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He looked away quickly, terrified How could his dead ain of course she was not

"Sie fro"

"I wasn’t far Thought I’d drop by and see if you enjoyed your holiday"

"I did indeed"

As he followed his father into the kitchen, Siain, her back to him Only the way she had done her hair was new Meriel had alorn her hair upswept Elegant She had always been elegant Even in old gardening clothes, elegant

Meriel was dead Meriel had been dead for--

"Hello"

She turned round

Her hair was quite different and she was far younger But she was tall, like hisOdd

"I don’t think you’ve met Judith Connolly: my son Sie of sarcasm "Detective Chief Superintendent Serrailler He’s a police over to hi tosimmered on the stove Since his mother’s death, the kitchen had lost some of its warmth and the small touches that hadplants on theledges; there had been notes pinned to a cork board, re italic hand and bright blue ink; there had been a row of musical scores on a shelf next to the cookery books, and photographs of thehter, stuck up everywhere But the plants had died and never been replaced, the raphs had fallen down or curled at the edges The notice board was bare Si into the kitchen It was the one roo

Now he noticed soe, neat in their pots with saucers beneath There was an unopened bottle of wine on the table Glasses

Who was this?

"I take it you’ve seen your sister," Richard said

"Of course They’re back and fully functioning It’s brilliant"

"I’ll telephone Catherine tomorrow"

"Don’t you think you should drive out there, Richard, not just telephone? They’ll be longing to see you"

Siain Richard said, "Oh, I doubt that" But he was s

"Will you stay for supper, Simon? I’ve made a chicken pie that will feed half a dozen I always cook tooin hishis father where he should go, who he should see? Who was this?

She handed hi She had a warht brown hair with soht Very well cut Pink shirt Necklace of large alhtly crooked nose Who was this?

His father said, "Should we eat in here or shall I lay the table in the dining room?"

"It’s so comfortable in here Simon, do stay We don’t have any holiday snaps to bore you with"

Holiday?

His father was avoiding his eye

Simon picked up the bottle and went to the drawer for the corkscrew but she had it in her hand Held it out to him

Her look said, Don’t ask now Later He will tell you later I will see to it

He took the corkscrew She smiled

Tall But not like his mother Not his mother

In hisin her kitchen Not his mother

He wrenched the cork hard out of the bottle

Sixteen

The evening air smelled of bonfires Cat Deerbon walked towards the east door of the cathedral in the gathering dusk and the woodsic of childhood, school satchels, her first year as a junior doctor, running across to the hospital fro the leaves And her ant in jeans in herthe debris of the su heart of a small, neat and well-controlled bonfire

Cat stood for a second catching her breath at the vividness of theof tea, chat, catch up

The cathedral was still and al the candles in the great holders on the high altar So the floor at the far end of the chancel with a rhythmic scritch-scratch of bristle on stone

There was no service Cat had had to drop in a letter to the New Song School and she always took the chance to sit in the cathedral for a fewsome of her patients and their proble She had only just returned to the practice There were new patients, old ones returning with new proble into opposing so the syste, was refusing to argue, refusing to compromise, unusually irritable But she was deterhts on call, seeing her own patients when they needed her most It would all settle down

She closed her eyes Herthe bonfire with a handful of sticks and weeds

"What would you do, Ma?" And the voice replied, "What your professional conscience dictates, of course--tempered by common sense And don’t call me Ma!"

Cat smiled Footsteps down the aisle beside her pew She looked up and nodded to the verger The shostly way down the nave She bowed her head, prayed for a few lory of the fan-vaulted roof, the stone angels on the tops of the coluilded tru their time in Australia and this cathedral perhaps the , her phone beeped for a text en Hse re Karin M

Karin McCafferty The last time she had spoken to Cat was before Australia, but she had sent a couple of emails She was fine, she had said, still fine, scans all clear, two years after her diagnosis, the oncologist at Bevhaoes for you too!" Karin had ended