Masters & Lovers Box Set Three
Chapter 47
Michael
Klempner is, as usual, waiting as we arrive. From his seat, behind the barrier, he watches me enter with Charlotte. He looks rough; shadows under his eyes and he's lost weight.
The guard, Hartland, is there. He leans down, whispers close by my ear. “If it looks like trouble, just say the word.”
“I will.”
Then he straightens up and levels his baton towards Klempner. “Behave yourself, Larry.”
Klempner looks up, just barely tilts his head in acknowledgement. But I remember the look he gave Hartwell the last time we were here…
The monster stirring…
Klempner watches as James follows us in, letting out a barely audible sigh as he sits.
“That leg giving you trouble?”
James reply is curt. “Cold, damp weather.” But I hear his surprise at the question lurking behind the words.
Klempner fingers a long white scar on his hand. “It can't have been pleasant when Bech shot you. Tell me, do you remember it happening?”
James’ eyes shoot arrows. “What's it to you?”
“If you had just discovered you have a daughter, don't you think you would want to know something about the man she answers to?”
James shifts. Not much and perhaps not visibly to those who didn't know him, but I see it.
Unsettled?
“I didn't remember it at first, no,” he says. “The memory resurfaced after a few months.”
Klempner raises a flat, mirror gaze to him. “The memory was repressed?”
“Apparently.”
Klempner has a plastic cup of water by him. He takes a long mouthful, then sets it down again. “Interesting,” he says, “how the mind protects itself.”
What the hell’s he talking about?
Between me and James, Charlotte sits, shuffling awkwardly. Klempner chews at his upper lip. The pair regard each other in silence for a long minute then Charlotte finally speaks. “Thank you for sending the necklace.”
In restrained tones, “You’re welcome.” His eyes dip to her collar bone. “It suits you. As it did your mother.”
Charlotte swallows and lapses into silence again.
This could take a while…
After another long pause, Klempner says, “Are you going to ask me about your mother? That’s what you usually do.”
Charlotte fidgets then blurts, “I don’t even know what to call you.”
Klempner blows air. Looks down. Looks up. Then, “I suppose Dad is too much to hope for?”
James huffs and Klempner levels a stare at him. Then, “What do you want to call me?”
Charlotte’s voice would cut glass. “Don't tempt me.”
He coughs a laugh with no humour in it. “They know me as Larry around here. You can call me Larry.”
“What's your real name?”
“What?” He seems genuinely taken aback by the question.
think you've probably gone
If you mean my original name. I left that behind
“And Larry?”
lower. “That was
“Your mother?”
I did have one
ignores the sarcasm. “I wanted to ask you about
a fingernail on
“What was she like?”
would freeze a basilisk. “Why do you want
to find out who my family were… are…. You told me that
his eyes. “No, she didn’t.” Klempner’s speaks
He looks haunted…
“Tell me about her.”
“I barely remember her.”
me what you do
“Perhaps one day.
What going on?
counter. “You said you
a violent man. It was him or
“He beat you?”
Used his fists. When I was small, he used my mother as a punch-bag. Later, it was
as he speaks. Klempner jerks his chin up. “It’s not a pleasant story. You
“Yes.”
considering, then, “I was fourteen, maybe fifteen. He had me backed against the kitchen table. He was drunk. Throwing punches. Not caring what part of me he
dinner plate. Nothing special. Not a bread knife or a meat knife. Just the kind you’d use to eat your eggs or scrape butter onto bread. But it’s what was in my hand. I stabbed him. I sank it
and falls; rises and falls. “Did you
blinking for a moment, then, “No. I was shocked; in pain from the beating he’d already
“Where to?”
I didn’t know what to do. I considered joining the army. You know the kind of thing. ‘Learn skills. Become a man.’ But
wouldn’t have jailed you. Not for
sneers. “I was fourteen. How much did you know of the world at that age? I’d run a knife into a man and watched him die at my feet.
Charlotte’s face goes slack…
Jenkins…
what happened to her at the
she’d killed
She ran…
And she kept running…
Klempner is still speaking. “I left the country. Worked my way on the cargo ships. There’s destinations where they don’t ask too many questions so long as you pull
unfolds his arms, leans forward. “Which part of
disembarked in Lagos, but I moved around a lot. Congo,
were dangerous places to be. And dangerous times to
almost bored, but his
you doing?
eyes pass to her, then back to
“There’s always a war to be found in
a moment, then refocuses. “You were
“I was. Yes.”
Why would you do something
“It’s a living.”
“But it’s so dangerous.”
head tilts. “Compared to
to….” She holds… chewing
arms. His voice is almost gentle. “A piece of advice, for what it is worth to you. If you find yourself in a dangerous situation, make yourself part of what
that? Tell me.” Klempner doesn’t speak. “Tell me. You wouldn’t have said all that unless you wanted
says, a touch of asperity in
Read Masters & Lovers Box Set Three Chapter 47 - The hottest series of the author Simone Leigh
In general, I really like the genre of stories like Masters & Lovers Box Set Three stories so I read extremely the book. Now comes Chapter 47 with many extremely book details. I can't get out of reading! Read the Masters & Lovers Box Set Three Chapter 47 story today. ^^