Killing Cousins by Alanna Knight Read Free Book Online Page B

melancholy confrontation, it would help if you would bring me up to date on all that has happened since you arrived on the island.'
    There isn't much to tell.' Vince sighed. 'Do you really want me to go right back to the beginning?'
    'If you would be so good.'
    'It was obvious the moment I arrived here that I was too late, that Thora was on the point of death. There was nothing I, or anyone, could do to save her. She lingered in a coma for a day or two but I was too late to do anything but comfort her husband as she breathed her last.'
    Vince stared gloomily into space. 'A terrible scene, Stepfather, one I shall never forget. Francis sobbing, calling her name, shouting that he couldn't believe it, wouldn't believe it As if the whole tragic business had happened quite suddenly without any warning. You know the sort of thing I'm talking about God knows you had it with Mama...'
    Vince paused and gripped Faro's arm as if in apology for mentioning the subject still so painful to both of them. 'But this was different She hadn't been taken ill and snatched from him. As a doctor, he must have known by her wasted body, by the steady decline, that she had not long to live.' With a sigh he added, 'Everyone else in the household, although they maintained attitudes of cheery hopefulness for Francis' sake, they all knew she was going to die.'
    As he fell silent Faro said, 'Even when we expect death, lad, we always keep hoping for a miracle that will divert it from our own door - that the man with the scythe will decide to pass us by.'
    Vince shivered. 'She was, by all accounts, a very remarkable lady. A great pity you'll never have a chance to meet her now.'
    In that Vince was wrong. Faro was to see Thora Balfray very soon and in the most unexpected of macabre circumstances.
    The nausea that had been threatening ever since he arrived on Balfray, a product of unwise eating on the ferry, seized Faro in a violent attack of sickness as he was about to set foot in the great hall where the laird's loyal tenants waited respectfully to receive from his hands their golden guineas.
    Faro reached his room in time and afterwards lay sweating feverishly on his bed as the waves of griping pain swept over him. In the light of what was to come, he was infinitely to regret having missed Thora Balfray's wake. His absence was noted by Vince who came in search of him as soon as he could reasonably leave. He gazed at his stepfather's ashen countenance in some alarm and quickly mixed a sedative.
    A few minutes later, Faro announced that he felt considerably better while Vince continued to chide him about his confounded eating habits, his careless lifestyle.
    'Stop it, Vince. Stop it at once. It's bad enough having a miserable stomach upset without a lecture that would do my mother proud. And I'll strangle you, lad, if you breathe a word of this to her. Now, tell me about the wake.'
    'All very feudal. I'm sorry you missed it. Almost a return to the Barony courts of old. Poor Francis, he's a fine solid laird, exactly what this island needs. Never spares himself where the welfare of the tenants is concerned. You'll see what he's done for agriculture, not to mention a drainage system and sanitation almost non-existent before Sir Joseph's day.'
    As he listened, Faro found himself remembering that earlier conversation with his stepson in Edinburgh when Francis Balfray's letter had arrived. He remarked on the improvement in their relationship.
    Vince smiled. 'Yes, I like him a lot and respect him. Seeing him through the traumas of this last week has added a new dimension to poor old Francis.' He shrugged. 'At medical school, we didn't have a lot in common. He wasn't exactly popular. Bit of a swot. Not good at athletics.'
    'Perhaps he was just too poor to stand his round of drinks.'
    'How did you guess that?'
    'Students being put through college by relatives are frequently impoverished. And you have already volunteered that piece of information.'
    Vince looked