Parlor Games: A Novel by Maryka Biaggio

Author:Maryka Biaggio [Biaggio, Maryka]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Action & Adventure, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9780385536233
Google: 0m5eRJuE-S8C
Amazon: 0385536224
Publisher: Doubleday
Published: 2013-01-14T18:30:00+00:00

It appeared that Daisy Emmett was someone I could trust. She was not afraid to tell the truth, but she showed good judgment, too. After we agreed on her salary, I apprised her of my intent to journey to London, which pleased her greatly. But first, I explained, I wished her to make discreet inquiries about an old friend, a young man now in the arts-and-antiquities business in New York.

Two days later, she strode up to me in the lobby of the Gilsey. “Miss Dugas,” she said, “I’ve news of John Graham.”

I slipped a marker into the page of my Baedeker’s London and Its Environs. “Yes—what did you learn?”

“I think we should go to your room.”

I closed the book on my lap. “Why?”

She stood as erect as a pine tree, her five-foot-six frame looming over me. “You said you wanted to be discreet, didn’t you?”

I rose and headed for the stairs, all impatience. “Must you be so awfully good at following instructions?”

Once in my fifth-floor room, Daisy led me to my easy chair and commanded, “Sit.”

I eased down and looked up at her.

She unfurled a New York Sun and pointed to a column. “It’s old news now. Happened two weeks ago.”

My eyes latched on the column headline: “John D. Graham Found Dead in Apartment.”

I stared at the words “John D. Graham.” “No, no, it can’t be,” I said. “It can’t be my Johnny.”

Daisy cocked her head to meet my gaze. “Your Johnny?”

“We were engaged.”

“Did you meet him in Tokyo?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, my.”

“Please,” I said, more as a desperate prayer than anything else, “don’t let it be him.” I pictured Johnny: bounding up our hotel stairs and turning to scoop me into his arms; glowing with awe at Japan’s intricate, soaring temples; laughing so hard at my imitations of Kotone that he rolled off his chair. Johnny, so spirited, so full of life, couldn’t be gone.

“I’m sorry, then, for it is your Johnny.” Daisy ran her hand down the column. “It says here he killed himself for love of a woman he met in Tokyo.”

I crumpled over my knees. “Oh, no. Oh, Johnny, please forgive me.”

Daisy brushed her hand over my back. “You loved him.”

I buried my face in my hands. The headline’s words imprinted on the dark screen of my tight-closed eyelids, glaring at me like an indictment. “I killed him. I killed him.”

Daisy gripped my shoulder. “Don’t say that.”

“It’s true.” My insides sloshed. Nauseous, I crumpled over. “I didn’t have the courage to stand by his side.”

“How could you have known?”

“What does that matter?” I dug my fingernails into my forehead. Their sharpness cut into my flesh. I wanted to feel pain. “Johnny’s dead. And it’s because of me.”

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.