Free Dark Undertakings by Rebecca Tope

had to suck the other end, just enough to draw up some of the contents, but not hard enough to bring it into his own mouth. Like syphoning petrol out of a car’s tank – the most terrible consequences would follow if you got it wrong. He could hardly bear to do it, but there was less sense in giving up now than in getting the job done properly. Two or three jerky little sucks, and he felt enough resistance at the end of the tube to know that something had been taken up. Keeping his thumb firmly over his end, and quelling his heaving stomachwith extreme difficulty, he pulled roughly until the whole thing was clear. There was an inch of greyish matter lodged in the far end of the tube.
    Stepping away from the trolley, he carried his sample back to the sink, and grabbed a small plastic bag from a shelf above it. Inserting the end of the tube into it, he blew hard, and dislodged the morsel of stomach contents safely into the bag. The sick feeling worsened, and he clamped his jaws tightly against it. Never in his life had he done anything so disgusting. He tried to focus on the positive: at least now he would be able to produce some sort of evidence, feeble though it might be, if there were to be a forensic inquiry into the death of Jim Lapsford.
     
    He was washing the tube when Sid came in. ‘Oh, there you are,’ said Drew, falsely hearty. ‘I was just getting to know all the instruments.’
    ‘Why’re you washing them then?’ demanded Sid suspiciously.
    ‘Well, I’d been handling them. Habit, I suppose.’
    ‘We don’t have to be sterile here, you know,’ Sid said. ‘Dead people don’t catch infections.’
    ‘No, but they might give them to us, if we’re not careful.’
    ‘Not much danger of that.’ Sid’s light blue eyes conveyed no emotion, but he made a bigshow of rearranging his equipment around the sink. Drew decided to act casual and drifted away.
    ‘Do you think we’ll have to embalm Lapsford?’
    Sid shrugged. ‘Bound to. Not much chance of the funeral this week, and somebody’s sure to want to view him. I’ll get onto it soon as the second doctor’s been.’
    ‘Right.’ Drew made his escape then, the tightly sealed plastic bag in his pocket making him feel guilty and queasy. It went against all his training to remove unauthorised parts of human tissue, smuggling them away in such a surreptitious fashion. He would have to find somewhere safe to keep it until he decided on his next step. Although an awareness of what that might be was already pushing its way to the front of his mind. No sense in giving up now , it said. Got to carry through to the bitter end – and that means getting this stuff analysed as soon as you can .
     
    Monica was thankful that she’d arranged to meet Pauline for coffee before going on to Plant’s only two streets away. She felt hot and thirsty, and in no mood for another gruelling interview without some sort of break first. Whatever arranging the funeral might require of her, shewasn’t ready for it just yet. Anyway, she thought defiantly, why was there such a rush to get on and tidy poor Jim away? Ever since yesterday morning, everyone had been in such a hurry. Those men, coming out so quickly, once the doctor had phoned them. And the instructions they’d given her. Register as soon as you can, they’d said, then come and sort out the day for the funeral; choose a coffin; sign the papers.
    No, she decided mutinously, she’d move at her own pace, whatever anyone said. Coffee never failed to brighten her up, however weary she might be. She could wait quietly for Pauline, and think about nothing for a while.
    It was obvious that none of the staff in the coffee shop had heard about Jim. Everything was so normal that Monica was able to forget for a few minutes that she was a widow. She sat by the window and watched the street outside. It was relatively quiet, although a short cut from the car park to the main shops ensured a trickle of pedestrians passed the