The Quiet Truth: a haunting domestic drama full of suspense by Sharon Thompson

Author:Sharon Thompson [Thompson, Sharon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloodhound Books - crime, thriller and mystery
Published: 2020-12-08T16:00:00+00:00

27

Charlie Quinn

Polly took to staying in the cabin even when I was away. I was away for months at a time. I hope now that she had love in my absence. If not, it was years of her life she lived alone.

I was territorial and proud of my harem of two women. Other men were alone or with whores and I revelled in having two all to myself. And both of them doted on me. I couldn’t brag about this and this bugged the show-off in me.

Hammy was becoming a wealthy enough cattle-hand and I was starting to think of home more and more. I was delighted when I went into Winnipeg for there were a few letters to me, in what was Polly’s hotel.

‘Fine place you have here,’ I said to the man behind the desk. It was the man Polly was to marry who now owned the place and Old Mrs Kelly told me that he was a far-out relation of Polly’s. There was no mention of Polly between him and I. Like I said, he seemed decent enough.

I took the bundle of envelopes tied in a small string. Cedric and Jock had taken me at my word in the letters and put c/o Randal Hamilton on the front.

It took me many days to pick up the courage to open the letters. I was lying with my bedroll propped under my head watching the cattle drink from one of the brooks, when I finally ripped the paper open.

I read Jock’s first and it didn’t say much. He rambled on, telling me that his own wife had passed away shortly after I left. This didn’t bother me none as I never thought much of her. Jock admitted that he was lonely as hell without us both. There was a mention of a few customers and it was very pointed that he didn’t refer to my Ella at all. Jock was about the only person who knew some of our relationship and he failed me with a very short and unhelpful letter.

Anna’s epistle was a lengthy novel. It read just the way she talked; full of her hopes for a good marriage to the new apprentice in Daly’s butchers and of all the stupid books she had read. Anna mentioned looking after Father more, which I skipped over. None of her news interested me in the slightest and she didn’t seem to miss her wayward brother one little bit. I shouldn’t have expected as much. I hadn’t spent a lot of time in her orbit. I was angry, though, and ripped her words up into tiny pieces.

Cedric’s letters were last. There were two from him. I was thrilled and devoured every word. I wish I still had them. I read them over and over. The words stung and went something like,

And that Ella O’Brien, she’s been the talk of the country. Taken away for murdering her own babies. Poor Dr O’Brien is beside himself with grief. Losing her and their good name all in one fell swoop.

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.