Lost and Gone Forever by Alex Grecian Read Free Book Online

remember. As I say, I was near my club, so it must have been somewhere near the bridge.”
    “London Bridge?”
    “Yes, the bridge.”
    “What was he doing?”
    “Walking.”
    “What were you doing?”
    “I was also walking. There was nothing remarkable about any of it except that he turned and ran when he heard his name.”
    “Walter can’t run. His leg injury prevents it. You saw someone who looked like Walter.”
    “I know my son-in-law when I see him.”
    “That’s the first time you’ve ever called him that. You’ve never acknowledged that he’s a part of your family, and you only say it now to hurt me.”
    “Not at all. If I’ve kept my distance from him, it’s only because he makes his life more complicated than it needs to be. And he complicates the lives of everyone else around him. I honestly don’t think you can deny that.”
    Claire sat on the arm of a chair and threw her hands up in frustration. “I need to know so much. Was it really Walter? Did he see you at the same time you saw him? Did you chase him away? I believe, if it really was Walter, you must have said something awful to him to drive him further from us.”
    “I assure you that’s not the case.”
    “Well, why
didn’t
you say anything? Why didn’t you call out his name? Or follow him? You say you watched him as he disappeared again. Why wouldn’t you try to bring him home?”
    “As I say, he didn’t see me, and I didn’t wish to make a scene in the middle of the street.”
    “I need to be alone, Father. Please.”
    Carlyle drained his glass and set it on the table. He put his hand on Claire’s shoulder, and when she tried to move away from him, he tightened his grip.
    “I understand,” he said. “But you deserved to know the truth. Your husband isn’t missing. He simply doesn’t want to be with you. It’s hard to hear, I’m sure, but I think you’ll thank me someday for my honesty.”
    “Please just go.”
    “Do you need any money?”
    “I don’t need anything from you.”
    “Very well. I’ll ask your mother to look in on you tomorrow.”
    He grabbed his hat and went to the door. He turned back, and he looked as if he might say something more, but then changed his mind and left, closing the door quietly behind him. Claire sat for some time, staring at the door as if it might open again and Walter might be standing there. She knew her father had meant to hurt her with his words, to unmoor her and make her more willing to leave London, to return home with him to the estate in Devon. But he had made a mistake because he didn’t understand the depth of her love for her husband. Leland Carlyle had given his daughter renewed hope.

10
    T he boy’s name was Ambrose and he was fourteen years old. He was a clever lad and full of energy, and Day had put him in charge of some of the other boys. Ambrose worked many jobs. Every morning he scouted for cigarette and cigar butts in the streets. He coordinated the efforts of the other children involved and helped to make sure nobody covered the same ground twice in a day. In the evening, after their findings had been given to Day and the other boys had gone, Ambrose took his chess set and sat in Trinity Square, playing all comers for money. He did well. The square was close enough to both Tom’s Coffee House and the George and Vulture Tavern, where London’s most enthusiastic chess lovers regularly met, so Ambrose’s table attracted those players who were not members of chess clubs or who couldn’t get in on a game at those reputable establishments.
    His board was handmade from grooved and fitted boxwood, and he had fashioned the pieces from materials he had found while scavenging. The white king was made from the bowl of a broken ivory pipe, while the black king was an ebony organ key that he had stolen from a church, then sanded into shape and polished.
    He played anyone who sat down across from him and only collected if he won. He usually made enough from three or