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ANDREW TAYLOR
THE OFFICE OF THE DEAD
This is entirely a work of fiction. Any references to real people, living or dead, real events, businesses, organizations and localities are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity. All names, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and their resemblance, if any, to real-life counterparts is entirely coincidental.
Harper HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by
HarperCollinsPublishers 1999
Copyright © Andrew Taylor 1999
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2013 Cover photography © Mark Pennington
Andrew Taylor asserts the moral right to
be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.
Source ISBN: 9780006496557
Ebook Edition © APRIL 2013 ISBN: 9780007502035
Version: 2019–02–25
For Vivien, with love and thanks
CONTENTS
Copyright
Dedication
Part I: The Door in the Wall
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Part II: The Close
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
Part III: The Blue Dahlia
44
45
46
47
48
49
About the Author
Author’s Note
Praise
Also by the Author
About the Publisher
‘I’m nobody,’ Rosie said.
It was the first thing she said to me. I’d just pushed open the door in the wall and there she was. She wore red sandals and a cotton dress, cream-coloured with tiny blue flowers embroidered on the bodice, and there were blue ribbons in her blonde hair. The ribbons and flowers matched her eyes. She was very tidy, like the garden, like everything that was Janet’s.
I
