Prologue

"Could I please speak to Mr Jamie King?"

A deep male voice sounded over the phone.

"Speaking."

Jamie went through to the kitchen, phone in hand, already bored with the caller.

"Mr King, my name's Harry Cartwright, I'm a Detective at Black Grove Police Station."

Jamie immediately became interested again, with good reason.

"What can I do for you, Detective?"

"Well, Mr King, in the course of a recent case I've been working on, it became necessary to exhume one of the graves in Baker Street Cemetery."

"Oh?"

"I'm sorry to say, Mr King, that due to an unacceptable error in paperwork, the wrong grave was disinterred. Instead of the one I wanted, your husband's grave was exhumed instead."

"Oh... Well, what do I do, then?" Jamie asked. "Do I have to pay for a re-burial?"

"Well, ordinarily, the state would pay for it, given the circumstances."

"But you won't this time?" Jamie frowned at the phone.

"No," said the detective. "You see, when we opened your husband's coffin, there was nothing inside it."

Jamie dropped the phone with a loud curse.

Anthony. He thought, hissing an angry breath.

Jamie quickly picked up the phone, thanked the startled detective and hung up.

It was time to start making plans.