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    In The Stars Part II, Episode 12: Sagittarius
    In The Stars Part II, Episode 12: Sagittarius
    In The Stars Part II, Episode 12: Sagittarius
    Ebook190 pages3 hours

    In The Stars Part II, Episode 12: Sagittarius

    By Debbie McGowan

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    About this ebook

    A new home, a breakdown, life decisions, a career change...and a revelation that leaves the friends reeling, bringing this season to a head as old secrets die hard. But with a terrifying hostage situation at Black Hole Studios, and seven people trapped inside, the remainder of The Circle won’t be the only ones waiting outside with baited breath, because not everybody escapes alive...

    The story continues in the novellas, A Midnight Clear and Red Hot Christmas, and in Two By Two (season six).

    * * * * *

    ‘Sagittarius’ is the twelfth episode of In The Stars. For those readers unfamiliar with the series, ‘Capricorn’ (episode one) re-introduces the main characters, so you could pick it up from here and perhaps catch up with the previous books later.

    In The Stars explores the day-to-day lives of The Circle—nine friends from high school, now it their late thirties—following them through celebration, loss, illness and life-changing decisions.

    Each episode covers the period of time indicated by the zodiac sign from which it takes its title.

    The full novels of In The Stars Part I: Capricorn–Gemini and In The Stars Part II: Cancer–Sagittarius are also available for purchase (paperback/ebook).

    In The Stars Part II is season five in the Hiding Behind The Couch Series.

    The story follows chronologically from In The Stars Part I (Season Four) and Breaking Waves (Novella). It continues in A Midnight Clear (Novella), Red Hot Christmas (Novella) and Two By Two (Season Six).

    * * * * *

    What readers say about the Hiding Behind The Couch Series:

    “The remarkable characterisation in these novels is what makes them for me.”

    “This story reminds me of my favorite movies about friendship and relationships.”

    “Few authors have explored the depths of longtime friends within a group, or ‘circle’ the way Debbie McGowan has!”

    “I have a love-hate relationship with Debbie McGowan’s Hiding Behind the Couch Series. I love to read them, I HATE it when they’re over.”

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBeaten Track Publishing
    Release dateNov 22, 2014
    ISBN9781909192737
    In The Stars Part II, Episode 12: Sagittarius
    Author

    Debbie McGowan

    Debbie McGowan is an award-winning author of contemporary fiction that celebrates life, love and relationships in all their diversity. Since the publication in 2004 of her debut novel, Champagne—based on a stage show co-written and co-produced with her husband—she has published many further works—novels, short stories and novellas—including two ongoing series: Hiding Behind The Couch (a literary ‘soap opera’ centring on the lives of nine long-term friends) and Checking Him Out (LGBTQ romance). Debbie has been a finalist in both the Rainbow Awards and the Bisexual Book Awards, and in 2016, she won the Lambda Literary Award (Lammy) for her novel, When Skies Have Fallen: a British historical romance spanning twenty-three years, from the end of WWII to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967. Through her independent publishing company, Debbie gives voices to other authors whose work would be deemed unprofitable by mainstream publishing houses.

    Read more from Debbie Mc Gowan

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      Book preview

      In The Stars Part II, Episode 12 - Debbie McGowan

      In The Stars Part II, Episode 12: Sagittarius

      Hiding Behind The Couch

      Season Five

      by

      Debbie McGowan

      SMASHWORDS EDITION

      * * * * *

      Second Edition

      Published 2018 by Beaten Track Publishing

      First published 2014

      Copyright 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 Debbie McGowan at Smashwords.

      https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/debbiemcgowan

      This book is available in print at most online retailers.

      Cover Design by Debbie McGowan

      Licensed stock images: usage is not indicative

      of the models’ identity, activities or preferences.

      Zodiac Illustrations by Emma Pickering

      http://www.beatentrackpublishing.com

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      * * * * *

      This novel is a work of fiction and the characters and events in it exist only in its pages and in the author’s imagination.

      * * * * *

      The Circle try to move on with their lives, optimistic for a return to normality.

      But something is amiss, and Josh is intent on solving the puzzle.

      Shaunna and Andy are in need of TLC…or perhaps a touch of meddling will save the day?

      * * * * *

      ‘Sagittarius’ is the twelfth episode of In The Stars. For those readers unfamiliar with the series, ‘Capricorn’ (episode one) re-introduces the main characters, so you could pick it up from here and perhaps catch up with the previous books later.

      In The Stars explores the day-to-day lives of The Circle—nine friends from high school, now it their late thirties—following them through celebration, loss, illness and life-changing decisions.

      Each episode covers the period of time indicated by the zodiac sign from which it takes its title.

