The Frost of Friston Manor by Ruby Loren

Author:Ruby Loren [Loren, Ruby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ruby Loren

The receptionist at the care home eyed Emily and Damien suspiciously over the top of her gold-rimmed glasses. “You’re the close friends of Duke Adelaide?” she asked, her voice matching her face for scepticism.

Damien shifted awkwardly and stuffed his hands into his pockets. But Emily was not one to walk away from a challenge.

“We are. Duke worked with my father doing landscaping. He was always very nice to me when I was a child. I only just heard about him coming here and thought I would visit to check that everything here is okay.” Emily shot the receptionist an equally suspicious look, hoping to keep her on her toes. If she thought they were being checked up on, she might be more willing to assist.

She gave no reaction and didn’t warm up a bit. The woman must be made of steel.

“And who is this?” her adversary enquired, turning her deadly stare on Damien.

Emily was suddenly very worried that he was going to run back out of the door to the car. “This is my boyfriend,” she said hurriedly, and then bit her tongue as hard as possible to keep from blushing at her lie. Why had that been the first thing that popped into her head?

Damien looked at her in such surprise that it was lucky the receptionist had lost interest and was staring at her computer again. She must have pressed a button because a man dressed in white appeared through the double doors to the left of the desk. Emily wrinkled her nose at the smell of disinfectant he brought with him.

“They’re here to see Mr Adelaide,” the receptionist said, not bothering to look up from her computer screen.

“Oh, are you family?” the nurse asked.

Emily opened her mouth to respond, but the gatekeeper receptionist got there first.

“They say they’re his friends,” she said - perfectly conveying how she didn’t believe a word of it. Fortunately, this must be her usual way of greeting visitors, as the nurse didn’t bat an eyelid and just shot an apologetic smile their way.

“If you could come with me please,” he said and led them back through the double doors.

Emily was unsettled by the strange silence that hung over the place. Every footstep on the shiny linoleum floor seemed to squeak and then echo. All she could hear was the very faint buzz of TVs turned down so quietly their volumes had to be close to zero.

She was surprised when the nurse led them into a side room that contained three chairs and absolutely no sign of Duke Adelaide. Emily and Damien sat down on the uncomfortable, poorly padded chairs, both wondering if they were in some kind of trouble. Did this nurse also harbour doubts that they were friends of Duke?

“I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news…” he began, and Emily’s heart sank right into her shoes. After all the time they’d put into locating Duke Adelaide, they’d been too late after all. He was already gone, and now Amelia may never meet another member of her family.

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