Down below me Lake Union was covered in a wreath of fog, and in the distance only the skyscrapers of downtown pierced through to blue sky, their top stories odd and disembodied. I hadn’t really slept; I’d tried, but the phone message kept playing over and over in my head. Steve had been restless,...
Sweat ran down his backbone as he walked and each step was an effort. Halfway to Dronfield he’d rested in the shade for a few minutes, the two bailiffs complaining loudly at trudging through a summer’s day after a morning at the market. He ignored them, splashing his face with water from the stre...
Downstairs Rushworth was tied to a chair, his eyes covered and an old cloth stuffed into his mouth to keep him quiet. He was already weary of the man’s voice, his sorrowful whine no better than an infant’s, grating in the ears and on the brain. Wyatt took a tired apple, its flesh withered with ti...
His thoughts roiled and tumbled, troubled by everything his father had said and the way Emily had acted when he’d told her. He was damned if he’d lose her just to please some notion of society that his father possessed; he’d tried to explain that but she’d been too upset and angry to listen. He k...
She had her shoulders hunched against the winter cold, heels clicking swiftly on the pavement. Baker was already in the office. The newspaper lay unopened in front of him on the card table. The air was thick with the fog of shag tobacco. ‘About time you made it in,’ he said. ‘I’ve been here for h...
When she was close enough he put his arms around her, and she began to shudder and shake, clinging tightly to him. The tears would come soon enough, he knew that, and it would be a long time before they stopped. Tenderly he stroked her back, the way he had with his daughters when they were young....
The street was busy but he might as well have been alone. He turned on to Kirkgate, passed the jail and the Parish Church, the tip of his stick tapping lightly on the road as he walked. He stopped at Timble Bridge to watch the water flow until his temper had cooled. Finally he made his way up to ...
Ten past two. As he tried to rise he yelled out in pain as his broken fingers pressed against the mattress. He swallowed two more of the tablets with a cup of tea, switched on the immersion heater and studied himself in the mirror. The lump on his head was tender. But at least his vision was clea...
With no inns open on the Sabbath, the best time to find villains of any kind on Sunday was early in the morning. They’d be sleeping after a night of thieving or drinking, and the thumps and kicks on the door would rattle them into scared consciousness. He’d used it often before. It served to remi...
The lad looked thoughtful, as if he was trying to work out an answer to a vexing question. Nottingham poured himself a mug of ale and asked, ‘What did you find?’ ‘She was here on the Thursday, right enough. Stabled her horse about ten, as far as the ostler remembers. Will’s landlady let her and h...
Everyone else was still asleep, the whole house hushed and I had the volume low. I had my morning routine – first KUOW to catch the news, then switch to KCMU for the music. It was shortly after dawn. I’d woken up thinking about James Clark, and knew I wouldn’t manage to sleep again. The newsreade...