      The full novels of In The Stars Part I: Capricorn–Gemini and In The Stars Part II: Cancer–Sagittarius are also available for purchase (paperback/ebook).

      In The Stars Part II is season five in the Hiding Behind The Couch Series.

      The story follows chronologically from In The Stars Part I (Season Four) and Breaking Waves (Novella). It continues in A Midnight Clear (Novella), Red Hot Christmas (Novella) and Two By Two (Season Six).

      * * * * *

      Dedication

      For Eileen:

      See you in the next one. Maybe.

      And for the Dog People:

      we are a transient population,

      unthwarted by rain, wind, snow,

      sun-baked earth and horse flies;

      may the source of our insanity

      remain our salvation.

      * * * * *

      Acknowledgements

      Thank you to my wonderful proof-readers, Tracy and Andrea, for your persistence in / insistence on finding and then laughing at my dreadful mistakes, not to mention your extraordinary expertise in all matters, but in particular, those of bingo and healthcare! The Circle thank you, too!

      Much gratitude to Hans M Hirschi, for checking and correcting my dodgy Norwegian / Swedish translations, even though we had only just ‘met’!

      Hans also writes beautiful stories – visit his website to find out more. www.hirschi.se

      Thanks also to Beth, for excellent chat show related creative input.

      Elliot Sanchez lives because of you.

      ***

      Excerpts from:

      ‘The Signs’, by Henry Van Dyke

      The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Poems of Henry Van Dyke.

      Hamlet, by William Shakespeare.

      Macbeth, by William Shakespeare.

      Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens.

      Reproduced under the terms of the

      Project Gutenberg Licence.

      www.gutenberg.org

      ‘Footprints In Your Heart’, by Eleanor Roosevelt;

      also attributed as

      ‘Today is a Gift’, by Laszlo Kotro-Kosztandi.

      Further bibliographic information unavailable.

      * * * * *

      Table of Contents

      Acknowledgements

      Dedication

      The Y-Files: Thursday 23rd–Friday 24th November

      Luminosity: Monday 27th–Wednesday 29th November

      High And Low: Friday 1st–Tuesday 5th December

      Gumshoon: Wednesday 6th December

      In I Svarta Hålet: Wednesday 6th December

      Squared: Wednesday 6th December

      Whodunnit Part Two: Monday 11th December

      Event Horizon: Thursday 21st December

      The Story Continues…

      About The Author

      By The Author

      * * * * *

      It’s the time-birth-death gimmick. Can’t go on much longer, too many people are wising up.

      William S. Burroughs

      * * * * *

      Sagittarius

      Life is an arrow, therefore you must know

      What mark to aim at, how to use the bow—

      Then draw it to the head and let it go!

      The Y-Files

      Thursday 23rd–Friday 24th November

      Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have cash in hand? Sean handed over the cheque in payment for the loft conversion.

      Nah. We’re all above board. We have to be, with the amount of overseas stuff we do.

      Well, cheers. It’s a bloody fine job you’ve made of it. Sean shook Andy’s hand. I’m still negotiating with Soph on whether I need to be looking at extending upstairs, but I’ll come back to you on that one, if you don’t mind.

      Sure. I like doing these little construction jobs. It makes a nice change.

      Good to know. So how are you? Better?

      Yeah. Andy nodded, trying not to smile. I’m feeling pretty good at the moment, thanks. You?

      Not so bad at all. Sean was doing an appalling job of sustaining the conversation, for whilst it had not been admitted by either party, he could have guessed with some accuracy as to why Andy was ‘feeling pretty good at the moment’. However, it was not Sean’s intention to prompt the usual deep discussion against a backdrop of Andy doing jobs around the house. He had a slightly different request to make and decided to go for broke.

      Listen, I wondered if you’d be up for doing another little job for me? It’s not construction, but it’ll only take a couple of hours of your time. Are you free tomorrow morning?

      I can be.

      Great stuff. You don’t need to bring any tools with you. Just your muscles and your best snarl. What d’you say?

      OK? Andy laughed, although he was a little worried.

      Don’t panic. I only need you to look the part, Sean assured him, but Andy still wasn’t convinced. It’ll all make perfect sense, I promise you.

      ***

      Eleanor! You look fantastic! The short and rather flamboyant Scotsman threw his arms around her and kissed her, with a loud smacking sound, somewhere around the point where her ear joined her cheek.

      Hello, Callum. It’s great to see you. She couldn’t return the compliment. His face looked like it could do with a good iron, and his hair had receded to a thin line around the base of his skull, still kept long and scraped back in a straggly ponytail. This is my friend, Josh. I think you spoke briefly on the phone a while back.

      Callum held Josh’s hand with both of his to shake it and smiled warmly. Can I get you two something to drink?

