Unholy Ghost by James Green

Author:James Green
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781909840744
Publisher: Accent Press
Published: 2014-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-six

Nadine phoned Jimmy about an hour and a half after she had left his hotel. She’d sorted everything out with her office and was clear to go. She also told him that if it screwed up on her she had left information which would ensure that Jimmy, if he survived, would go down for murder, blackmail, shoplifting, and all the unpaid parking fines outstanding in Paris. Other than that she suggested they have breakfast at the Gare de Lyon before the train left next morning. Jimmy agreed and then lay on his bed. So far so good, I mean, why arrange to meet for breakfast if she was going to shop him to the police? So he set his phone for an alarm call, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

His phone woke him next morning and at five he was went downstairs with his holdall. The night porter at reception looked up from his paper, took his key, smiled, and then went back to his reading and Jimmy left the hotel.

Nadine arrived at the station café shortly after six thirty. She looked good, the real business. She was pulling a small, smart suitcase, had her Gucci handbag over her shoulder, and was carrying a severe briefcase. For a woman like her, Jimmy reckoned that was travelling light, and expecting a very short trip. She sat down, arranged her luggage by her, then looked at him with eyes that said “I’m in control”.

‘Well?’

‘Well what?’

‘Aren’t you going to get me coffee?’

‘Sure. Just coffee?’

She nodded and began to fiddle inside her handbag.

Jimmy brought the coffee and put it in front of her. She took a sip.

‘I really do have your neck in a noose if this thing turns sour on me. You do understand that?’ It was Jimmy’s turn to nod but he was still tired so he didn’t add anything. ‘You said you had the tickets?’

‘Yes.’

‘First class?’

‘No.’

‘Oh, God.’

‘Sorry.’

She didn’t answer, lapsed into silence as she drank her coffee.

Things stayed that way until they were sitting together on the train and it began to slowly roll out of the station.

As soon as it had picked up speed Nadine began to try to make herself comfortable.

‘I’m going to try and get some sleep. When I wake you can get me coffee and croissants.’ She paused in her preparations. ‘With real butter.’

‘Got it. Real butter.’

She turned her head slightly to the window, closed her eyes and, as far as Jimmy could make out, seemed to go straight to sleep. Jimmy looked past her at Paris, now moving past fast, and thought about his last train journey with Serge. That had been a bit of a bastard. He hoped this one would turn out better. He looked out of the window and watched Paris go by, then looked at Nadine. If she was pretending to be asleep she was doing a first-rate job.

The rest of the journey passed in much the same way. Jimmy got her coffee when she wanted it but, other than that, they talked hardly at all.

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.