Dominion by C. J. Sansom Read Free Book Online Page A

his expression would turn serious and solemn, in a way
that reminded her of a look she caught on her husband’s face sometimes; though with his son David was playful, childlike in a way that clutched at her heart. He would come home as early as
possible from work and they would hold hands watching Charlie play on the floor beside them.
    The stairs in the house were quite steep, and they had put child gates at the top and bottom, though they made the active little boy howl, resenting the restriction on his freedom. One day when
he was nearly three Sarah had gone into the bedroom to put on some make-up before going to the shops. She had taken Charlie upstairs with her, closing the latch on the gate behind them. Outside it
had been snowing – the tree in their little front garden and the privet hedge were thickly dusted with white – and Charlie was desperate to get out in it. He had gone out into the
upstairs hall and called back, ‘Mummy, Mummy, want to see the snow!’
    ‘In a minute. Be patient, sweetheart!’
    Then there came a series of little bumps and tiny cries and a thud, followed by a silence so sudden and complete she could hear the blood thumping in her ears. She had sat rigid for a second,
then called, ‘Charlie!’ and ran into the hall. The gate at the top was still closed, but when she looked down Charlie was lying at the bottom of the stairs, limbs spreadeagled. She and
David had said only a couple of days before that he was getting big and they would have to watch he didn’t climb over.
    Sarah ran downstairs, hoping against hope, but before she reached the bottom she could see from the complete stillness of Charlie’s eyes and the angle of his head that he was dead, his
neck broken. She lifted his little body and held it. It was still warm and she carried on hugging it, with a wild, mad feeling that if she held him to her own warm body, so long as he did not grow
cold, somehow he might come back to life. Later, after she had at last telephoned 999, after David had been sent home from the office, she had told him why she had held him for so long, and David
had understood.
    Sarah shook herself, took off her coat, and switched on the central heating. She lit the coal fire, then went into the kitchen and turned on the radio, cheerful dance music on
the Light Programme breaking the silence. She began to prepare dinner. Despite what she had said to Irene, she knew she couldn’t face it, she couldn’t confront David yet.

Chapter Four
    D AVID HAD ALSO TRAVELLED INTO London that Sunday afternoon, the key and the camera taken out of their locked drawer and slipped into his inside jacket
pocket next to his ID card. Two years as a spy had strengthened him, hardened him, even though, tangled in all the lies, part of him felt totally at sea.
    There were not many others travelling, a few shift workers and people going in to meet friends. David wore a sports jacket and flannel trousers under his coat; if staff came in to work at the
Office at the weekend they were allowed to dress informally.
    Opposite him a woman sat reading
The Times
. It had been bought by Beaverbrook to add to his newspaper empire just before he took the premiership; he owned almost half the country’s
newspapers now, and Lord Rothermere’s
Daily Mail
stable had swallowed up a large chunk of the rest. ‘
What Now for America?
’ a headline asked, above a picture of the
newly elected Adlai Stevenson, his face serious and scholarly. ‘
For twelve years, America has minded its own business under Republican presidents. Will Stevenson, like Roosevelt, be
tempted to naive interference in European affairs?
’ They’ll be worried, David thought with satisfaction. Nothing was going right for them now. Another article speculated that the
Queen’s Coronation next year might be in some way combined with celebrations of the twentieth anniversary of Herr Hitler’s accession to power in Germany, where huge celebrations were
planned,