Life was good for Matt and Chloe. They were in love and looking forward to their new baby. But what Chloe gave birth to isn t a baby. It isn t even human. It s an entirely new species that uses humans only for food and as hosts for their young. As Matt soon learns, though, he is not alone in his ...
Peter Garrick, the school’s 38-year-old English teacher and exams officer, was found dead in his home during the funeral of Hannah Alderton, who was killed during a play rehearsal on the 26th of January. Sources close to the investigation claimed that Mr Garrick had been suspended from the school...
Perhaps it was just his imagination, but beneath the clinical, chemical smell of the morgue lingered the earthy scent of a fresh grave. The bodies were lying on several stainless steel slabs behind the two pathologists, covered by regulation green sheets. Cass had no desire to see the mutilated b...
After two months under his supervision, Cass still didn’t feel he knew Mac any better than he had on day one, and he figured maybe that was how he liked it. If Cass got nicked, all he could say about the big, bald man was that, despite the nickname, he wasn’t Scottish.They’d got up early, and Mac...
The cottage was too cramped and they decided the fresh, warm air would be good for him. Stumpy built him a fire and they dressed his wounds and fed him broth as the fever slowly broke. It wasn’t just him who slowly recovered; the dwarves did too. They had someone to care for, someone to mend, and...
Cinderella’s father refused to come downstairs. Even Esme was subdued as she and Rose waited in the sitting room, with Cinderella loitering in the background pretending to stoke up the fire. Rose, in her best dress, was sitting in an armchair. Her face was pale, no doubt she was in agony with her...
The words were like punches coming out of Enid Tucker and Mary, the Mary that was never going to heaven, not anymore, the Mary that was here full of flesh and blood and fear, wished her friend would just shut up, just please shut up. Leaning carefully over the edge of the drop-off, Charlotte besi...
. .’The prince was surprised that after the huntsman and Rumplestiltskin had left he did manage to fall asleep for a fitful few hours although he had left all the lamps burning. He met Beauty on the terrace for breakfast and she rose from her chair and dashed towards him, a sweet smile making her...
It creeps like a shadow alongside the passing years and the taste of it hides in the corners of our mouths. It finds us whether we are sick or healthy. It is a secret hushed thing that lives in the whisper of the nurses’ skirts as they rustle up and down our stairs. They’ve taught me to face the ...
November, 1897Dr Bond We dined at Charles Hebbert’s. Perhaps it was my imagination, but as we sat at the table, even with the lights glowing brightly, it seemed as if the darkness that had filled the house before – when James Harrington had been living here – had once again returned. Shadows crep...
Not that the good mood had lasted. It was her weekend off and Mat had told her she should stay behind, but there was no way she was doing that. She didn’t see the point, for one thing. She’d only be thinking about the case at home if he was working, and they’d only end up talking about it when he...
13 June, 1889Dr BondAs winter passed into spring, and with no further killings, London had relaxed slightly. Jack was gone, the people whispered – either dead, or moved on to become some other place’s problem.For my own part, however, although the days were lightening, my mood was not. I did not ...
The snow finally melts away and the sun returns with its familiar warmth. After breakfast we go for lessons with our new teachers, who are uniformly dour and dull which makes me wonder if maybe the last lot had to leave because Matron disapproved of their smoking and drinking and whatever else th...