The Last Remains

Also by Elly Griffiths the dr ruth galloway mysteries The Crossing Places The Janus Stone The House at Sea’s End A Room Full of Bones Dying Fall The Outcast Dead The Ghost Fields The Woman in Blue The Chalk Pit The Dark Angel The Stone Circle The Lantern Men The Night Hawks The Locked Room the brighton mysteries The Zig Zag Girl Smoke and Mirrors The Blood Card The Vanishing Box Now You See Them The Midnight Hour other works The Stranger Diaries The Postscript Murders Bleeding Heart Yard for children A Girl Called Justice A Girl Called Justice: The Smugglers’ Secret A Girl Called Justice: The Ghost in the Garden A Girl Called Justice: The Spy at the Window This ebook published in 2023 by Quercus Editions Ltd Carmelite House 50 Victoria Embankment London EC4Y 0DZ An Hachette UK company Copyright © 2023 Elly Griffiths The moral right of Elly Griffiths to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library EBOOK ISBN 978 1 52940 974 1 This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. Lines from ‘Charms for Grime’s Graves’ by Michael Rosen are reproduced by permission of the author. Ebook by CC Book Production Cover by Ghost Design www.quercusbooks.co.uk For Andy, Alex and Juliet. Come skill and the cunning needed; Lay out the lie of the land; Secret stories, beneath the feet Locked up in layers, in levels below. Did dried stripes of grass, straddling the slope Summon and point people to this place? Did Old Grimm make mounds and hollows Out of the earth? Or urns for the dead? Unlock the store of stories here. Michael Rosen, ‘Charms for Grime’s Graves’ Nothing in this world is hidden forever. Wilkie Collins, No Name Contents The Last Remains Also By Title Copyright Dedication Epigraphs Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Epilogue Acknowledgements Who’s Who Prologue Sunday 24 March 2002 The bonfire is burning brightly now, its heart molten gold. ‘I’m a fire starter,’ says Cathbad. ‘Everything’s so dry,’ says Emad, ‘that’s why. It hasn’t rained all week.’ ‘Boring.’ Emily throws leaves at him. ‘We should give thanks to the gods,’ says Leo. ‘We should pray to Grim, the hooded one.’ ‘Leo,’ says Amber, who is sitting huddled in her blanket, ‘it’s nearly Easter. It’s Palm Sunday, for goodness’ sake. Have some respect.’ ‘Easter was a pagan festival first,’ says Leo. ‘People have celebrated equinoxes and solstices since prehistoric times.’ But he smiles at Amber and, when the wine is handed round in plastic cups, his hand touches hers. ‘Grim’s Gaben.’ Leo gives the toast. ‘Grim’s Gaben,’ chorus the students. Only Mark mutters, ‘Grime’s Graves,’ rather defiantly. Cathbad is busy with the fire, using a long stick as a poker, allowing oxygen to feed the flames. The barbecue is slower to ignite. It’s late by the time the vegetarian burgers are cooked. Crisps are circulated. Chapter 1 Friday 11 June 2021 The unassuming shop in a King’s Lynn backstreet has lived many lives. Once, beyond most people’s living memory, it was a bakery. The oven still remains and has, in successive iterations, been a focal point and dining nook and was also, for many decades, boarded up completely. The building has been a café, a greengrocer’s and an ‘Emporium of Wonder’ (a junk shop), and is now well on its way to becoming a café again. A sign outside says ‘The Red Lady Tea Rooms, opening August 2021’, and another informs interested passers-­by that Edward Spens and Co are in charge of the renovation. Gary Bright is enjoying his work. This is the part he likes, knocking things down. The rest – the rewiring, the replastering, the endless conversations with architects and owners – can be dull at best and frustrating at worst. But swinging your sledgehammer at a brick wall never gets old. Gary swings. The old wall trembles at first and then, as