The Body Thief Read Free Page A

there.”
    Nathanial leaned over and kissed his daughter’s cheek. “Of course not, princess,” he promised, though he did not sound very convincing. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure out something. Now, let’s talk of happier things.”
    “Yes,” said Isabella, the darkness lifting from her eyes just as quickly as it had appeared. “I got a letter this morning. It could be just what we are looking for.”
    “Oh?” Nathanial was only half listening, his attention now largely taken up by a tray of sugar-free toffee fudge. “A letter, you say?”
    “Yes,” said Isabella with a studied sigh. In fact, Isabella had been saving the letter up until just the right moment to spring it on her unsuspecting father. “It’s from someone you might know, actually. Your brother Silas .”
    Nathanial gasped sharply, which sent the toffee hurtling toward the back of his throat. It took several hacking coughs before Nathanial was able to dislodge the toffee fudge and breathe properly again. Sitting back, he took a sip of water, stealing fleeting glances at his daughter.
    Isabella offered him a cool smile. “Something I said?”
    “Of course not, princess,” he said meekly. “You just caught me by surprise, that’s all.” Nathanial cleared his throat again. “You were saying something about a letter.” He coughed, as if choking on the words. “From my brother.”
    Isabella reached into her pocket and produced the royal blue letter with the thin silver band. She slid it across the top of the bureau toward her father. “I believe it’s what you might call an opportunity .”
    Over the next half hour Nathanial read the letter several times; then several more times. His mind began to spin at an increasingly frantic pace as ideas bloomed in his imagination, each one more delicious than the one before. Finally, he beamed at his daughter, barely able to control his joy.
    “This is the big one, Isabella!” he declared triumphantly. “My brother is sick, and he wants to meet you; that can only mean one thing—Silas is going to leave everything to you .” Nathanial’s eyes swept across the top of the bureau where the envelope lay. “Err…there was some mention of a check for your expenses.”
    “It’s in a safe place,” said Isabella firmly.
    “Yes, of course,” said Nathanial with little enthusiasm. “Good thinking.”
    “It’s curious that you’ve never mentioned this brother of yours before,” said Isabella, resting her head against the plush cushions. “Does Uncle Silas have money?”
    “Oh, yes. He is worth a fortune,” said Nathanial.
    “What?” Isabella sat bolt upright, the disbelief rippling through her voice. “I’ve been stealing necklaces and watches from my friends so we can pay the rent and you never thought to mention your brother is a millionaire? ”
    Her father shifted about uncomfortably in his chair, his tanned brow furrowed in a series of uneven lines.
    “Well, Isabella,” he said carefully, “it’s not that simple. Silas disowned the family when he came into his fortune and refused to share a cent of it with the rest of us. Generosity is not in his nature, you see.”
    Isabella frowned as an unpleasant possibility came to mind.
    “Perhaps I wasn’t the only one who got a letter from your brother,” she said. “You’ve told me so little about your family. I have cousins, I suppose?”
    “Most likely,” said her father with a shrug. “My sister Prudence has a daughter I think, and my brother Julius had a son, but I believe he was killed by a volcano.”
    “A volcano?” Isabella looked horrified.
    “I believe so,” said Nathanial vaguely. “Wiped out the boy and his parents, as I recall.” He sighed, carefully patting down his luxurious head of black hair. “Nasty things, volcanoes.”
    “How awful. Still, if your sister has a child,” Isabella noted, swiftly getting back to business, “I could find myself with some competition for your brother’s