Only the Thunder Knows_East End Girls by Rena Mason Gord Rollo Read Free Book Online

said. “The second job I mentioned. Remember? Good. Look around,
then. Tell me what you gentlemen see.”
    “Easy,”
Billy said. “I see dead people.”
    “Do
you now?” Black chuckled. “Where? I don’t see any wandering around. Are you
sure?”
    “They’re
in the ground, obviously. Where God intended them to be.”
    “Precisely.
Look down then, lads. See where you’re standing.”
    Burke
and Hare looked down to see their shoes covered in soft brown dirt that looked
and smelled like it has been recently turned. They were standing on a freshly
dug grave. “Oh hell!” William shouted and jumped to the side, eager to get back
onto the damp grass.
    “What
do you see now, Billy?” Black asked.
    “Umm…nothing.
Just some poor bugger’s grave. They must have buried him in the last day or two.”
    “And
how about you, William? Is that what you see too?” Black asked. “Just a
pauper’s grave?”
    Hare
thought it over for a minute, piecing the events of the day together and
remembering where they’d just come from. Then it dawned on him and he smiled
coldly. “No, Mr. Black. That’s not what I see at all.”
    “What
is it, then?”
    “Opportunity,
sir. I see opportunity!”
    Black
smiled darkly, a great unnerving feral grin spreading across his bearded face.
“Excellent. Now we’re getting somewhere.”

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter
    6
     
     
     
     “What in
blazes is that bloody racket?” William shouted for the second time, staggering
down the stairs to confront his trembling wife.
    It
was only six o’clock in the morning, but Maggie Hare had been up and cleaning
for nearly an hour already. She enjoyed these first few peaceful hours each day
before everyone else at the lodge woke up and started ordering her around
again. The last thing she needed was William roused from his brief inebriated
slumber. He hadn’t wandered home until the wee hours of the morning, and Maggie
could tell from the tone of his voice he was still half drunk and in a murderous
mood. Never a good sign – for  her, or the unfortunate person who’d unwittingly
woken him.
    “Shush
William…you’ll wake the whole house.”
    “Bugger
them all. What in hell is making that infernal clanging noise? It feels like
someone is driving a nail through my skull with every bang! If that wee bastard
Donny is up making that row I’ll—”
    “It’s
no’ Donny, William. He’s by the fire playing his chess, as usual. It’s Mr.
Black. He told us he’d be starting his work this mornin’, remember?”
    Maggie
expected her husband to fly into a rage, cursing his way to the back workshop
to put a stop, once and for all, to their recent arrival’s banging, but she was
surprised by his reaction. Amazed, in fact. Instead of anger clouding William’s
unshaven face, another emotion altogether surfaced. Was it fear? Couldn’t be.
    “Oh.
Mr. Black. His…his statue. Right. Maybe I’ll just pop in and see how he’s
making out.”
    “Don’t
you hurt him, William,” Maggie said, still convinced her husband would return
at any moment to the nasty man she knew. “He’s our best paying guest and we
can’t afford to lose him.”
    “No
worries, hen. I just want to see if he needs anything.” William started toward
the back room, but paused halfway down the hall, almost as if he was hesitant
to carry on. Turning back, he asked, “Go wake up Billy for me. He’s kipping up
in Mr. Murdock’s empty room. And put a cuppa on for us, luv.”
    With
that said, William headed for the workshop, leaving his wife open-mouthed and
wondering what was wrong with her husband this morning. Having no answer but
happy William was at least no longer shouting, Maggie headed for the kitchen to
put on a pot of tea and go wake up her least favorite person in the world.
     
    *  
*   *
     
    William
knocked lightly on the door and nervously waited until his guest bid him enter.
Ambrosious Black was immersed in his work over by the open window, the early