Neil Gaiman: Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances

He gave them a brief statement, then rode with them to the local police station, where he gave a fuller statement to a large police officer with a serious beard. The officer appeared mostly concerned that Shadow was provided with a mug of instant coffee, and that Shadow, as an American tourist, would not form a mistaken impression of rural England. ‘It’s not like this up here normally. It’s really quiet. Lovely place. I wouldn’t want you to think we were all like this.’

Shadow assured him that he didn’t think that at all.

VI

The Riddle

Moira was waiting for him when he came out of the police station. She was standing with a woman in her early sixties, who looked comfortable and reassuring, the sort of person you would want at your side in a crisis.

‘Shadow, this is Doreen. My sister.’

Doreen shook hands, explaining she was sorry she hadn’t been able to be there during the last week, but she had been moving house.

‘Doreen’s a county court judge,’ explained Moira.

Shadow could not easily imagine this woman as a judge.

‘They are waiting for Ollie to come around,’ said Moira. ‘Then they are going to charge him with murder.’ She said it thoughtfully, but in the same way she would have asked Shadow where he thought she ought to plant some snapdragons.

‘And what are you going to do?’

She scratched her nose. ‘I’m in shock. I have no idea what I’m doing any more. I keep thinking about the last few years. Poor, poor Cassie. She never thought there was any malice in him.’

‘I never liked him,’ said Doreen, and she sniffed. ‘Too full of facts for my liking, and he never knew when to stop talking. Just kept wittering on. Like he was trying to cover something up.’

‘Your backpack and your laundry are in Doreen’s car,’ said Moira. ‘I thought we could give you a lift somewhere, if you needed one. Or if you want to get back to rambling, you can walk.’

‘Thank you,’ said Shadow. He knew he would never be welcome in Moira’s little house, not any more.

Moira said, urgently, angrily, as if it was all she wanted to know, ‘You said you saw Cassie. You told us, yesterday. That was what sent Ollie off the deep end. It hurt me so much. Why did you say you’d seen her, if she was dead? You couldn’t have seen her.’

Shadow had been wondering about that, while he had been giving his police statement. ‘Beats me,’ he said. ‘I don’t believe in ghosts. Probably a local, playing some kind of game with the Yankee tourist.’

Moira looked at him with fierce hazel eyes, as if she was trying to believe him but was unable to make the final leap of faith. Her sister reached down and held her hand. ‘More things in heaven and earth, Horatio. I think we should just leave it at that.’

Moira looked at Shadow, unbelieving, angered, for a long time, before she took a deep breath and said, ‘Yes. Yes, I suppose we should.’

There was silence in the car. Shadow wanted to apologise to Moira, to say something that would make things better.

They drove past the gibbet tree.

‘ There were ten tongues within one head, ’ recited Doreen, in a voice slightly higher and more formal than the one in which she had previously spoken. ‘ And one went out to fetch some bread, to feed the living and the dead. That was a riddle written about this corner, and that tree.’

‘What does it mean?’

‘A wren made a nest inside the skull of a gibbeted corpse, flying in and out of the jaw to feed its young. In the midst of death, as it were, life just keeps on happening.’

Shadow thought about the matter for a little while, and told her that he guessed that it probably did.

October 2014

Florida/New York/Paris

Credits

Some of the pieces appearing in this collection were first published elsewhere, permission and copyright information as follows:

Introduction copyright © 2014 by Neil Gaiman.

‘Making a Chair’ copyright © 2011 by Neil Gaiman. First appeared on the CD An Evening with Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer . Biting Dog Press limited edition, Broadsheets, 2011.

‘A Lunar Labyrinth’ copyright © 2013 by Neil Gaiman. First published in Shadows of the New Sun: Stories in Honor of Gene Wolfe .

‘The Thing About Cassandra’ copyright © 2010 by Neil Gaiman. First published in Songs of Love and Death .

‘Down to a Sunless Sea’ copyright © 2013 by Neil Gaiman. First published in the Guardian .

‘“The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains . . .”’ copyright © 2010 by Neil Gaiman. First published in Stories .

‘My Last Landlady’ copyright © 2010 by Neil Gaiman. First published in Off the Coastal Path: Dark Poems of the Seaside .

‘Adventure Story’ copyright © 2012 by Neil Gaiman. First published in McSweeney’s Issue #40 .

‘Orange’ copyright © 2008 by Neil Gaiman. First published in The Starry Rift .

‘A Calendar of Tales’ copyright © 2013 by Neil Gaiman. First published online as A Calendar of Tales .

‘The Case of Death and Honey’ copyright © 2011 by Neil Gaiman. First published in A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon .

‘The Man Who Forgot Ray Bradbury’ copyright © 2012 by Neil Gaiman. First published in Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury .

‘Jerusalem’ copyright © 2007 by Neil Gaiman. First broadcast by BBC Radio 4. First published in A Little Gold Book of Ghastly Stuff .

‘Click-Clack the Rattlebag’ copyright © 2013 by Neil Gaiman. First published in Impossible Monsters .

‘An Invocation of Incuriosity’ copyright © 2009 by Neil Gaiman. First published in Songs of the Dying Earth .

‘“And Weep, Like Alexander”’ copyright © 2011 by Neil Gaiman. First published in Fables of the Fountain .

‘Nothing O’Clock’ copyright © 2013 by Neil Gaiman and BBC Worldwide Limited. First published in the collection Doctor Who: 11 Doctors, 11 Stories , published by Puffin. BBC, DOCTOR WHO (word marks, logos and devices), TARDIS, DALEKS, CYBERMAN and K-9 (word marks and devices) are trademarks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence. BBC Logo © BBC, 1996. Doctor Who logo © BBC, 2012. Licensed by BBC Worldwide. All rights reserved.

‘Diamonds and Pearls: A Fairy Tale’ copyright © 2009 by Neil Gaiman. First published in Who Killed Amanda Palmer: A Collection of Photographic Evidence.

‘The Return of the Thin White Duke’ copyright © 2004 and 2014 by Neil Gaiman. A portion of the story was first published in V Magazine.

‘Feminine Endings’ copyright © 2007 by Neil Gaiman. First published in Four Letter Word: New Love Letters .

‘Observing the Formalities’ copyright © 2009 by Neil Gaiman. First published in Troll’s Eye View: A Book of Villainous Tales .

‘The Sleeper and the Spindle’ copyright © 2013 by Neil Gaiman. First published in Rags and Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales .

‘Witch Work’ copyright © 2012 by Neil Gaiman. First published in Under My Hat: Tales from the Cauldron.

‘In Relig Odhráin ’ copyright © 2011 by Neil Gaiman. First published as a limited edition.

‘Black Dog’ copyright © 2015 by Neil Gaiman. Original to this collection.