Living Proof (The Charlie Resnick Mysteries, 7) by Harvey John

Author:Harvey, John [Harvey, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Published: 2012-02-14T05:00:00+00:00

Twenty-eight

Back in the Book Dealers’ Room at the festival hotel, business was in full swing. Derek Neighbour had spent some time moving from stand to stand and had finally come upon Ed Leimbacher, from MisterE Books in Seattle, who had assured him that he could lay his hands on a first edition of Uneasy Prey in mint condition. Something of a snip at four hundred and sixty pounds. Plus commission. And handling. And packing. And insurance. “And a bargain at that,” Leimbacher had smiled reassuringly.

Neighbour wondered why he wasn’t reassured.

There was no getting round the fact, though, that the damage to the copy of Cathy Jordan’s book he had taken with him to Waterstone’s was even worse than he had feared; as many as fifty pages were stuck together irretrievably with paint, many of the others spotted and splotched. And the dust jacket …

“Look,” Neighbour had finally said, fingering his checkbook nervously inside his jacket pocket, “I’ll have to think about it a little longer. I’m sorry.”

“You could be,” Ed Leimbaçher said. “Pass it up and by the time you’ve done another circuit of the room, it could be gone.”

“I know, it’s just …”

But the book dealer had turned aside and was no longer smiling—not until the next potential customer came along moments later. Books may be books, but business, well, that was business.

Dorothy Birdwell was leaning back in the armchair of their hotel suite, a damp cloth lightly across her eyes. Marius had helped her to remove her shoes and stockings and now was slowly massaging her feet, first one and then the other, each held close against his chest as he worked his fingers around the ball and carefully across the instep, knowing exactly when and where to apply pressure, when his touch should be little more than a breath.

“Marius, my dear …”

“Mmm?”

“When you went across to speak to the American, you didn’t say anything too, well, distressing, I trust?”

“Oh, no. No.” Sliding one of his fingers along the delicate curl of her toes. “Of course not. Nothing like that.”

“I know. I know. Some people, some men, if they were annoyed, they could be a little crude. But not you. I don’t think you could ever be crude in the slightest.”

Mouth curved into a smile, Marius bent forward and lightly kissed the underside of her foot.

“How’d it go at the signing?” Tyrell asked. It was midafternoon and he was snatching the chance for a quick sandwich and a pot of tea at the convention hotel.

“Okay,” Mollie said. “At least as far as Cathy was concerned. It was Dorothy Birdwell I felt sorry for. I doubt if she had more than half a dozen people standing in line. Still, I’m arranging transport for her and Marius to go out to Newstead Abbey. Apparently she’s got this big thing about Byron.”

Tyrell’s eyes brightened. “Did you know Curtis was going to make a film about Byron? Ages ago. Late fifties biopic. Script, locations, everything. Apparently, some of his original drawings are around somewhere.

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