The Assassin in the Marais by Claude Izner

Author:Claude Izner [Izner, Claude]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-1429973670
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2009-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

Friday, 15 April

DAWN was heralded by the sound of pigeons cooing. Anna curled up under her coverlet, wrapping it around her as tightly as she could — it was so cold! Above her head, raindrops pitter-pattered on to the skylight that framed a rectangle of grey.

Anna groaned. Why couldn’t she be magically transported back to the Bay of Naples, where she would wake bathed in a pleasant heat! She had to get up, leave the house and trudge through the city streets with her barrel organ in order to scrape a living. There was only one thing for it; she must tear herself from her cocoon and pull on her clothes as quickly as possible. They were cold even though they had been under the mattress all night, and she shivered as she dressed. She lit a handful of wood shavings and threw a couple of pieces of coke into the bottom of the stove — a luxury reserved for breakfast. She cut a slice of stale bread and chewed it slowly to make it last longer. While she waited for the water to boil, she washed her face and brushed her hair energetically, before putting on her head scarf. She was about to pour the hot water into the coffee filter, and was lamenting the fact that this was the last spoonful of precious mocha she had bought at great expense at the roaster’s, when a loud noise made her jump. She crouched down, unblocked the spy hole and peeped into the old man’s lodgings. She could see a tussle going on between Achille Ménager and another person who was holding on to the lapels of his frock coat.

Achille fell to the floor. The figure stepped out of her field of vision. Then there was silence.

All she could hear was the sound of her heart beating frantically. She held her breath and prayed to the Madonna that it would not give her away. Then there came a quiet, continuous scratching noise. Someone was rummaging in the room, while the bric-a-brac merchant lay slumped in a hideous position. Was he merely unconscious? Or was he dead?

She must leave immediately! She lay flat on her belly and, reaching out her arm, inched open the trapdoor. She pulled herself up, gained a foothold on the top rung of the ladder and closed the trapdoor quietly behind her. She slid down, chafing her hands on the sides of the ladder, and stood motionless on the landing.

She remained there for a few moments before making her way down the stairs. Gripping the banister, she stepped over the creaking fifth stair — for if she could hear what went on in Ménager’s lodgings, the reverse must also be true.

Only when she reached the corner of Rue de Nice and Rue de Charonne was she able to breathe easily. Suddenly she was overtaken by a fit of trembling.

The rain had stopped. Beyond the railings of the fence surrounding the wasteland, the chords of a guitar picked out a wild flamenco rhythm.

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.