Sophie Cleverly - A Case of Grave Danger

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2021

Published in this ebook edition in 2021

HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

HarperCollins Publishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

The HarperCollins Children’s Books website address is

www.harpercollins.co.uk

HarperCollins Publishers

1st Floor, Watermarque Building, Ringsend Road

Dublin 4, Ireland

Text copyright © Sophie Cleverly 2021

Cover illustration © Hannah Peck 2021

Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2021

Sophie Cleverly and Hannah Peck assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of the work respectively.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008297350

Ebook Edition © 2021 ISBN: 9780008297367

Version: 2021-01-07

For Lyanna – I love you more than all the stars in the sky

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2021 Published in this ebook edition in 2021 HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF The HarperCollins Children’s Books website address is www.harpercollins.co.uk HarperCollins Publishers 1st Floor, Watermarque Building, Ringsend Road Dublin 4, Ireland Text copyright © Sophie Cleverly 2021 Cover illustration © Hannah Peck 2021 Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2021 Sophie Cleverly and Hannah Peck assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of the work respectively. A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780008297350 Ebook Edition © 2021 ISBN: 9780008297367 Version: 2021-01-07

Dedication For Lyanna – I love you more than all the stars in the sky

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Epilogue

Dear reader …

Keep Reading …

Books by Sophie Cleverly

About the Publisher

was born in the mortuary. Topsy-turvy, I know, but that’s the truth of it. My mother said the slab was cold and hard, but that she was in no fit state to quarrel at the time.

They named me Violet, for the flower – the twin to my mother’s name, Iris. I think they were hoping I would be a Shrinking Violet, modest and shy, but it was soon apparent that I was not.

My middle name is Victoria, after the queen. They said she was in mourning for her husband these days, roaming the palace dressed only in black. I didn’t see anything unusual about that. Father had clothed us in dark and sombre colours for as long as I could remember. ‘We’re always in mourning for someone,’ he’d say.

Being on the edge of life and death was a funny thing. Sometimes, out among the graves, I could sense the dead. It was just a feeling – an echo of emotion, a scattering of words. It was just a part of me, and I had grown used to it – grown used to keeping quiet about it too, because all I got were strange looks and shushes from grown-ups if I were to mention it.

Often the dead didn’t have much to say. But I was soon to encounter a dead person who had a lot more to say than usual.

The day of the miracle, I had recently turned thirteen years old, and I was out collecting apples in the cemetery. I took a bite of one and it was as crisp as the autumn air. My black greyhound, Bones, ran circles around my feet, sniffing the ground with his long nose.

Bones was a fairly recent addition to the family. I had found him wandering amongst the headstones. As soon as he’d spotted me, he wouldn’t leave me alone. He wore no collar and looked skinny – but then all greyhounds do.

I named him Bones, because growing up as the daughter of an undertaker and living, as we did, beside a graveyard, it just seemed fitting. I fed him scraps and begged Mother to let me keep him. She said no. So I asked Father, who said maybe. Mother finally gave in and said I could have him, but all the same, she made Bones sleep outside.

For two weeks, he slept just beyond our back wall, curled at the foot of a stone cross. By the third week, Mother took pity on him and let him sleep in the back garden. It was only a few days more before he was in the house, and often on my bed.

Now he was my constant companion – at least when he wasn’t distracted by doggy things such as chasing squirrels and chewing shoes.

That day, when my skirts were full of the ripe fruit, I dashed back through the graves and into the parlour – the funeral parlour, that is – leaving Bones rolling in the grass. The breeze whipped my long dark hair across my eyes.

Father was sweeping up when I got in. ‘Honestly, Violet, can’t you use the back door to the house? What if there had been someone in here?’

‘Someone?’ I chuckled. ‘Your guests are usually a little too dead to notice, aren’t they, Father!’