On the Fifth Day by A. J. Hartley

Author:A. J. Hartley
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Mystery, Italy, Christianity, Suspense, Japan, Thriller
ISBN: 9781440620119
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2007-07-02T12:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 55

When Thomas opened his eyes four hours later it took him more than a minute to remember where he was. The heavy drapes shut out the light so completely that it might have been night, though his stomach told him it was lunchtime. He showered, ate in the hotel restaurant and wondered how he would spend the afternoon. His plane for Frankfurt didn’t leave till ten, one of the ways the airline kept its costs down. There was no point sitting in the airport for hours where he could easily be recognized if security had been alerted, and he didn’t want to loiter in the hotel lobby either. If nothing else, he needed a change of clothes.

He checked out and ordered a hotel shuttle into the old town, arranging that it would pick him up after he’d had time to wander, get an early dinner, and take him to the airport. The woman at the desk was dressed like a flight attendant in the hotel’s red and blue colors, wore horn-rimmed glasses, and spoke excellent English. She responded to his gratitude as if nothing could be less worthy of notice; Thomas wondered if he was being patronizing. He apologized for not speaking Italian, and she shrugged this off too, barely looking at him, smiling only when the account was finally settled and she could hand him off to the driver.

The driver, who introduced himself in Italian as Claudio, wore a black suit and tie with an immaculately laundered white shirt, so that Thomas felt conspicuous in Pietro’s castoffs. Claudio showed him to one of the hotel’s identical navy-blue minivans with heavily tinted windows, and he took a seat in the back. They drove along a coast road lined with palms and elegant beachfront property facing a marina.

“Old town, yes?” said Claudio.

“That’s right.”

“Castello?”

Thomas didn’t even know there was a castle. He had read nothing about Bari.

“Sure,” he said.

“I pick up you at seven o’clock, vabbene okay?”

“Yes.”

“You have no bags?”

“No,” said Thomas. “We can go directly to the airport.”

“Okay,” said Claudio, shrugging at this clearly eccentric behavior. “You go see church in old town?”

“I guess.”

“Streets very …” he took both hands off the wheel to gesture narrow, “small. Very hard to attack. When Saracens came, they could not win here. Small streets. People shoot from windows. Shoot … ?”

“Arrows?”

“Si. Arrows.”

“Is there much to see at the castle?”

“Not much. It police house now. But has art made here.”

Thomas nodded to show he understood: a craft center.

The castle was certainly impressive from the outside, a broad, low design with massive square turrets on the corners of the outer walls and a stone bridge over a drained moat. Inside the towers of the keep rose up, pale ocher with touches of rose.

“Beware of pickpockets,” said Claudio, pulling the cab over in front of a street-front café, “and call if you want to leave.”

Thomas took the offered card and thanked him.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.