Written in the Blood by Stephen Lloyd Jones

Author:Stephen Lloyd Jones [Jones, Stephen Lloyd]
Language: ara
Format: epub
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2014-11-05T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 21

London, England

The sky above West London was piercingly bright by the time Leah arrived outside Etienne’s Mayfair residence. Overnight, a chill wind had carried the rainclouds away, leaving streets that dripped and glimmered in the morning sun.

She switched off the Mercedes’ engine and stared up at the town-house windows. For a moment an unusual feeling gripped her, as if something scratched the surface of a memory and tried to work it loose. It reminded her of the sense she’d had, that evening in Interlaken, that the weather would change overnight, and that snow was coming.

That experience had manifested almost as a taste: olives or lemons, something bitter and sour, but not unpleasant. This feeling was different: a tingle, or an itch, behind her eyes.

It’s nerves. Nothing more. Etienne unnerves you, that’s all. Come on. Get this done.

Climbing out of the car, she passed through the security gate and went up the front steps. The same man opened the door to her. He wore no firearm today. Was that progress, she wondered? And did he offer her the vaguest of smiles this morning, in contrast to his previous distance?

He told her to take the stairs to the second floor and then he disappeared through a door at the end of the hall. Alone, Leah ventured up the staircase, glancing at the cameras that monitored her route. Unlike before, their lenses remained still.

Something’s different.

That feeling was back, too; stronger now, almost as if a tiny insect had flown into her eye, beating its wings as it died. She shook her head, blinking the image away.

Nothing had changed on the second floor. The same priceless collection of porcelain greeted her. The carpet was just as deep; the silence just as expectant.

The door to the drawing room was closed. Hesitating, Leah stared at it. She wondered, not only what Etienne’s answer would be, but how she would feel about her decision. For the first time since starting this, she could not honestly say she hoped one hundred per cent that the woman she’d come to see would give her a positive answer.

Admit it. ‘Unnerve’ is not the word you mean.

No. But she was here, and she would do this. And she would obey the rules she had set herself at the beginning.

She knew nothing of Etienne’s history, her character, how she had come to possess such enormous wealth – but she knew little, either, of the other women she had met. Steeling herself, Leah knocked on the door. When she heard a voice call out in reply, she went inside.

No flames danced in the hearth today. The ashes in the grate had been swept, and the metalwork was immaculate. Etienne sat upon the same chair by the fireplace. She smiled, and then she raised one hand from her lap and gestured towards the window.

Leah saw a man standing there. The bright sunlight streaming in from outside had transformed him almost to a silhouette, but she saw enough. His eyes, flat and pale but doubtless hosszú élet, were the pallor of wood smoke.

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.