Halfhead
Page 35
He had to admire Jo’s resilience. She’d got over the events at Sherman House a lot quicker than he had, and he wasn’t the one who’d been tortured. She struggled into her jacket—the stump of her right arm waving about in random circlesas she fought with the sleeves.
Will pulled on his overcoat and helped Jo with the brass buttons on her dress uniform, trying not to get them covered with fingerprints.
‘Come on,’ she said as he started to pick at the wrapping on his parcel, ‘Take it with you, you can open it later. We have to go.’
The rain was like ice, bouncing off the circular headstones beneath their feet. Mourners huddled together for warmth beneath a drumming curtain of black umbrellas as the priest worked her way through the eulogy.
Standing off to one side Jo, Brian and Will watched as the sealed casket was tipped up on its end and slid slowly into the freshly dug hole. As it sank into the ground the assembled Bluecoats struck up Abide With Me, singing as yet another of their number was consigned to the cold, dark earth. At last the casket clicked into place and the priest dug a handful of dirt from the box at her side and intoned the ritual words:
‘Ashes to ashes…’
‘Jo,’ said Brian, ‘what did Cat do at that official function? Y’know, when she was pished?’
‘Hmm? No idea. Only met her a couple of times.’
Will frowned as six Bluecoats stepped forward, forming a circle around the grave. ‘She said you were her DS.’
‘Nope. I think she worked for DS McLeod.’
The roar of Thrummers filled the air, turning the heavy rain above the grave into freezing fog.
Jo shrugged. ‘I can ask if you like?’
The Thrummers sounded again and Will looked down at the order of service in his hands for the first time. There was a holo on the inside cover of a red-haired Bluecoat with freckles and squint teeth. Beneath it were the words: ‘CONSTABLE CATHERINE MACDONALD. GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.’
Oh…shit.
He shoved the holo into Brian’s hands. ‘Look.’
‘Who the hell’s this?’ Brian stared at the stranger on the card. ‘That’s no’ Cat!’
Jo took the order of service from him. Checked. ‘Yes it is.’
‘Will…? If that’s Cat, who the hell was with us?’
Will didn’t say anything; he knew now why he’d recognized her.
He pulled the package out into the rain and fumbled it open. It contained two items: a note saying ‘SEE YOU SOON!’ and a human jawbone.
Acknowledgments
Without Whom…
This book has taken a hell of a long time to go from a first draft to the finished thing, and a lot of people have helped along the way. So I’d like to thank Phil Patterson, Luke Speed, Sarah Hodgson, Jane Johnson, Amanda Ridout, Allan Guthrie, James Oswald, and Christopher MacBride, for all their time and trouble. And believe me, I’ve caused a lot of trouble.
But most of all, thanks go to Fiona and Grendel, who’ve been putting up with this nonsense for years.
Copyright
HarperCollinsPublishers
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Published by HarperVoyager
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FIRST EDITION
Copyright © Stuart B. MacBride 2009
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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EPub Edition © OCTOBER 2009 ISBN: 978-0-0073-5274-6
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