The Fury of Rachel Monette by Peter Abrahams

Author:Peter Abrahams
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781504016315
Publisher: Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller

21

“Wake up madame,” a female voice urged her. “We are on the ground.” Rachel opened her eyes and slowly focused them on a face that was ready to play the role of Carmen at a moment’s notice. All the woman had to do was take the little stewardess cap off her pile of hair. “That’s the way,” she said, smiling. She had missed a tomato seed caught between her front teeth, but you had to be front row center to see it. “There’s no time for sleeping in Paris.”

But sleep was all she wanted. She felt a filament of saliva against her cheek and wiped it away with her sleeve before moving to stand up. The seat belt kept her firmly in place. The stewardess found it amusing. “What have you been doing to get so sleepy?” she tut-tutted, reaching down to undo the buckle. She led Rachel off the empty plane.

A sodden sheet of gray had been thrown across Paris, hiding the sky. It dripped steadily on the city, making the old buildings look just plain old. It couldn’t do anything to the new ones that hadn’t already been done. The taxi careened around the Arc de Triomphe, splashing any pedestrians it could get near, and braked to a violent stop in front of the Hotel Lancaster. It was the only hotel Rachel knew in Paris; she and Dan had stayed there on their trip to Europe. She was too tired to worry whether it would bring back memories.

Rachel remembered the doorman. He had a neatly trimmed white moustache and the face of a benevolent king. He remembered her too and seemed happy about it. “Mrs. Monette, isn’t it?” he said, taking her suitcase. “It’s been a long time.”

“Four years,” she replied, wondering what kind of tip Dan had given him.

“As long as that?” He looked at the departing taxi. “And the professor? He will be coming later?”

“No.”

They gave her a room on the top floor, overlooking the courtyard. She opened the French windows which led to the balcony. The last time she had seen the courtyard it had been full of people drinking champagne and nibbling homemade potato chips. Now black tarpaulins covered the wrought-iron furniture and wet pigeons pecked at the marble flagstones, searching for crumbs. The hum of traffic barely reached her ears, although the Champs Elysées was only a few yards away.

Turning back into the room she saw herself in the full length mirror on the bathroom door. She was filthy. A grimy film covered her clothes, skin, and hair. She stripped and examined herself closely. Bones showed where they had not shown in years. She had bruises she couldn’t remember getting, except for the one on her jaw.

She started a bath. While the water poured into the white tub she called room service and ordered two ham and cheese sandwiches and a half bottle of red wine.

When the waiter arrived she had finished bathing and was standing beside the tub watching the brown tepid water swirl down the drain.

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.