Karen Ross

Five Wakes and a Wedding


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      Five Wakes and a Wedding

      KAREN ROSS

Avon Logo

      Published by AVON

      A Division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019

      Copyright © Karen Ross 2019

      Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2019

      Cover illustrations © Shutterstock

      Bells © Shutterstock.com

      Karen Ross asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

      A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      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 on screen. 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.

      Ebook Edition © July 2019 ISBN: 9780008354350

      Version: 2019-06-18

       For Francesca

      Table of Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

       Copyright

       Dedication

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

       Chapter 13

       Chapter 14

       Chapter 15

       Chapter 16

       Chapter 17

       Chapter 18

       Chapter 19

       Chapter 20

       Chapter 21

       Chapter 22

       Chapter 23

       Chapter 24

       Chapter 25

       Funeral Number Two

       Chapter 26

       Chapter 27

       Chapter 28

       Chapter 29

       Funeral Number Three

       Chapter 30

       Chapter 31

       Chapter 32

       Chapter 33

       Chapter 34

       Chapter 35

       Chapter 36

       Chapter 37

       Chapter 38

       Chapter 39

       Funeral Number Four

       Chapter 40

       Chapter 41

       Chapter 42

       Chapter 43

       Chapter 44

       Funeral Number Five

       Chapter 45

       Chapter 46

       Chapter 47

       Chapter 48

       Acknowledgements

       Nine Book Club Questions and a Suggestion

       About the Author

       About the Publisher

       1

      ‘Nina! One of the fridges is making a weird noise.’ Gloria’s voice is a welcome distraction from my latest attempt at flower arranging. At least, until I realise what I’ve just heard.

      Shit.

      I abandon the cornflowers, delphiniums and rust-coloured foliage, dash through to the back room, and hurtle down the stairs that lead to the basement storage area. With every step I take, a measured ‘beep, beeep, beeeep’ – like the sound of hospital machinery hooked up to someone in a coma – grows louder.

      ‘Something must have tripped the alarm! What did you do to the fridge?’ I ask as Gloria comes into sight.

      ‘Nothing.’

      Gloria is unruffled by my accusatory tone. She’s my housemate.

      ‘I was looking for the cleaning spray,’ she says. ‘To take the whitewash off the window.’

      The fridge’s mournful signal of distress continues.

      ‘Maybe buying my equipment on eBay wasn’t such a good idea,’ I manage. ‘But at least there’s nothing in it yet.’

      As if to prove it, I open the door to the beeping fridge.

      The noise stops and is immediately replaced by the sound of a wooden object being hit – repeatedly – by a hammer. ‘That must be Edo!’

      Gloria hears the relief in my voice. She manoeuvres herself around the fridge, squeezes my shoulder and says, ‘C’mon. Let’s go see.’

      My hand is still on the fridge door. Tentatively, I close it.

      Beep

      Beeep.