Chapters (67)
- Cover
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
Going downstairs, she remembered that Sam had not rung back, Sam who had come into the bedroom just as Chris had died lying beside her. He had climbed onto the bed and lain between his mother and father, and been held close, in the great peace that falls like a shawl, wrapping the dead one and the watchers around.
‘Thanks for the drink . . . I said a small one.’
‘I know you did.’
She yawned.
‘You should go to bed, sis.’
‘No, I’ve got a second wind now.’
‘Are you hungry? I could make a bacon sarnie.’
‘No, first, there’s no bacon, and second, sit down again. She looked at her brother steadily, with the look he could never dodge.
‘It wasn’t only Chinese medicine, was it? Or even at all.’
‘Of course it was.’
‘You could have googled what I told you.’
‘Yes but I needed a doctor’s take on it.’
‘Oh, really.’
Simon shifted around in the chair, finished his beer slowly. Cat knew better than to say anything else, confident, as a result of long experience in this situation, that he would eventually either talk or think better of it and get up, saying curtly that he was off to bed. She stroked Wookie’s ears and he made a soft grunt of contentment in his sleep.
‘Do you think he misses Mephisto?’
Cat shrugged. ‘Hard to tell. He was very quiet for the first couple of weeks, he didn’t stay out in the garden for long and kept sniffing round everywhere. I think he’s forgotten now.’
‘Another cat?’
‘Not unless Felix gets a longing for a kitten but I don’t think he’s very interested and Wookie wouldn’t be entirely welcoming.’
Silence. Simon looked at his left hand. Turned it over. Back. But Cat did not ask about the prosthesis now, he managed it well, it gave little trouble, and if he needed to consult anyone, it would be the experts, not her.
She looked at his face, turned away from the lamp, his white-blond hair catching the light – angel hair, she had thought when they were growing up. He had been taller than either her or their brother Ivo before they entered their teens. She and Ivo had had more in common, playing strange made-up games and being wannabe doctors from the start. But it was Simon she had adored.