital. We thought maybe she’d taken her own life but when we looked at her, we realised …’ Her chest rose and fell as she took a breath. ‘Joe, someone took her life.’

Joe frowned. ‘Are you saying she was done in? My Janet? She wouldn’t hurt a soul. Why would someone do that?’

Danny shook his head. ‘We don’t know.’

‘Did you see her last night?’ Charlie asked, and when his mouth tightened she went on. ‘Apart from the incident on Friday, I know you’ve been seeing her on the sly when she’s on night duty. Sneaking out of her duties to meet you is a serious breach of the regulations, but none of that matters now. Lily Roberts said she left the hospital about midnight claiming she had a headache. Did you come up to see her again last night?’

Joe’s mouth worked. Danny recognised the look of a man wrestling with his conscience.

‘No. Yorkie needed me to move some barrels in the cellar and it was well after midnight before I finished. Besides, you made it clear that I had to stay away.’ His face crumpled. ‘Janet—’

Joe’s self-control gave way and Charlie took the man in her arms and held him as he wept.

‘I’m so sorry, Joe,’ she said, and when she looked up at Danny he saw the tears in her eyes and wondered if they were for the dead nurse that she hardly knew or this man.

‘What’s going on? Joe, lad, I need you back at the bar.’

The door burst open and Yorkie Oldroyd stood in the doorway.

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