Page 6 of The Unseen
“This is England, my dear. You’d be surprised what you can trip over.”
“I’m an archeologist, Rhys. I trip over things for a living.”
“Precisely. We’ve had three calls, to be exact. One woman claimed she’d found the remains of a child in her garden. Turned out to be a dog. Another old biddy claimed there is a Saxon burial mound on her land. Turned out to be just a hill. And then there was Melissa Glover. Very odd, that.”
“It is odd. Why would anyone keep a body in their house all these years? Surely, they could have disposed of the remains at some point, instead of sealing off the room. Someone was bound to come across the skelly sooner or later.”
“Definitely later, in this case. I wonder how long that poor tosser’s been lying there.”
“You think it’s a man?”
“Don’t you?” Rhys challenged her.
“I do. Too tall and narrow-hipped to be a woman, but given its position, I could be wrong in my assessment. Perhaps once it’s laid out on the slab, it’ll look different.”
“Well, we know it isn’t Grandma Tina. Perhaps it’s her first husband,” Rhys mused as he pulled up to Quinn’s building.
“Never mess with a Russian woman,” Quinn quipped. “It can end badly.”
“If you only knew,” Rhys replied cryptically, possibly referring to a previous relationship. “Regards to Gabe and the children,” he said as Quinn opened the passenger door. “I expect to hear from you tomorrow.”
“You will.”
THREE
Gabe was sitting cross-legged on the floor, Alex in his lap, when Quinn came home. Emma was in her room, probably playing with her new favorite doll. Seth had made sure to select a doll that resembled her, and she called it Emme, in honor of herself.
Gabe looked up, a happy grin on his face. “Alex smiled at me.”
“Did he? And I missed it?”
“I’ll make him do it again.” Gabe gently tickled Alex’s tummy, making the baby gurgle. He kicked his legs and his mouth stretched into a toothless grin. “There.”
Quinn grabbed her mobile and snapped a photo. “Got it.”
“I smile all the time and no one takes photos of me,” Emma grumbled as she came into the room. She alternated between doting on her brother and seething with jealousy.
“We take photos of you all the time, even when you’re not smiling,” Gabe replied. “Would you like to hold him?”
“Not now. When’s lunch? I’m hungry.”
“After I nurse Alex. Maybe Daddy can make us some sandwiches in the meantime,” Quinn suggested.
Gabe handed over the baby and headed into the kitchen to prepare lunch while Emma sat down on the sofa next to Quinn, her doll momentarily forgotten. She watched in fascination as Alex began to suck greedily, his cheeks puffing out and making her laugh.
“Did I do that?” Emma asked.
“I am sure you did.” Quinn had no idea if Jenna had nursed Emma or bottle-fed her, but it seemed a harmless enough lie.
“Did I like it?”
“I think all babies like it. It’s their only source of food, and it’s comforting to be held.”
“But it’s kind of gross.”
“It’s no worse than sucking on a bottle with a rubber nipple,” Quinn replied patiently. It was only natural that Emma was curious, and Quinn was glad she felt comfortable enough to ask.
“Does your belly still hurt?”
