Bloody Winter: A Pyke Mystery Read Online Free PDF

there. This was not a reflection of the affection Pyke felt for Jakes – who he’d met a few years earlier and who, uniquely in his opinion, combined religious belief with a real concern for the poor. It was just that he hadn’t envisaged Felix might actually want to become a vicar, and this brought into sharper focus his own lack of faith: not simply agnosticism, which he presumed described the perspective of most people, but a scepticism that bordered on total hostility. He’d always viewed the established Church as a bloatedorganisation intent only on maintaining its own privileged position in the world.
    It was a five-minute walk from the church to the vicarage. There, he found Felix where Jakes had said he would be: sitting at a davenport in a sparsely furnished upstairs room, a copy of the Bible set before him. Felix greeted Pyke with a hug and berated him for not warning them of his visit. Now sixteen, Felix was nearly as tall as Pyke and he’d filled out considerably. With curly chestnut-brown hair, a clean-shaven face, soft skin, blue eyes and dimpled cheeks, Felix had turned into a good-looking young man. He listened carefully as Pyke explained why he was there, and then peppered Pyke with questions about their home in Islington, Copper, Mrs Booth, their housekeeper, and Pyke’s life since they’d said goodbye on the station platform at Paddington station six months earlier.
    Pyke hadn’t written to Felix nearly as often as the lad had written to him and he’d been unduly nervous about this reunion. Part of him had been hoping that, having spent six months under Jakes’s tutelage, Felix might have become disillusioned by the prospect of a life in the Church and would consider coming back to London – to take up an apprenticeship in, say, business or politics. Looking at Felix, Pyke knew immediately that this wasn’t the case and it heartened and depressed him in equal measure. He didn’t want his son to be unhappy but he knew that the more seriously Felix took his apprenticeship, the less likely he was to return home. Rather than admitting that he had missed Felix, Pyke told him that Copper had pined for weeks, which was true, and that the house was not the same without him, which was also true.
    Felix studied him for a moment. ‘You look exhausted. Are you quite sure everything is all right?’
    ‘I’m fine, really. Just a little tired. I’ve probably been working too hard.’
    ‘You always work too hard.’
    ‘I’ve been promised some leave. I was hoping you wouldn’t mind if I stopped here for a few days on my way back from Wales.’
    ‘You know you’re welcome to stay for as long as you like. We won’t even try to make a Christian of you.’ Felix laughed uneasily.
    Pyke rubbed his temples. He’d experienced some pain during the journey from London but now it had developed into a full-blownheadache. Trying to ignore it, he gestured at the Bible on the davenport. ‘How are your studies progressing?’
    ‘Good. And the Detective Branch?’
    ‘Good too.’ They stared at one another, unsure what to say next.
    Pyke sat down on Felix’s bed and looked around the room. He hadn’t intended to say anything about Shaw but suddenly he felt compelled to mention what had happened. ‘About a month ago … I killed a man, shot him in the back. Turns out, he was one of my men. Detective-sergeant Shaw. I’m sure you met him once. A good man and a good detective.’
    Felix sat down on the bed next to him. ‘So what happened?’ he asked finally.
    ‘We were raiding a warehouse in the East End. I thought he was one of the gang we were there to arrest.’
    ‘It was an accident, then.’
    ‘I shouted at him to stop but obviously he didn’t hear me.’
    Felix handed Pyke a handkerchief and Pyke took it and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
    ‘Was there any inquiry?’ he asked gently.
    ‘The death was ruled an accident.’
    ‘That’s something, isn’t it?’
    ‘Shaw left behind a wife and a