Past Caring by Robert Goddard

Author:Robert Goddard
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Mystery, Historical Mystery, Contemporary, Edwardian
ISBN: 9780552162951
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 2010-12-31T23:00:00+00:00

P A S T C A R I N G

255

“Well, I don’t like. I’m not some adolescent for you to dazzle and bed and throw away.”

“I never . . . thought you were.”

“You thought you could deceive me and seduce me with a lie as big as Strafford’s. If we’d gone to Norfolk this weekend, maybe you’d have succeeded. But not now. Because I don’t need you or Strafford.”

“Maybe I need you.”

The revulsion in Eve’s eyes turned to contempt. There was no hint of mercy. “Bad luck, Martin. I’m not interested in an unemployed sex offender. Take your pathetic fantasies . . . and get out.”

There was nothing else to do. I moved to the door. But there was more to say. I turned on the threshold. “I lied, Eve, because I was afraid this was how you would react to my . . . lapse.”

“Is that what you call it?”

“I’m not denying anything. But can’t I ever be allowed to forget it?”

“Can Jane Campion?”

“I expect she’s all right.”

“But you don’t know?”

“No.”

Eve walked round and behind the harpsichord, so that the stool, with its incriminating load of newsprint, stood between us.

“Exactly. You don’t want to know. You don’t want to live with the consequences of your actions. You want to smash a life, grab your pleasure and go free.”

“It wasn’t like that.”

“It may have been—for all you know or care. No wonder you defend Strafford. He did much the same thing. Well, I want none of it.”

I stood my ground and played the only trump I held. “I’m not alone in suppressing the truth. You never told me you were working for the Couchmans.”

Eve’s contempt was verging now on boredom. “This isn’t a game, Martin. Just try to understand that what I’ve learned about you makes it impossible—intolerable—for me to associate with you. Please leave now—and don’t come back.”

“One question. How did you find out?”

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