The Bonehill Curse by Jon Mayhew

themselves and those they love ensnared in a web,’ Azuli said. ‘A web that becomes more tangled and complex the more you try to unravel it.’
    ‘Olwen kept William in her cellar for many months, not knowing what to do, who to turn to,’ Cullwirthy continued. ‘He was a hideous, living corpse who begged to be released back to the afterlife.’
    ‘But surely my f— Mr Bonehill could have helped her,’ Ness said, colouring at the slip of her tongue.
    Cullwirthy gave a humourless laugh. ‘Bonehill? Help? That man doesn’t have a charitable bone in his body. He told her it was a foolish wish that she should have considered more carefully and that he wanted nothing more to do with her.’
    ‘So what happened?’ Ness felt faint.
    ‘I took care of Olwen,’ Cullwirthy said, his face hardening. ‘I bought the house she lived in and made sure she had an income but the creature in the cellar wouldn’t just go away. One night, I took a pistol down there and put a bullet through its brain.’
    ‘You killed William?’ Azuli said.
    ‘He was dead already. I simply released him. It was a mercy that should have been performed months before,’ Cullwirthy said through gritted teeth. ‘But she never spoke to me again. After all I’d done for her. I loved her. But she wouldn’t even see me. Not until today.’
    Ness glanced around the plush carriage. ‘You seem very comfortably off for a clergyman, Reverend Cullwirthy,’ she muttered. ‘This carriage is fit for a lord and you paid for Mrs Quilfy’s house.’
    ‘I made a sensible wish,’ Cullwirthy said, slipping a pistol from his pocket. The carriage had stopped. ‘Now get out. We’ll continue this conversation in the house.’
    Cullwirthy’s vicarage stood shoulder to shoulder with similar imposing town houses, looming tall over the busy street. The Reverend draped his jacket over his arm, concealing the pistol as he stepped out into the street.
    ‘You distract him,’ Azuli whispered. ‘I’ll take his hand off at the wrist before he knows what’s happening.’
    ‘No,’ Ness hissed back, grateful that Morris had given her some training in small arms. ‘That’s a Smith and Wesson revolver. If you miss, he’ll have more than one bullet to waste on us.’
    ‘Just keep moving,’ Cullwirthy murmured. ‘And don’t try any clever sword work.’
    They walked reluctantly up the steps to the front door and Cullwirthy turned a key in the lock.
    ‘I let my staff go home at night,’ he said, noticing Ness’s searching glances around the dark-panelled hallway. ‘My driver will have stabled the horses and gone by now. We’re quite alone. Place that sword in the umbrella rack, boy, and we’ll go into the drawing room.’
    A cheerful fire cracked and spat in the hearth of the drawing room. Tables and chairs cluttered together busily as if a party had just finished. If it weren’t for the fact that she had a gun pointed at her, Ness would have been quite comfortable there.
    ‘So you were one of the Seven, Reverend?’ Ness said.
    ‘Yes, Miss Bonehill.’ Cullwirthy smiled. ‘I’m right, aren’t I? You are his daughter. You resemble your mother more although you’re somewhat darker. I never believed that silly tale about your death. It’s quite beyond me why they concocted it.’
    ‘To protect me from the likes of you, no doubt,’ Ness said icily.
    Cullwirthy nodded as if rolling the idea around in his head. ‘He certainly had enough enemies who would do anything to hurt him but I never credited Anthony Bonehill with any paternal instincts. Necessity .’ Cullwirthy spat her name out. It stung Ness like an insult.
    ‘But what do you want with us now?’ Azuli said, glaring at Cullwirthy. ‘And why did you pretend not to know about the djinn when you were one of the Seven?’
    ‘I hardly imagine you would have followed me to my home had I said, “Oh yes, I killed Mrs Quilfy. Now could you just pop along with me – I have an idea.” ’ Cullwirthy