The Venice Atonement by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788632713
Publisher: Canelo
Published: 2019-06-27T00:00:00+00:00

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The small craft bulldozed a path through choppy waters while Nancy sat staring through the window at the grey world beyond. Ordinarily she would have delighted in the toss and swell of the boat, but she felt no pleasure in the ride. Her limbs had gradually quietened, but her pulse was still tumbling. It was stupid, stupid. It had been only footsteps and once she had reached the boatyard, the footsteps had stopped. But it was the reminder of past terror that haunted her. She had thought herself safe in Venice from the constant fear, but it still burned bright. And the unfamiliar city and unknown assailant had given it greater strength.

Alighting from the vaporetto, she was met by a torrential downpour. The storm had well and truly broken. She should run for shelter, but it was as much as she could do to force her legs to walk forward into the thick curtain of water. The teeming rain gathered in deep puddles on the hollows of flagstones, stirring the mud at the bottom of the canals, and streaming off the marble statues as she passed. Pigeons clustered dejectedly in whatever crannies they could find. It was a dank and desolate landscape that she hardly noticed.

It was only a short distance to the palazzo, but she arrived at its gates with cheeks burning, yet her body cold and sodden. A sick flush had taken the place of breathless fear and her legs were once again trembling. She barely had the strength to push open the wooden gates and almost fell into the courtyard beyond.

Archie was in the garden, sheltering beneath an umbrella. It was a strange sight, but to her confused mind, a part of the nightmare through which she was moving. He followed her when she stumbled towards the palazzo door.

‘Mrs Tremayne, Nancy. Are you all right?’

She didn’t answer but twisted the handle uselessly. Why wouldn’t it open?

‘Here, let me.’

Archie brushed past her and opened the door, stepping back to allow her to escape from the rain. He threw the umbrella into a corner of the lobby, then turned to her, a deep crease in his forehead. ‘What’s happened to you?’ He must have seen the shaking she still couldn’t control. ‘Apart from coming home like a drenched scarecrow, I mean.’

‘I’ve had a fright, that’s all,’ she managed to say, trying to keep her voice steady, but failing. ‘I’ll be fine in a short while.’

‘Hmm,’ he muttered, and waited for her to climb the stairs.

Desperate to keep some dignity, she made it to the first step, but she had spent her last ounce of strength and could go no further. Archie came up behind her and, without a word, linked his arm through hers and helped her tread a faltering path up the stairs and into the salon. None too gently he pushed her into one of the armchairs.

Then he went back to the staircase and called down to Concetta. The urgency in his voice had the maid bustle up from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron as she did.

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