Grey Dawn
Table of Contents
A Selection of Recent Titles by Clea Simon
MEW IS FOR MURDER
CATTERY ROW
CRIES AND WHISKERS
PROBABLE CLAWS
SHADES OF GREY *
GREY MATTERS *
GREY ZONE *
GREY EXPECTATIONS *
TRUE GREY *
GREY DAWN *
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*available from Severn House
A Dulcie Schwartz feline mystery
Clea Simon
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
First published in Great Britain and the USA 2013 by
SEVERN HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD of
9-15 High Street, Sutton, Surrey, England, SM1 1DF.
eBook edition first published in 2013 by
Severn House Digital an imprint of Severn House Publishers Limited.
Copyright © 2013 by Clea Simon.
The right of Clea Simon to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Simon, Clea.
Grey dawn.
1. Schwartz, Dulcie (Fictitious character)âFiction.
2. Graduate studentsâFiction. 3. Detective and mystery stories.
I. Title
813.6-dc23
ISBN-13: 978-0-7278-8261-5 (cased)
ISBN-13: 978-1-78010-406-5 (epub)
Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to living persons is purely coincidental.
This ebook produced by
Palimpsest Book Production Limited,
Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland.
For Jon
Willing readers are a gift, and I have the best. Karen Schlosberg, Chris Mesarch, Lisa Susser, Brett Milano, and, of course, Jon S. Garelick all caught errors, inconsistencies, and general mistakes, and all made this book better. So, too, did my editor Rachel Simpson Hutchens and agent Colleen Mohyde of the Doe Coover Agency, who carefully ushered Dulcie's latest outing through to completion. Moral support came as well from Sophie Garelick, Frank Garelick, Lisa Jones, Vicki Croke, Caroline Leavitt, and Naomi Yang. I couldn't do it without you folks. Purrs out!
W
olves
.
The word sprang unbidden into Dulcie's mind.
Wolf
, she amended it, as the unearthly howl once more split the night. But what would a wolf be doing in Cambridge, in Harvard Square of all places? Much more likely that she was hearing a dog, Dulcie told herself, even as she picked up her pace. It was late, and there weren't any other pedestrians on the little side street by the English Department offices. But she'd never felt unsafe here before. Certainly not afraid of an animal.
Another howl, wild and chilling. Dulcie took a deep breath. She hadn't told Chris she was going out. Her boyfriend worked the overnight shift in the computer lab, so Dulcie had been home alone when she'd realized that she'd left the English 10 papers in her cubby at the departmental office. He would've encouraged her to leave them till tomorrow, if she'd called him. Or told her to splurge and take a cab. But Chris wouldn't be working nights if they had any money to spare, and their apartment was really only twenty minutes away, if she walked quickly. Besides, grades were due by ten a.m. tomorrow. She'd already missed several of her teaching deadlines this semester, and this time she wouldn't have had her own thesis as an excuse. Carelessness seemed like a silly reason to push her luck. Martin Thorpe, her adviser and the acting department head, was prickly at the best of times. No, walking into the Square to retrieve them had been the sensible move.
It wasn't like it was an inherently frightening night. Between the street lights and a bright autumn moon, Dulcie could see all the way to the end of the block. Even the brick sidewalk, treacherous when icy, appeared to be in high relief. True, the shadows looked particularly menacing right now. But that, Dulcie told herself, was because she'd worked herself up into a good snit. And so, really, a little scare served her right.
In truth, it wasn't just the student papers that had sent Dulcie out into the cold November night. She'd been caught up rereading a section of a newly discovered novel. For weeks now, she'd worked in the library, painstakingly transcribing the stained, handwritten manuscript into her computer. The previously unclaimed pages, which she'd found among the unfiled documents in the Mildon rare book collection, made up a ghost story, full of all sorts of supernatural high-jinks and at least one particularly gruesome murder. It was also, most likely, written by the author of
The Ravages of Umbria,
the subject of Dulcie's doctoral thesis. If Dulcie could definitively place it in her author's canon, she'd have a significant academic credit. But all the time she'd spent squinting at the faded ink, trying to make out an archaic crossed âS' from a half-smudged âF' had distracted her from the story itself.
