FORGET ME NOT (Mark Kane Mysteries Book One) Read Online Free PDF Page B

matter would never be mentioned again. It never
was.”
    “But after Susan made contact…”
    “Even then our children were not told. They
were no longer living with us; they had their own lives. Perhaps if
Gloria hadn’t become ill when she did we might have needed to say
something eventually. Of course when I saw the will I had no
choice. It was probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to
do.” He paused. “No, it wasn’t as bad as watching Gloria slipping
into oblivion. Nothing could have been worse than that.”
    “So they now know about Susan and presumably
about the will as well.”
    “Yes, they know now. Actually we haven’t
spoken much since I told them. They were shocked, of course. It was
almost as if I was responsible in some way. To put it bluntly, it
didn’t go down at all well. Nothing’s been easy in the last couple
of years.”
    Greg stood up and walked over to the glass
doors and peered down the yard to the distant trees. He suggested
that we took a short break before continuing our discussion.
Through the sliding glass doors I had a view of the grounds. It
looked like a municipal park kept pristine for the tourists. After
a few hundred feet of level ground, the velvety lawn sloped gently
down to an arboretum, about five or six hundred feet away. Greg
opened the doors which slid silently and effortlessly on their
bearings. We went outside and strolled to the bottom of the lawn.
On either side of the lawn there were beds of neatly tended flowers
and shrubs, but their scent was lost in the smell of newly cut
grass. There was no boundary fence, but the lot appeared to finish
where the trees began. Amongst the lightly shaded spaces between
the trees was a breathtaking carpet of blooms. Though the principal
colors were pink, purple and light blue, the range of hues were too
numerous to count. The bright yellow centers of the flowers lent a
homogeny to the varicolored display and the overall effect was one
of beauty and tranquility as the stems moved gently and silently in
the slight breeze.
    “Magnificent, aren’t they?” Greg said. “I
planted them in the spring and the location suits them perfectly.
You know what they’re called?”
    “Forget Me Nots,” I said.
    “Gloria’s favorite flower, and mine too now.
They have a particular significance for me, obviously. The land
extends through the trees to a brook. The arboretum was planted by
Gloria’s grandfather with trees imported from the four corners of
the earth. There probably isn’t another woodland like it in
Massachusetts. Nothing much has changed since we moved here. I look
after it myself. There’s more than seven acres including the woods.
The grounds are largely as they have been since we moved into the
house, and since it’s mostly grass and woodlands it’s not difficult
to look after.”
    We stopped by a fringe of trees which rose
out of some rough grass at the end of the lawn. A black-backed
woodpecker stopped it’s tapping momentarily and studied us with
apparent curiosity, bobbing its yellow crown on one side, before
resuming. The sunlight made dappled patterns on the ground, seeming
to dance as the leaves moved lazily in the slight breeze. I
reflected momentarily on how sunlight could travel ninety three
million miles and then have its progress halted by a tiny leaf.
    “Of course, the boys used to help me before,
but I’m retired now and physically fit. My doctor tells me that
yard work is the very best exercise you can have; it works pretty
much every muscle in the body. Sometimes I spend all day outside.
Being alone out here doesn’t make me feel as isolated as being
alone in the house.”
    We stood enjoying the sun and the silence,
the only sounds coming from the gentle rustling of leaves and the
occasional chirrup of the birds. We walked back up the sloping lawn
and Philips suggested that we sat outside on the deck which ran the
full width of the house. It was a hardwood deck, silky with the oil
that had