The Shanghai Wife by Emma Harcourt

Author:Emma Harcourt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises (Australia) Pty Ltd
Published: 2018-05-27T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

A shaft of sunlight cut through the curtains and lit the bedroom. Annie never slept deeply so the brightness woke her easily. The previous night, sleep had been even more elusive. Her body ached from the attack. When sleep came she dreamt of shadowy figures running away from her, blurred grey visions that never eventuated into anything recognisable. She opened her eyes to find Alec was not beside her. A moment of panic quickly turned to relief when he appeared with a tray.

‘It’s my turn to look after you.’ He put the tray down between them and leant over to kiss Annie’s forehead. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘I’m sore all over. A bath might help?’ Annie sipped her tea as Alec disappeared into the bathroom followed by the sound of running water.

‘Have you heard anything from the police?’ she called to him.

‘Nothing, but don’t forget I’m meeting Marsden this afternoon. I’ll go into the office, then head over to Nanking Road. I should be at the Club by five to meet you for a drink?’

‘Sounds lovely. Can I use the car today? I’ll feel safer.’ Annie had decided there would be no more walks through areas she didn’t know. This was a city without order and if the rules were breaking down, it was time to start taking care.

‘Yes, of course.’ Alec gave her another kiss on the forehead before leaving her to her bath.

Annie took the car to the Club after a quiet lunch at home. She would be late for bridge but after her attack yesterday she could only do things slowly. As they turned into Fuzhou Road, she noticed a bamboo cage hanging from a telegraph pole. Inside were two rotting heads, Chinese criminals, cut through at the neck and left to fester in the fly-swarming heat. The men’s eyes were open and staring at nothing, opaque and bulbous. Annie swallowed but her mouth quickly filled with saliva again. Her stomach churned. She opened the window as they turned down Sichuan Road and leant into the rush of air. A newspaper stall flashed past with a headline: ‘Student Sentencing Galvanizes Anti-Foreign Movement.’ It was gone before she could read any further, and she turned away. The car paused at a set of traffic lights and a street hawker shook his fist at a regular customer who stopped at his rival’s stall to save the effort of crossing the road. He spat into the dirt, cursing loudly at everyone around him. Men here shouted less but louder: the heat made them quick to anger, the humidity made them slow to respond. Annie shrunk back from the sight. This was more than the usual edginess of summer heat; there was fresh tension in the streets.

Annie pulled on her day-gloves and tightened the clasp of her bracelet as they pulled up at the Club. If she was lucky she might have missed bridge altogether and there were only a few hours before Alec said he’d meet her for a drink. She could catch up on her reading.

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