True Republic (Novak and Mitchell Book 4) by Andrew Raymond

Author:Andrew Raymond [Raymond, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hunterhill Books
Published: 2021-10-30T16:00:00+00:00

22

Stella had put off her return to Anne’s house in Primrose Hill for as long as she could. The thought of being in close quarters with her almost-estranged mother, trying to hide a pill habit, wasn’t exactly attractive to her. But she couldn’t get answers to her questions from a hotel room.

Anne’s house was on a gently curving street of pastel-coloured Georgian terraced houses, each a different colour. Anne’s was mint green, with pink and yellow on either side. Stella allowed herself a sardonic laugh at how similar the colours were to the pills in her handbag.

Once the epicentre of Britpop in the nineties, home to raucous parties hosted by artists with work in the Tate Modern and musicians at the top of the charts, Primrose Hill had become the place to be for those in the fashionable media set, from digital influencers on Instagram, to those like Anne in publishing. She liked the vibrancy and village-green charm that came with the surroundings, the tree-lined avenues, and the park that provided stunning panoramic views across London.

Stella slid the spare key into the door and found the house mostly in darkness. It took her a few steps inside to tell that Anne was even home. The music and dim lamp in the living room giving her away.

Pink Floyd’s album The Final Cut was playing on vinyl from a ludicrously expensive turntable and hi-fi set. Anne was wrapped in a blanket with her feet up on the couch, drinking methodically from a glass of red wine. Stella noticed that the bottle on the table in front of her was already half-empty.

‘Long day?’ asked Stella, trying to be polite.

Anne replied, ‘You could say that.’

‘How did it go with the police?’

Instead of answering, Anne put her feet down, reaching for the remote to turn up the volume on the hi-fi. ‘I always loved this song,’ she said.

Anne had struggled sufficiently over her Ss for Stella to know that she was definitely tipsy, and coming up fast on drunk.

Stella picked up the vinyl gatefold. ‘I thought this was supposed to be one of their crap albums.’

‘It’s basically a Roger Waters solo album,’ said Anne. ‘Leftovers from The Wall sessions, but it’s had a bit of a critical reassessment recently.’

Stella sat on the armrest of the armchair opposite. As close as she was willing to get. ‘What happened at the police station?’

When Anne reached for her glass again, Stella took it out of her hand and put it on the mantlepiece. Anne wasn’t prepared to go that far for another drink. She was as drunk as she needed to be to get the words out.

‘What happened?’ asked Stella.

As one of David Gilmour’s finest, haunting guitar solos started on the album’s title track, Anne bowed her head. ‘The police knew that Ian was poisoned after he and I had our meeting. I had sent Gayle out for coffee for us. She dropped Ian’s and returned with mine. But I didn’t take it.’

Stella squinted, wondering where it was all going.

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