Read Online Simeon's Bride by Alison G. Taylor - Free Book Online Page B

‘Two hundred years you said she’d been there. Why are we doing this?’
    ‘We’re doing it for several reasons, Emrys, one of which is scientific research,’ Dr Roberts said. ‘Another one is simple curiosity, and the fact, of course, if she’d been left on the gibbet like they usually were instead of being carted off by her hubby, the powers-that-be would’ve cut her up at the time, so they could certify how she died.’
    ‘Pretty obvious, I’d’ve thought.’
    ‘Procedure, Emrys…. You can’t say for sure how a body died unless you cut it up, even if you were the one who killed it.’ He picked up a scalpel, and fingered its blade thoughtfully. ‘Anyway, despite what I told McKenna, we really do need to make sure this body is as old as I think, and therefore who I think.’
    ‘Even if it’s as old as that, you can’t be sure it’s Rebekah.’
    ‘Well, no. But who else is she likely to be? Eh?’ He placed the scalpel at the throat, whilst Emrys held the twisted limbs and trunk as straight as possible. The doctor laughed. ‘Let’s hope it is Rebekah, Emrys. McKenna’ll have a blue fit if any more corpses turn up round there, especially one’s that’ve been hung!’
    Jack and Emma lay side by side, gazing up at the bedroom ceiling, watching patterns flow across sculpted plaster as moonlight beyond the uncurtained window fled back and forth behind scudding cloud.
    ‘What d’you think Michael and Denise are doing now, Jack?’ Emma asked, her voice soft.
    ‘Not what we’ve just been doing, that’s for sure!’ His teeth gleamed wolfishly in the silvery light.
    ‘Don’t be so crude!’ Emma exclaimed. ‘I was being serious.’
    ‘Sorry, love.’ Jack was still smiling to himself. ‘Why are you bothered, anyway?’
    ‘They’re our friends, in a way,’ Emma said. ‘At least, Denise is my friend.’
    Jack sighed. ‘McKenna’s been in a hellish mood all day. People are beginning to talk.’
    ‘Did you ask him what was wrong?’
    ‘Not my business, really, is it?’ Jack said. ‘We don’t have the sort of relationship where I can go barging in asking personal questions.’
    Emma put her arm across his chest, twisting the wiry dark hairs in her fingers. ‘People need to have friends to talk to. Denise has got me and her sisters.’
    ‘She’s all right then, isn’t she?’ Jack snapped, and turned over, his back to Emma.

Chapter 8
    ‘Oh, SHIT!’
    ‘Jack, please!’ Emma flashed a warning glance in the direction of the twins.
    ‘What’s up?’ one of the girls asked. ‘Who was that on the phone, Mummy?’
    ‘Nobody.’
    ‘Mummy! You’ve been talking to yourself again!’ Both girls erupted in a fit of giggles.
    Jack slapped his hand on the table. ‘That’s enough! Get ready for school. Now!’
    The twins rose from the table and went into the hall to gather books and bags and coats. Jack heard them muttering and laughing, lost as usual in their own world.
    ‘Are you taking them to school or should they get the bus?’ Emma asked.
    ‘They can go for the bus. They’re quite old enough.’
    ‘Don’t take it out on them, Jack. It’s not their fault.’ Emma went after her children, fussing about raincoats and the weather, and money for lunch and bus fares. The front door slammed, footsteps skittered along the garden path. Emma returned to the kitchen and slumped in her chair.
    ‘What do we do now?’
    ‘How the hell should I know?’ Jack demanded. ‘What exactly did Denise say?’
    ‘She said Michael told her he’s leaving her. Just like that, completely out of the blue.’ Shock still tarnished Emma’s voice. ‘She wants me to go round right away.’
    ‘Why? What are you supposed to do about it?’ Jack asked. ‘Anyway, it’s hardly out of the blue, is it? What else did you expect?’
    ‘Oh, I don’t know!’ Emma was distressed, and it angered Jack that other people’s dramas, their selfishness, should intrude on his own family.
    ‘Em, there’s nothing to