Beatrice by Rebecca King Read Free Book Online

to reposition a pile of books
that teetered warningly on the edge of the desk, and shook his head
in disbelief.
    “I know
that at some point I need to go through it all. Unfortunately,
these piles don’t just contain the papers my uncle needed for his
botany work. The house paperwork is in here somewhere too.” She
glanced at him. “You know, bills, details of the people we have
accounts with, that kind of thing. I have no idea if there are any
outstanding bills I need to settle, or other papers that I need to
deal with. I must go through everything at some point but I just
haven’t known where to start.”
    Ben
studied the vast array of books, pamphlets and paraphernalia that
lay practically everywhere and didn’t envy her the task that lay
ahead. He now knew just how much of an arduous task she had before
her just trying to find the books that were relevant to the
mysterious plant. The thought that the smooth running of the house
depended on contents that were hidden in this chaos made him
shudder.
    Although
he tried hard not to take a deep breath, the desperate need to
breathe was just too much to ignore, and he sucked in a deep breath
which unfortunately included a lungful of the awful aroma of the
plant. His nose immediately began to twitch as the pungent smell
invaded his senses and he had to struggle not to nudge the wretched
thing a bit further under the desk.
    “We can
leave it here for the time being,” he growled when he heard
Beatrice sniff. “Meantime, let’s choose a few of these books to
look through to see if we can find what this plant is?”
    “Pardon?”
    Ben
studied her. She looked vague, as though her mind was miles way.
However, he rather suspected that she wasn’t thinking about the
past, or her dearly departed uncle. She had started to wonder how
she was going to tackle the mess before them. He couldn’t help but
feel a little sorry for her, and instinctively placed a comforting
hand on her arm in an attempt to ease her worries.
    “I am
sorry, Beatrice. I didn’t realise that this was the way your uncle
worked. I didn’t mean to upset you in any way.” He felt a cad now
for having scared her into thinking the house had been broken
into.
    “You
haven’t upset me,” she assured him. “I just think that I need to
leave tidying this place up for a while, that’s all,” she sighed.
“Look on the bright side, if anyone does break in they are likely
to give this room a miss because it looks like it has already been
rifled through.”
    “I quite
agree,” he conceded. “Fair enough. There is no rush to sorting it,
is there? I mean, if there are any outstanding bills, or paperwork
that requires your attention, people will contact you. You can
quite legitimately explain about your uncle’s death. I am sure they
will understand.”
    She
nodded and was, for a moment, too choked to say anything else. It
wasn’t that she had been particularly close to her uncle, it was
just that he was her last surviving relative – well, who she knew
about at any rate. To think that she was now all alone in the world
was a little daunting.
    “Now,
about those books?” Ben prompted when she didn’t seem inclined to
focus on the task at hand.
    “What
about them?” She looked blankly around the room at the heavily
laden shelves.
    “Which
ones do you want me to pick out to take into the sitting
room?”
    She
opened her mouth to speak only for movement by the window to snare
her attention. Her eyes widened and a scream escaped her before she
had even finished lifting her hand to point at the dark silhouette
that had been briefly outlined by a jagged flash of
lightning.
    “What
the hell?” Ben demanded.
    “A
m-man,” she stammered. “There was a man staring into the house.
From over there,” she pointed again. “Did you see him? Ben, did you
see him?”
    Ben
stared at the window but couldn’t see anything other than the
shadowy outline of the garden and his own reflection. It was too
dark outside