The Day of the Dead by Nicci French

Author:Nicci French [French, Nicci]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller, Mystery
Publisher: Calibre
Published: 2018-07-11T16:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-EIGHT

What would Frieda think? That was what Lola said to herself over and over again on the long bus and Underground journey. She knew the answer. That was why she hadn’t even considered asking Frieda’s permission. Frieda would have told her not to go. And she needed to go. She had to find out what Jess knew. She just had to be careful, that was all.

When she approached the flat, she looked around the street outside without being quite sure what she was looking for. Everything was as it always was. She had decided that if there was any sign of a disturbance, if the front door was open, if there was visible damage, she would walk past, keep on going. But there was nothing. The lamps were lit and people passed by in the gathering gloom.

She walked up to the door and took out her key. Now there was just one last thing. She had thought of it on the train. She reached into her pocket and found the pay-as-you-go phone Frieda had bought her. She tapped the number nine three times: now with just one press of the button she would call the emergency services. She turned the key in the lock and pushed the door inward. Something smelt different: Jess must have been smoking indoors, even though they had a house rule.

She stepped inside, closed the door behind her with a small click.

When Frieda returned, she expected to find Lola leaning over the computer or lying on the sofa with her headphones on. She called out. Nothing. She looked around the flat. She quickly saw that Lola had left without taking anything. Her laptop was open on the table, there were clothes scattered in the bedroom. She had probably just gone out to the shops. Frieda took out her phone and rang Lola. No answer. Again, it was probably nothing. Still, Frieda knew what she had to do. She put Lola’s laptop and her own laptop into a shoulder bag. She didn’t even check for anything else. She had planned this a hundred times. Everything else was dispensable. Within five minutes of arriving, she was back out on the street, striding quickly. Fifteen minutes later she was sitting in a coffee shop. Waiting.

Lola seemed to have lost the use of her fingers. Her phone felt like an object she had never seen before. She needed to phone Frieda but it felt bafflingly hard to do. Her mind wasn’t working. Her breath was coming in wheezes that hurt her chest.

She had turned away from Jess’s open, sightless eyes but it didn’t help. There was still the smell of the blood. The room was hot and sweet with it. It was everywhere. Jess’s T-shirt and sweatpants were soaked and it was pooling on the floorboards and there were Lola’s own footprints. She had stepped in it and left prints on the floorboards. She could see all of it, even though she was looking away. She was trembling right through her whole body so that it felt like the whole house was shaking.

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