Bodies and Sole Read Online Free

shape. New foundation, roof, gutters and downspouts. New windows and doors, a new splash of paint on the exterior – trim only, black and red and white against the authentic grey cedar shingles. The wild roses in the garden were cut back, and flowerbeds with local plants carved out of the red clay. Golden Glow, Siberian Iris, Lilies, Black-Eyed Susans, Dahlias. They would all have their day in the sun as spring and summer plunged along toward the heritage day celebrations.
    Behind it all was a woman rumoured to have had three husbands. Vera Gloom. She’d bought the place in the fall, given her orders to the contractor, and returned to the revived house in the spring. With not a husband to be seen, except, perhaps, in the glint of blue diamonds on her fingers. The villagers were curious, about the diamonds and the house. They wanted information. The carpenter, Harold MacLean, was the only villager who’d been inside. He’d done the finishing work, so he’d seen the whole thing just before it was, well, finished.
    But Harold, everyone agreed, was worse than useless. They liked him, and he was a great carpenter, but he spoke, if at all, in one-word sentences.
    â€œWhat’s it like?” people would ask.
    â€œNice,” he’d say, and, if he were feeling chatty he’d add, on a long intake of breath, “Heyup. Nice.”
    â€œOf course it’s nice,” Hy had complained to Gus one afternoon shortly after Vera had moved in. “It’s bound to be nice. We saw all the right trucks from all the right stores going in and out of there. High-end stores. Stuff from Halifax, Boston.” That great New England touch. “How could it not be nice?”
    â€œWell, then, and it might not be.” Gus had surveyed with satisfaction her forty-year-old linoleum floor that extended from the pantry, through the kitchen, laundry room and mud room. Real, genuine, one hundred per cent linoleum. You couldn’t get that anymore. This vinyl flooring was all very fine, but she wouldn’t have it in her house. Wouldn’t last a week, with all the comings and goings.
    Hy followed her gaze. The linoleum was in great shape. It shone from weekly scrubbing and seasonal polishing. No need to replace it with what Hy agreed would be an inferior product.
    â€œTile. She’ll have tile, no question.” Hy had gazed out the window, as if she could see all the way to the Sullivan house, on the other side of Shipwreck Hill. But all she could see was Ian’s house, and she turned her eyes away. Ian, and his house, held less interest for her than usual. Their on-and-off relationship was off at the moment and Hy knew she was to blame. She’d become indifferent to Ian, other than as a friend, because she had a new interest. An interest she hadn’t told anyone about. Truth was, she found it a bit embarrassing.
    Vera Gloom was rattling around in the big old Sullivan house. Twenty-four rooms, and she was using only two or three, if you counted the bathroom. Three more when the boys came. She placed her teacup and saucer in the kitchen sink – a newly gleaming addition to the old house, double cast-iron, with a thick layer of white enamel, and porcelain handles on the old-fashioned-style faucets. It was an ultramodern nod to the past.
    Vera touched the smooth enamel with hands encrusted with rings that appeared to be a series of engagement and wedding rings, collected on her ring finger and all the others, except for the pinkies. Gold and platinum settings, sparkling with white and blue diamonds. Unconsciously, she caressed the rings on hands otherwise unattractive, so thin and thin-skinned, the veins popping up in a purple-blue march across her knuckles.
    She turned and left the room, admiring the new features in the old house, the gleaming wood floors – not replaced by laminate as had been suggested by the contractor. She slid slippered feet across the shiny surface. The