      Oh, thanks. I’ll have a glass of house red, Eleanor responded.

      Just a coffee for me, please, Josh said.

      Callum nodded and ordered their drinks.

      Eleanor made eye contact with Josh to see what he thought of her old college buddy, although they’d been little more than fellow students. Josh was suitably intrigued.

      Callum ushered them towards a table in the corner of the dimly lit gastro pub. They’re going to bring our drinks over. I gathered we’d be wanting to lunch at some point, which is why I chose this place. It serves an incredibly good steak.

      He positioned himself in the corner of the bench seat and placed a battered briefcase next to him. Josh examined it.

      It was my grandfather’s, Callum explained. He gave it to me when I graduated, on the very same day he retired from a forty-year career in medicine. Very proud, he was.

      Callum became wistful momentarily, and then flicked the catch of the briefcase open. It had a wonderful heavy click to it. Josh smiled, for the tiniest hint of a memory of his dad had popped into his head. Eleanor noticed the smile and frowned at him in query. He subtly shook his head to indicate it wasn’t relevant.

      Callum lifted a huge red-sheathed sheaf of papers from the case and placed it very carefully on the table. The bartender brought their drinks over. Thank you, he acknowledged and waited for her to leave before he continued with the matter in hand. I was dreadfully sorry to hear about what happened to Kevin. He gave Eleanor a smile of genuine sympathy.

      Thanks.

      Such a tragedy. I’m almost certain if he’d turned up to the hearing, the case would have been dismissed more or less outright, and you’ll understand why I’m saying that when I show you what I’ve got. He unfastened the band on the red vellum binding and extracted the top few papers. This is Patricia Biddiscombe’s medical history. He handed the papers over.

      Eleanor began reading right away and passed each page to Josh as she finished it, both of them nodding and humming as they read over the initial summary that made clear the article Josh had found online was indeed concerning the death of Patricia Biddiscombe, who had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease at the age of forty-three and died five years later.

      The rest of her medical history related to management of the symptoms of her condition and included a note two years prior to her death that she had an advance directive in place. Her GP at that time, as they’d already figured out, was Doctor Kevin Callaghan, and the information he’d recorded was nothing out of the ordinary: the usual date plus a couple of lines of explanatory text for each of his consultations with his patient.

      The printout was comprehensive yet succinct, and it took them only a few minutes to read it in its entirety. As Josh came to the bottom of the last page, he reached out and took Eleanor’s hand. Kevin had suddenly departed from his previous objective documenting of medical facts and written the last two entries in lengthy, emotional prose. They detailed what Kevin found when he arrived at the scene—family and friends gathered for Patricia’s final few hours of life—and it could have been a description of the last night they had spent with Jess.

      That was also the point at which things started to make less sense, as Kevin had recorded that the patient was calm and settled, yet the next entry saw him intubating her, after which she was taken to hospital. The GP notes ended there, with the next two pages detailing the consultant’s findings: the patient was being ventilated manually on arrival at the hospital; once ventilation ceased, the patient died.

      Josh handed the notes back to Callum and took the opportunity to consolidate what he’d just read whilst sipping at his coffee. It was an exceptionally good cup, with a tight foam and a rich, deep flavour and aroma.

      Mmm, he sounded without realising he’d done so. Eleanor peered sideways at him.

      Callum laughed. I’ve had the coffee here myself, and it’s a mighty brew. So, what do you think so far?

      Not sure, Eleanor said. Presumably, there’s an explanation for why Kevin tried to ventilate a patient with a DNR and, in any case, one with a condition that wouldn’t benefit from such a measure.

      Indeed there is. Callum handed her another set of papers: only two or three pages this time, and handwritten by a carer who had witnessed what took place at Patricia’s home when Kevin visited that afternoon. The carer noted Kevin often called in after work, out of courtesy and compassion rather than in his professional capacity, as there were private nurses on duty around the clock.

      On the day she died, Patricia was in partial respiratory failure but was comfortable otherwise, and it was apparent she was already near the end. Therefore, on first consideration, it seemed odd that Kevin had suddenly intervened and inserted the ventilation tube that meant she had died in hospital in a state of distress, rather than peacefully drifting away in her sleep at home. However, the carer had also listed everyone else who was in the house at the time. Most of those present were family—her stepsister and nieces, her closest friend—and then finally there was that name again.

      I’m guessing Patricia Biddiscombe and Simon Yarrow were friends? Josh speculated.

      Callum shook his head vehemently; his ponytail swung from side to side. No. They were not, and I say that with some certainty, as both the carers and Kevin mentioned in their formal statements that they had overheard heated discussions between Yarrow and Patricia’s stepsister on numerous occasions.

      "Is it common practice for a lawyer to be present

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