Tonight, for the first time, she had settled in to actually read what she had. And while that was a very welcome break from student compositions, it might not have been the best choice for a lonely moonlit night. Even Esmé, her tuxedo cat, had made herself scarce, as if spooked by the tale of ghouls and evil. And so, after one striking confrontation, Dulcie had been almost grateful to remember her real-life duties. Grading seemed so ordinary after an encounter with a werewolf.
Another howl, closer now. Dulcie paused, bending to peek underneath a hedge. The ink-black shadow made the glossy green bush look like it was floating in a void, but surely the space beneath was too small for any serious predator. Besides, it had to be a dog. Perhaps a hurt or injured dog. Maybe she should call animal control. At worst, it was a coyote. Dulcie had read that they'd moved into the suburbs. She'd never heard of one in Harvard Square, but she could imagine an adolescent male, lost, or on a quest for his own space. In that way, he'd be like so many of the young creatures that made their way to the city.
With that thought, she smiled. Cambridge was a city, and as such, it had its dangers. Wolves, however, were not likely to be one of them.
Part of the problem, she admitted as she turned toward Mass. Ave., was the departmental offices. Although, like all the senior grad students, she had both the key and the alarm code to the little clapboard building, she'd never been there late at night. Never been in the little house at all except when Nancy, the motherly departmental secretary, had been on duty, making coffee and fussing over the students like a hen with her chicks. Once the beep-beep-beep of the alarm had been shut off, Dulcie had found the old building creepy. Not silent, exactly, a three-hundred-year-old wooden building would never be totally silent. But the creaks and sighs of the old wood (and almost equally old plumbing) had seemed mindful, somehow, as if the house knew she was there. As if it didn't want her there, not at night, alone. Dulcie had gotten the distinct feeling of being watched and of being unwelcome, as if she were trespassing. She'd grabbed the folder she'd left hours earlier, and taken off so fast she'd almost forgotten to turn the alarm back on. As it was, she'd had to punch it in three times. Each time, she'd felt a little more flustered, sure that if she hesitated, someone â or something â would descend the uneven wooden steps from the top floor and catch her there. When she finally got the flashing green to go on, she'd bolted, slamming the door behind her.
That feeling of being watched had followed her out onto the street, and even the brightness of the night could not dispel it. Instead, she realized as she turned the corner, the light made it worse. It felt cold somehow, as if the moon were in league with the wind. Well, it was November. Dulcie pulled up the collar of her bulky sweater, a present from her mother. Soon she'd be off these side streets and in the Square proper. There would be people out, even at this hour, and she'd be able to shed these silly fears. And, if she still felt squeamish, she would take a cab â and eat ramen for lunch for the rest of the week.
A movement, across the street, made her jump and turn â and then laugh out loud. She'd been hoping for some company, and she'd gotten her wish. A thin figure, somewhat stooped, had appeared. Ultimately unthreatening, even with her overactive imagination. She nodded, despite knowing that here in New England nobody ever acknowledged strangers. Then, as the figure stepped into the light, she did more than nod. âHello!' she called. It was Thorpe, Martin Thorpe, her adviser, his bald pate reflecting the bright moonlight.
He turned at her voice, and any other words of greeting died in her throat. It was Thorpe, all right, but not as she had ever seen him. She had recognized the shiny spot on top of his head, but now she could see how wild his remaining hair had become, standing on end as if electrified. And even in the oddly cool light, how drawn his face was. Eyes wide and dark rimmed, as if â could it be? â outlined in red. Watching her, Thorpe ran one long, white hand over his head, as if to tame his disordered locks. He opened his mouth, bobbing slightly as if panting, and Dulcie found herself staring. There was something about his mouth. About his teeth.
âMr Thorpe?' She heard the tremor in her voice. âAre you all right?'
Silently, he shook his head, slowly and, Dulcie thought, with a look of profound sadness. Then he turned away and took off, rounding the corner into the dark.
Dulcie hesitated, wondering if she should follow. He was heading toward the Square, in the opposite direction from her home. Still, he seemed so troubled. She took a step, then another toward the corner. That's when she heard it. Off in the dark, where her adviser had disappeared, the wolf howled again.
