“Where did you meet her?” Brogan asked. “She sounds like she’s from South London, but you talk like you’ve had a fine upbringing.”

“She is from South London. I didn’t have a fine upbringing, but I taught myself to sound like I did so my patients would trust me.”

“How long have you and Gemma been married?” Stone asked.

“Three and a half years,” Barnabus said.

The confusion that immediately filled their faces reminded him, once again, of how strange his marriage truly was. Gemma had been gone for so long that he’d managed to convince himself it was what she wanted. She had left, after all. She had taken up the life of a vagabond, telling him she’d not care to return until he fell madly in love with her. He liked her and cared about her, but he’d never been top-over-tail in love with anyone. That wasn’t likely to change because of an ultimatum.

She wanted what he couldn’t give. There was no getting past that.

Bodies of Light

Bodies of Light

being a Fictionalization of Reported and Corroborated Mysterious Phenomena

by Dr. Barnabus Milligan, physician

Chapter One

In recent years, in the area of London near Belsize Park, a young physician by the name of Sefton Palmer established himself as a reliable man of medicine and an individual of inquisitive disposition. Dr. Palmer was trusted by his patients, well-thought-of by his colleagues, and, it seemed, destined for extraordinary things.

Though his practice tied him to his particular corner of the metropolis, he was not opposed to travel and, thus, one day found himself in the countryside of Ireland, visiting with others of his profession. A detailed discussion of various medical discoveries with one colleague in particular had lasted longer than either had anticipated, setting him behind his intended time to make the journey over the then-frozen bogland toward the home of another colleague who waited in anticipation of his arrival.

Dr. Palmer and his trusted horse began the journey on a late-January evening long after the going down of the sun.

Reader, please bear in mind that bogs freeze in winter—they are nearly as much water as soil—and such bogs are easily disturbed by the pounding of horses’ hooves, even when the beast is kept to a sedate pace. Failure to remember these well-established truths will render the following narrative perplexing in the extreme.

Dr. Palmer undertook his traversal of the boggy countryside with an eye to efficiency, not wishing to arrive at the home of his fellow physician at too late an hour. Thus, he set his horse to a quick clip, not as mindful as he ought to be of the dangers of a dark country lane with which one is not familiar.