Page 3 of The Forsaken (Echoes from the Past #4)

TWO

Quinn had just taken a forkful of her vegetable korma, which wasn’t half bad, when Gabe’s mobile began to vibrate. The rule was, no phones at the dinner table, but after Gabe glanced at the screen, he took the call, with an apologetic smile to Quinn. “It’s my mother,” he mouthed.

“Put her on speaker, I want to say hello,” Quinn said. Putting Phoebe on speaker would ensure a much shorter conversation.

Gabe pressed the speaker button and Phoebe’s voice flooded the kitchen.

“Hi, Mum. Are you all right?” Gabe asked.

Phoebe rarely called in the evening. She called Gabe first thing in the morning when she woke up.

She said it was her loneliest time, since every morning, for just a few moments, she forgot that her beloved Graeme was gone and turned to his side of the bed to say good morning.

Each morning, she experienced her loss all over again, and needed to hear Gabe’s voice to feel less alone in the world.

“No, I’m most definitely not all right.”

“Are you ill?” Gabe demanded. “Do you need me to come?”

“I’m not ill, but I do need you to come,” Phoebe replied. She sounded unusually jittery, her voice high and trembling with anxiety.

“Mum, what is it?”

“There’s a body in the kitchen,” Phoebe announced dramatically, as if she were in an Agatha Christie film.

“Whose body?” Gabe asked. “Is it Buster?” Buster was just a puppy, but he was the only other living creature in the house, and he might have had an accident .

“No!” Emma cried. She loved Buster and couldn’t wait to claim him as her own once they moved.

“No, darling, Buster is fine,” Phoebe reassured her. “Son, perhaps you should take me off speaker now. This conversation is not for Emma’s ears.”

“It’s all right, Grandma Phoebe, I’m finished,” Emma said and slid off her chair. “I’ll go to my room.”

Emma ran off, leaving Gabe and Quinn to stare at the phone.

“Mum?” Gabe prompted.

Phoebe took a shuddering breath. “The water in the kitchen sink wouldn’t go down,” she said. “I tried to pour that special liquid down the sink, but it didn’t help. The water kept backing up, and it was brown and muddy.”

“Go on,” Gabe encouraged her. Phoebe had a habit of starting from afar. Very far.

“I called the plumber. Do you remember Peter Reed? Pamela’s boy. You two went to primary school together.”

“Yes, I remember Peter. Did he fix the sink?”

“Well, Peter said there was an obstruction, so he got this long metal rod and tried to push it through,” Phoebe explained.

“Mum, is Peter lying on the kitchen floor as we speak?” Gabe asked.

“No, why would you think such a thing?”

“Because you said there’s a body in the kitchen, and if it’s not Buster, then who else can it be but Peter?” Gabe replied patiently.

“Now you’re just being silly. ”

“Am I?”

“Of course. Peter left hours ago.”

Gabe closed his eyes and took a deep breath, obviously praying for patience. “Mum, who is dead?”

“Well, I don’t know, do I?”

“Well, I certainly don’t,” Gabe snapped.

“I would be happy to tell you if you’d stop interrupting me, Gabriel,” Phoebe chastised him. “Where were we?”

“The long metal rod.”

“Ah, yes. Well, Peter tried to clear the obstruction, but said it was much deeper than the rod could reach. He said that the pipe would need to be replaced. He had to break the kitchen floor to get to it.” Phoebe exhaled loudly.

“He made quite a hole. Much larger than was strictly necessary, if you ask me.”

“Did he find the problem?”

“Eventually. A tree root had grown through the pipe and caused a blockage. That’s the tree just beyond the kitchen garden.

It really is a lovely old thing,” Phoebe went on.

“I do love when it changes colors in the autumn. So beautiful. Your father loved that tree. Never wanted to prune the branches, not even when they started to bang against the window in the wind.”

“Mum, the body,” Gabe prompted gently.

“Right. Well, when Peter broke the floor and made the hole much wider than he should have, he saw it.”

“Saw what?”

“The elbow.”

“Whose elbow?”

“The body’s elbow, Gabe. Pay attention. ”

Gabe looked like he was about to bang his head against the wall, but he took a steadying breath and summarized the situation in the most economical way possible.

“So, Peter broke the kitchen floor and stumbled on a body. I’m assuming he called the police, who came and went, since if the burial was recent, they’d likely still be there, processing the crime scene.

Given that the burial is not recent, these must be skeletal remains that you’d like me to excavate and remove from the kitchen. Am I correct?”

“Isn’t that what I said?”

“Not quite.”

“Well, it’s what I meant. I refuse to use the kitchen until that thing has been removed. It’s gruesome, son. The police unearthed enough of it to make coming into the kitchen simply out of the question.”

“I’ll leave tomorrow morning,” Gabe promised. “Please don’t disturb the grave any more than it has already been tampered with.”

“I’m not touching anything. Haven’t you heard me? I won’t go into the kitchen.”

“How will you manage?” Gabe asked, worried that his mother had declared a hunger strike, but Phoebe was too practical a woman for such nonsense.

“I’m going to stay with Cecily Creston-Jones for a few days.”

“Mum, did Peter replace the pipe?”

“No, the police advised him not to touch anything until they’ve had a chance to examine the scene.”

“Did he turn the water off in the entire house?” Gabe asked.

“No, just the kitchen. There’s clean water in the upstairs bath. ”

“All right. Good.”

“Why? What does it matter?” Phoebe asked.

“It matters because it takes time to excavate a burial site properly, and I will need water if I’m to stay at the house.”

“You?” Quinn asked. “Don’t you mean ‘we’?”

Gabe’s eyebrows rose unnaturally high in surprise, but he finished the phone call with his mother before addressing Quinn’s comment.

“If you think, for just one moment, that you will be working in the kitchen with me, you have another think coming, Mrs. Russell. You can come with me, if you wish, but you will march upstairs on arrival and rest, as per doctor’s orders, while I deal with the situation in the kitchen. ”

“Like hell I will,” Quinn retorted.

Gabe folded his arms and stared her down until Quinn conceded.

“All right, I will not do any physical excavating, but I will not be sent to my room like a child. I will assist you in spirit.”

“Fine,” Gabe agreed. “It was worth a try.”

“What about Emma? Should we ask Sylvia to mind her for a few days?”

Gabe shook his head. “No, not after what happened last time.”

“But it was a misunderstanding, and Emma loves spending time with Logan and Jude. Besides, she might be frightened by the skeleton.”

“Quinn, with us as parents, she will have to deal with human remains soon enough. She’s coming with us. We’ll just keep her out of the kitchen.”

“Deal,” Quinn agreed and smiled broadly .

“You’re excited about this, aren’t you?” Gabe asked, grinning back at her.

“You know something, I really am. Nothing cheers me up as much as unearthing a skeleton.”

“Me too,” Gabe confessed. “This should be interesting.”

“I’m just glad to know that I’m not the only one with skeletons in the cupboard,” Quinn joked.