The Skeleton Tree by Diane Janes

Author:Diane Janes [Diane Janes]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2021-02-09T06:00:00+00:00

The tree has haunted my dreams. One recurring sequence finds me approaching the tree in winter. The leaves are gone, but the branches are not empty. The finger bone twigs are painted gaudy colours and a strange assortment of small articles hang from them, like decorations placed among the branches in readiness for Christmas. I recognize some of the items. The belongings of the dead mock me.

EIGHT

November 1980

When Wendy arrived outside Joan’s bungalow to collect her for their trip to the county record office, she experienced an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu. She had spoken to Joan several times on the telephone but had not mentioned the outcome of the last occasion on which she had given Joan a lift. She was still waiting to receive a date for the case to be heard, but Bruce seemed to think it certain that she would receive a ban, at which point she knew that people would become aware of the episode, because she would have to explain why she wasn’t driving. Embarrassment flooded through her every time she thought of it.

Joan had evidently been looking out for her, because she emerged from the front door without Wendy needing to get out of the car.

‘Well, this is nice,’ Joan said, settling herself into the passenger seat and arranging her large handbag between her feet before clipping her seat belt in place. ‘It’s jolly good of you to give me a lift.’

‘It makes sense not to take two cars. It wasn’t a problem – I dropped Bruce at the office and I’ll pick him up again tonight. That way I get to use the car all day.’ (Actually, Bruce had tried to turn it into a problem, grumbling even though the arrangement made no real difference to him at all.)

‘I’ve been looking forward to this,’ Joan said. ‘It’s very intriguing, isn’t it, all this delving into the past? You know, I think after I’ve cut my teeth on this little project, learned the ropes as it were, I might have a go at my family history. There’s always been a rumour that we’re related to the Howards – the Norfolk Howards, that is – way back on my grandmother’s side.’

Wendy, who had no idea who the Norfolk Howards were, decided to gloss over the point. ‘I’m sorry it’s taken so long to get this trip organized,’ she said. ‘It’s just been one thing after another at home. Of course, Tara’s eighteenth took up a lot of time.’

‘Your daughter’s party – of course. How did that go?’

‘It was super. The food was a big success and everyone danced.’ Wendy smiled at the recollection of herself and Bruce joining the youngsters on the floor for ‘Oops Upside Your Head’, and later dancing close together when the DJ played Streisand’s ‘Woman in Love’. It had been such a happy evening, to which thankfully it did not seem to have occurred to Tara to invite either her newly discovered father and stepfamily, or the wretched John, about whom nothing further had been said since the apparently coincidental meeting at Darlington station.

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