After Finchby and Yakovlevski leave, Bech still wears that ‘just sucked a lemon’ expression.
“Something to say, Bech?”
He scowls and looks down. “No, sir.”
“Good. Remember who's in charge here. And who's already made you a rich man.”
“Yes, sir.”
I turn to the girl where she cowers at my feet. “Tell her she can write a letter. Make sure her family know it’s her.” Luuk translates.
“Thank you, sir.” She launches herself at me, wrapping her arms around my ankles, weeping incessantly. “Thank you.”
Bech lashes out with a foot. “Get back, you little bitch!”
Disentangling myself from her grasp, I stoop, looking her in the face. “Remember, they have to pay for you. And they have to outbid the others. I’m a businessman, not a charity.”
“They will, sir. They will,” says Luuk.
*****
James
Sleep escapes me. My green-eyed Love lying next to me, my friend beyond her, I toss and turn in the dark, my mind churning.
Georgie…
Family matters…
Michael was right to pull me away that day. He enjoys a drink as much as anyone but doesn’t normally overdo it.
When did I last see him drunk?
?
When he believed he was losing Charlotte…
… to me…
He’s right, partially at least. It helps blot out the worst for a few hours. And he went there with me. Stayed with me.
sticking-plaster over the
and there’s a chasm inside
creep through the panes, I give up on sleep and moving as quietly as I can, pull on some clothes and head for the kitchen. Then, coffee in hand, I
if, full of care, We have no time to stand and
this view, normally calms me. The long slide of grassy slopes down the mountain, the
Soul food…
inside, I am
risen, the world bathed in the grey light of the predawn, but Venus, hanging low, heralds the dawn and is already fading against
my fingers on the mug, I wait and I watch as the rim of
Pull yourself together man…
casting blood-red across the low mist
seen her
never
into the clouds, a gash
You have everything…
Everything else…
“Master?”
I turn, twisting my lips to a
slippers and a
So I’m just watching the
“Would you like company?”
would. Come and join me. But put some proper clothes on. It’s
*****
course, I know what
Anyone else around?
a few moments of what passes for privacy
“Yes, Kirstie?”
“James, about….”
from the back office with a file. “Am I
at all. I was just
beams up at me. “Here’s the visitor list for today, Kirstie. There’s a couple more confirmations to come in, but that’s
put them in the daybook right
nods to me. “Mr Alexanders.” Then she waddles off back to her
“She’s um… she’s got a bit of a thing for
God save me…
Kirstie, please. Tell me that’s
around her mouth and eyes. “Not a joke. She’s
hate to break this to you, but
turns serious again. “James, did
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