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."She's fine.Her blood pressure is a little elevated,but Ben is making her rest, and if the baby was born now,well, thirty-eight weeks is a good time for a baby to beborn.""I'll send her something special." Cody was alreadyimagining what he could send and resolved to go shopping109 The Gallows Tree RJ Scottthe first spare moment he got.The more he listened to hismom the more he realized another layer was beingremoved.Somehow he was leaving behind what had madehim run and was startled at how he was feeling.UnlessVince was dead, he wasn't sure he would ever have peace,but at least his mom didn't think less of him for stayingaway.They said their goodbyes, then he sat in the peaceand listened to the sounds of nature around him.A flash ofblue caught the corner of his eye, and he blinked it away,only for it to happen again and then again.Frowning, helooked left towards Mill Cottage.The flashing blue was thelights of a police car, and it was skewed across the roadnear the side of cottage, effectively blocking the road.God.What had happened? He stood, feet seeminglyencased in stone, and it was only as a second vehicle shit,an ambulance joined the first that Cody started to runacross the field, vaulting the fence and rushing by thepoliceman.A hand stopped him."Sir, you can't go in there," the young policemansaid sternly."B-but it's m-my house," Cody spluttered, andpeered into the murky indoors to see what could be viewed.Was Justin okay? What about the other two guys with him?110 The Gallows Tree RJ ScottShould he go and get Seb and call Tristan?"And your name, sir?" the policeman asked with anauthority that belied his youth.Cody snapped to attention."Cody Garret.Is Justin okay? What happened?""Cody?" Justin's voice, and Cody felt so relieved tosee the man he'd been laughing with the night before in onepiece and seemingly unhurt.Justin drew closer, and he wasstark white against his red hair, his freckles standing out inharsh relief."What happened? Is it one of the others?" Codyasked quickly.He relaxed slightly when Justin waved at thetwo guys sitting on the grass verge drinking whisky straightfrom the bottle."We were digging away under the cottage, wherethe water runs, trying to fix the subsidence issues, and wefound " He stopped and ran a shaky, dirty, mud-streakedhand through his hair, causing it to stand on end in a parodyof a Mohawk."A skeleton.Shit.Not even a full skeleton.Jesus.Part of a skeleton."111 The Gallows Tree RJ ScottCHAPTER 8Before Cody had time to digest this, a second copemerged from inside and looked across to Cody and Justin."Justin tells me this is your cottage." Codyrecognized the cop as a guy from the inn who'd spent mostof the night before playing cards in the corner and nursing asingle beer, he was clearly a local."Whose body is it?" Cody asked quickly.He wasn'tentirely sure who he was asking, but when Justin shook hishead and the policeman didn't answer, he assumed no oneactually knew.No one was arresting him.No one wasarresting anyone.What was going on?"It's been there a while," Justin said simply.Thehand he placed on Cody's arm was to reassure him, but itdidn't really help."Just the upper part of the body wedgedinto old brick, wood, and mud under the second layer ofconcrete.""Someone concreted half a body under my house?"Disgust pressed at the edges of his words."No, bloody hell, no.I'm not an expert, but it looksto me like some of the remedial work to the supports in theearly nineteen hundreds was done on surface cracks only.Hence the shifting.We scaffolded and dug back farther.112 The Gallows Tree RJ ScottWay farther than they had." Twentieth century? So thatmeant the body, or what was left of it, was older.Still instunned disbelief, Cody joined the other two workers on thegrass, and only a few minutes later, Justin sat next to them."What are they doing?" one of the other workersasked."Calling in experts; forensics, I guess.Someonewho can look at the bones and tell& things." Justin heldout a hand for the whisky, and when he had it, heswallowed a full shot down in one swallow, spluttering as itburned."Bloody hell.That has never happened to me."Cody guessed it wasn't an everyday occurrence in arenovator's life to find the dead.Who the hell had been leftunder his cottage and when? Could it be the remains ofsomeone that had never been found? Katherine Brier, forinstance, his young ancestor who could have thrown herselfunder the mill race pregnant?"Fuck," Cody said simply.It summed up the wholemess in his head very nicely."Fuck indeed," Justin emphasized, and passed thewhisky back to the other two."You can go," he said,dismissing them, and gratefully, they left.Weaving underthe influence of neat whisky on fright, they made their wayback down the village.The inn probably."They'll be in the113 The Gallows Tree RJ Scottpub when we're finished here."Cody had questions running through his head so fasthe couldn't clearly sort them in order.Most of all, hewanted to know what happened now.He didn't vocalizeany of them.A third car arrived and parked at right angles to thefirst cop car, and two men climbed out.Everything wentfrom shocking and bad to completely surreal."You'll need to stop working here," one man saidauthoritatively."Do we have your contact details, sir?"Cody stared up at Mr Tall and Official.Was he taking toCody or Justin?"Justin Toulson-Brown, Manor Renovations in thevillage, and Cody Garret, owner of the mill and cottage,staying at the Ferrers' Arms." The man took a few moredetails from Justin, then before he knew what to say or do,Justin was guiding Cody to the inn and they were steppingover the threshold.Cody slumped into the chair of thenearest corner table, and Justin didn't make it much farther,sliding into the opposite seat.It was the first time since he'dstopped drinking he wished he at least drank beer so hecould keep Justin company.Instead, he sat and drankorange juice as the group of people around them grew.Atfirst it was only the two workers, who simply sat in what114 The Gallows Tree RJ Scottseemed like the same kind of odd shock Cody was feeling.Then Abigail and John hovered to hear the story.Tristan and Seb arrived together in a flurry of fallair through the open door.They didn't order drinks; theysimply waited as four or five regulars offered theiropinions, and Cody half listened with closed eyes and hishead against the wall behind them.He had closed his eyesso he didn't have to deal with Seb's understanding gaze.Histhoughts slipped to that of Katherine's alleged demise, andhe focused on whether they might be a connection to theremains.Mist clouded his thoughts, and he could almostfeel the cold against his skin as he stood on the bank of theriver.There was despair in him, twisting and insinuatinginto his feelings, and the dark churning water below himwould help him stop thinking.So easy to simply let himselffall&"Is he drunk?" Words filtered into his wakingdreams, and he felt someone poke his arm."Don't poke him.He's asleep."Justice can be seen."He's not drunk; he doesn't drink."Justice can be seen."Hell, is he conscious? Did someone spike hisorange juice?"115 The Gallows Tree RJ Scott"Cody? Cody?" That was Seb's voice pulling himback from the edge of the water, and he stopped thinking ofthe welcoming blackness and, instead, held on to the voice.Blinking, he opened his eyes to see a whole mass ofconcerned expressions
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