Boneseeker Read Online Free PDF

ring, sporting an R- bumps against my finger.
    A feminine wail pierces the hall, like a woman being murdered. Hair stands to attention all over my body.
    I nod. “Sir. We received the call to come to collect the child.”
    “Children, actually. Thank you. My wife is upstairs. Nasty business, this. Triplets. Two dead, one still on the way, God willing.”
    He hurries up the stairs, and Arabella and I follow.
    Her shoulders hitch as she fights to maintain her breathing, but her face is chiseled from stone.
    “In here.” He motions into a room adjacent to the birthing room.
    We step inside and my mind reviles in horror.
    Blood, so much blood.
    Stained white sheets pile on the floor, blood-filled basins and forceps litter the table. I jam my eyes shut to reorient myself and feel my nostrils flare.
    The salty-copper smell saturates the air and fills my mouth. The sanguine smell of death.
    Arabella curtsies to the midwife, bowing her head in reverence for the dead. “Madame Cutler? We are here for the babies.”
    The gray-haired midwife sighs, pressing her chalky lips tight. She wipes her brow with her blood-stained fingers and it leaves a macabre streak. “We tried, Miss Holmes. But sometimes—”
    Arabella holds up her hand. “I know. I know you’ve done your best. You always do.”
    A feminine howl erupts from behind the closed door. Bella and I start at the sound. “There is still one child on the way?” I prompt.
    “Yes.”
    A small housekeeper bustles around, gathering the bloody sheets, her face is ashen as she mumbles. “I say the mistress is better off. She looked at the moon, she did. If this baby lives it will be at best a sleepwalker, and worst, a lunatic.”
    I harrumph. “Absurd. Might I be of assistance, Midwife Cutler, is it?”
    “That’s quite enough, Fanny.” Madame Cutler rolls her eyes, lowering her voice. “She’s new, and we’re down two maids. Ignore whatever comes out of her mouth.”
    Another wail. But this one is made of melancholy and seeps around the door, as if the woman’s hope is fading.
    “What do you know of birthing?” The midwife’s face is skeptical. “The town doctor is indisposed at present. An how old are you, boy?”
    “Only a score and three, I’m afraid. However, my father is a doctor and insisted I be instructed on as many areas of medicine he could squeeze into my school breaks. I am by no means a physician, but have seen my fair share of births.”
    “Against my will,” I add, low enough so only Bella may hear.
    The midwife turns, conferring with the maid.
    Arabella whispers, “Liar. You are not yet twenty and three.”
    “Only off by weeks.” I raise an eyebrow. “You aren’t helping.”
    Another wail and the midwife whirls. “Fine. I need any help I can get.”
    Arabella’s eyebrows have disappeared beneath her fringe and she’s shaking all over.
    I turn around to stare at her. “You don’t have to come in.”
    She quickly shakes her head. “No. I’m coming.”
    We follow the matron into the room. Bella leans against the wall, her face a blank, white slate.
    The midwife steps quickly back into position between the mother’s legs and I slip in beside her.
    “The baby is crowning.” A brown tuft of wet hair appears.
    “Ahh! Please, please Mrs. Cutler, save this one.” The mistress of the house is gaunt and haggard; her pale complexion proclaims her time is fading.
    “Shush now, Missy. Save yer strength.”
    A contraction rocks the protruding belly but the head doesn’t budge.
    “You see?”
    My eyes drift up the woman’s unnaturally small waist; undoubtedly corseted till her innards were hour-glassed.
    “Like a camel through the eye of a needle.” I sift through my deliveries with father. A spark of hope lights and my mind fans the flame. “Might you have any chloroform?”
    “Aye. Just a spot left. Susie, attend her.” The nurse bustles to the woman’s head as the pungent smell floats down to the two of us.
    “Do you have