by Ellis, Tim
He squinted. ‘I’ll need a magnifying glass. And you do know I’m only here for one day, don’t you? . . . Doctors!’ He stared at her. ‘What’s wrong, Nicky?’
‘What wrong, Quigg! You might well ask. What’s wrong is that I’m fifty-five, I’m on the change . . . Do you know I had my last period six months ago?’
‘I haven’t heard anybody talking about it in the canteen.’
‘In fact, I thought it was impossible.’
‘You’ve lost me now.’
‘I’m pregnant, Quigg.’
‘Pregnant!’
‘And don’t ask if it’s yours.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because you’re the only man I’ve had sex with in ten years.’
‘Jesus!’ He took a sip of coffee. ‘Why are you going to the doctors?’
‘A check-up. Do you know how complicated it is for a woman of my advanced years to have a baby?’
‘No.’
‘Complicated and dangerous. And don’t ask me if I’m keeping it.’
‘Are you keeping it?’
She burst into tears.
He went around the breakfast bar and held her in his arms.
She wiped her eyes. ‘Of course I’m going to keep it. I thought I’d never have children. I’m fifty-five, on the way to the knacker’s yard and you’ve got me pregnant, Quigg.’
‘Sorry. Were you not taking the pill?’
‘At my age?’
‘Which is no age at all.’
She stood up, took his hand and said, ‘Come on. It’s no good crying over spilt sperm. Let’s go and screw like bunnies.’
He was dragged upstairs, stripped naked and shagged within an inch of his life.
‘Not bad for someone’s who’s knocking on the doors of the knacker’s yard,’ he said, sweating like a warthog.
‘You keep me young at heart, Quigg.’
‘And in body. You’re one of these people who drink human blood to stay young, aren’t you?’
‘Especially male human blood. Have you given yet?’
‘I’m the sperm donor, not the blood donor.’
‘I don’t expect anything from you.’
‘Meaning?’
‘If the doctor gives me the OK, and I go full-term, I’ll put you as the father on the birth certificate, but that’s as far as it goes. I don’t expect you to marry me, pay maintenance, or anything like that.’
‘Unless I want to?’
‘For the time being, let’s just say you’ll visit once a month to see the baby and act as my personal trainer.’ She slid off the bed. ‘Now, I have to take a shower and get to the doctors, and if I’m not mistaken, you have odd-jobs to do.’
‘In your condition you’ll probably need somebody to scrub your back.’
‘You’re my guilty pleasure, Quigg.’
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Follow DI Quigg and DC Jezebel Rummage in their next investigation: The Charnel House in Copperfield Street due out in 2017.
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Thank you for choosing and reading my book. If you enjoyed it, I would be grateful if you could write a review and post it on Amazon.co.uk and/or Amazon.com.
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About the Author
Tim Ellis was born in the bowels of Hammersmith Hospital, London, on a dark and stormy night, grew up in Cheadle, Cheshire, and after many years in Essex, has returned to Cheshire with his wife and three Shih Tzu’s. In-between, he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps at eighteen and completed twenty-two years’ service, leaving in 1993 having achieved the rank of Warrant Officer Class 1 (Regimental Sergeant Major). Since then he has worked in secondary education as a senior financial manager, in higher education as an associate lecturer/tutor at Lincoln and Anglia Ruskin Universities, and as a consultant for the National College of School Leadership. His final job, before retiring to write fiction full time in 2009, was as Head and teacher of Behavioural Sciences (Psychology/Sociology) in a secondary school. He has a PhD and an MBA in Educational Management, and an MA in Education.
Discover other titles by Tim Ellis at http://timellis.weebly.com/
Also, come and say hello on his FB fan page:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Tim-Ellis/160147187372482
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Genghis Khan
Warrior: Path of Destiny
Warrior: Scourge of the Steppe
The Knowledge of Time
Second Civilisation
Orc Quest
Book I: Prophecy
Harte & KP
Solomon’s Key
Parish & Richards
A Life for a Life
The Wages of Sin
The Flesh is Weak
The Shadow of Death
His Wrath is Come
The Breath of Life
The Dead Know Not
Be Not Afraid
The House of Mourning
Through a Glass Darkly
A Lamb to the Slaughter
Silent in the Grave
In the Twinkling of an Eye
A Time to Kill
Deceit is in the Heart
The Fragments that Remain
The Kisses of an Enemy
Evidence of Things Not Seen
Dominion of Darkness
There is no Fear in Love
Quigg
The Twelve Murders of Christmas (Novella)
Body 13
The Graves at Angel Brook
The Skulls Beneath Eternity Wharf
The Terror at Grisly Park
The Haunting of Bleeding Heart Yard
The Enigma of Apocalypse Heights (Novella)
The Corpse in Highgate Cemetery
The Lost Children of Bethnal Green (Novella)
Tom Gabriel
Footprints of the Dead
Whispers of the Dead
Souls of the Dead
Stone & Randall
Jacob’s Ladder
The Gordian Knot
Josiah Dark
Dark Christmas (Novella)
Dark Heart (Novella)
Inigo Morgan
As You Sow, So Shall You Reap (Novella)
The Measure of all Things (Novella)
Cyrus Kane
An Ill Wind (Novella)
Chains of Illusion (Novella)
Collected Short Stories/Poetry/Anthologies/Non-fiction/Collections
Untended Treasures
Where do you want to go today?
Winter of my Heart (Poetry)
With Love Project – The Occupier
The Killing Sands (Anthology)
Raga Man (Short Story)
The Writer’s A-Z of Body Language (Non-fiction)
Summer of my Soul (Poetry)
Sinful 7 (Anthology)
Tim Ellis Collections 1, 2 and 3
Also planned for 2016/2017:
Games of the Dead (Tom Gabriel 4)
A Very Merry Murder (Novella)
For All is Vanity (Parish & Richards 21)
The Serial Killer’s Apprentice (Edge 1)
Wings of the Dawn (Parish & Richards 22)
I Will Fear No Evil (Parish & Richards 23)
The Heart Knoweth (Parish & Richards 24)
Through the Eye of a Needle (Parish & Richards 25)
The Charnel House in Copperfield Street (Quigg 10)
Chasing Rainbows (Cyrus Kane 3)
Dark Shadows (Josiah Dark 3)
Warrior: Curse of China (Genghis Khan 3)
Mortis Obscura: Scavenger of Souls (Farthing & Trask 1)
The Timekeeper's Apprentice
Orc Quest Book II: The Last Human
The Sword of Damocles (Stone & Randall 3)
The Song of Solomon (Harte & KP 2)
ith friends