Read Midnight for Charlie Bone (Children Of The Red King, Book 1) for Free Online Page A

cathedral's name on it? Benjamin had plenty of pens.
                "Still, I don't really mind," he told Runner Bean. “As long as he comes to my party."
                Runner Bean thumped his tail on Benjamin's pillow He was lying where he wasn't supposed to, on Benjamin's bed. Luckily no one but Benjamin knew about it.
                The cathedral was in the old part of the city Here the streets were cobbled and narrow The shops were smaller, and in their softly lit windows, expensive clothes and jewelry lay to fold of silk and velvet. It seemed like a very private place, and Charlie felt almost as though he were trespassing.
                As the ancient cathedral began to loom above him, the shops gave way to a row of older houses. Number Three Cathedral Close, however, was a bookshop. Above the door a sign in olde worlde script, read INGLEDEW'S. The books displayed in the window were aged and dusty looking. Some were bound in leather, their leaves edged in gold. Charlie took a deep breath and went in. A bell tinkled as he stepped down into the shop, and a woman appeared through a curtained space behind the counter. She wasn't as old as Charlie expected, but about the same age as his mother. She had thick chestnut hair piled up on her head, and kind brown eyes.
                "Yes?" asked the woman. "Can I help you?"
                "I think so," said Charlie. Are you Julia Ingledew?"
                "Yes." She nodded.
                "I've come about a photograph," said Charlie. The woman's hand went to her mouth. "Goodness!" she said. "Have you"
                "I think so," said Charlie, handing over the orange envelope. The woman opened the envelope and the two photos fell onto her desk. "Oh, thank you," she said. "I can't tell you how glad I am to have these."
                "Have you got mine?" asked Charlie. "My name's Charlie Bone."
                "Come through," said Miss Ingledew, motioning Charlie to follow her through the curtain.
                Charlie walked cautiously around the counter and through the curtain in the wall of books. He found himself in a room not unlike the shop. All books again, packed tight on shelves or laying in piles on every surface. It was a cozy room, for all that; it smelled of warm, rich words and very deep thoughts. A fire burned in a small iron grate and table lamps glowed through parchment-colored shades.
                "Here we are," said Julia Ingledew, and from a drawer she produced an orange envelope.
                Charlie took the envelope and opened it quickly.
                "Yes, it's Runner Bean," he's my friend's dog. I'm going to make a birthday card with it."
                “A lovely idea," said Miss Ingledew. "More personal. I always like personal. It shows one cares, doesn't it?"
                "Yes," said Charlie uncertainly.
                "Well, I'm very grateful to you, Charlie Bone," she said. "I feel you should have a reward of some sort. I haven't got much cash about, but I wonder..."
                "It doesn't matter," said Charlie, a little embarrassed, though he could have used a little money to buy Benjamin's present.
                "No, no, really I think you're just the person. In fact, I feel that these have been waiting just for you." She pointed to a corner and Charlie saw that his first impression of the room had been mistaken. It was not filled entirely with books. A table in one corner was piled high with boxes: wooden boxes, metal boxes, and big cardboard cartons.
                "What's in those?" asked Charlie.
                "My brother-in-law's effects," she said. “All that is left of him. He died last week."
                Charlie felt a lump rising in his throat. He said, "Urn..."
                "Oh, dear. No, not his ashes,