Mourn not your Dead by Deborah Crombie Read Free Book Online

Will and Gemma stepped into the room she didn’t stir.
    “Mrs. Gilbert?” Gemma said softly, and then Claire turned her head with a start.
    “I’m sorry. I was miles away.” She gestured at the pad in her lap. “There are so many things to be done. I thought I’d make a list, but I can’t seem to keep at it.”
    “We need to ask you a few questions, if you don’t mind,” said Gemma, directing a silent and unflattering epithet towards Kincaid for leaving her with this task. She never grew inured to the grief of bereaved relatives, had in fact given up hope of becoming so.
    “Sit down, please.” Claire slipped her feet into her shoes and smoothed her skirt over her knees.
    “You’re looking a bit better this morning,” said Will as he sat on the sofa opposite her. “Did you sleep, then?”
    “I didn’t think I possibly could, but I did. Strange, isn’t it, how the body makes its own decisions.” She did look better, less drawn and fragile, her skin porcelain-fine even in the mercilessly clear morning light.
    “And Lucy?” he asked as Gemma sat beside him and took out her notebook.
    Claire smiled. “I found the dog stretched out on the bed with her this morning, but she didn’t stir even when I took him out. I insisted she take a sedative last night. She’s stubborn as a mule, though you wouldn’t think it to look at her, and she doesn’t like to admit when she’s reached her limit.”
    “Takes after her mum, does she?” said Will with a familiarity that Gemma, daunted by Claire Gilbert’s rather formal good manners, would have found impossible to attempt. She remembered Claire’s distress when she realized Will had left the room last night, and marveled that he had managed to establish such rapport in only a few hours.
    Claire smiled. “Perhaps you’re right. Though I was never as single-minded about things as Lucy. I fluffed my way through school, although I dare say I could have done better if I’d had some idea what I wanted to do. Dolls and house . . she added softly, looking out into the garden again and pleating the fabric of her skirt with her fingers. “I’m sorry?” said Gemma, not sure she’d heard correct. Focusing on her, Claire smiled apologetically. “1 was one of those little girls who played house and nursed her dolls. It never occurred to me that marriage and family might not be the center of my life, and my parents encouraged that, my mother especially. But Lucy... Lucy’s wanted to be a writer since she was six years old. She’s always worked hard at school, and now she’s studying to sit her mocks in preparation for her A levels in the spring.”
    Will leaned forwards, and Gemma noticed absently that the elbow of his tweed jacket was wearing thin. “She goes to the local comprehensive, then?” he asked.
    “Oh, no,” Claire answered quickly, then she seemed to hesitate for a moment before continuing. “She’s a day student at the Duke of York School. I suppose I’ll have to ring the headmaster sometime today and explain what’s happened.” Exhaustion seemed to wash over her at the thought. Her mouth quivered, and for a moment she covered it with her fingers. “I think I’m managing well enough until I have to tell someone, and then...”
    “Isn’t there someone who can make these calls for you?” Gemma asked, as she had before, but hoping that with rest Claire would have reconsidered.
    “No.” Claire straightened her shoulders. “I won’t have Lucy do any of it This is difficult enough for her as it is. And there’s no one else. Alastair and I were both only children. My parents are dead, and Alastair’s father. I’ve been to his mother already this morning, first thing. She’s in a nursing home near Dorking.”
    Gemma felt a rush of sympathy for Claire Gilbert. Telling an old woman that her only son was dead could not have been easy, yet Claire had done what was necessary, alone and as quickly as possible. “I’m sorry. That must have been