Read Online Blacklight Blue by Peter May - Free Book Online Page B

its silk interior to a grotesque final resting place on the metalled surface of the road.
    Enzo watched in horror as the corpse rolled in slow-motion towards him, a face like death itself, eyes wide and staring, a purple bruised tongue protruding from pale lips. And he realised that he was looking at himself.
    He woke up, still gasping from the shock of it, bedsheets damp and twisted around his body. His hair was in his eyes and his mouth. He sat up and swept it from his face, breathing hard, unable to shake off the knocking sound in his head, loud and insistent.
    A grey morning light filtered from the semicircular window that overlooked the millpond below, and he realised, finally, that someone was knocking at the door. And suddenly he remembered Anna, and making love to her the night before, and he turned towards her. But the bed was empty. Cold. She was long gone. Like a dream. Perhaps, after all, she had really only been a figment of his imagination.
    He slipped from the bed, a painful consciousness slowly returning, and pulled on a towelling bathrobe. The rich, red carpet felt soft under his feet as he walked to the door and opened it.
    Raffin had his hand raised, ready to knock again. Kirsty was at his shoulder.
    ‘For Heaven’s sake, Dad, why didn’t you answer? We thought something had happened to you.’ She pushed past the journalist and into the room. Raffin followed and closed the door behind him.
    Enzo was still sleep-confused. ‘I…I was sleeping.’ He looked at Raffin. ‘When did you get here?’
    ‘I got the six o’clock TGV from Paris.’ He didn’t look as if he had risen early. As usual, he was immaculately groomed. Clean-shaven, his hair a shining brown, swept back to the fashionably upturned collar of his linen jacket. His pale green eyes regarded Enzo speculatively. ‘You sleep pretty soundly for a man whose daughter’s life is under threat.’
    Enzo looked for his watch, but his wrist was naked. ‘What time is it?’
    ‘Nearly nine.’ Kirsty stooped to pick up Anna’s meagre black bra. She looked at her father in disbelief. ‘What’s this?’
    There was something like a smirk on Raffin’s face. ‘Well, it doesn’t look like it would fit your father.’
    Kirsty turned her consternation in Enzo’s direction.
    But before he could think of anything to say, the bathroom door opened, and a startled Anna stood in the doorway, a bathrobe hanging loosely on her angular frame, a towel wrapped around wet hair. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise there was someone else here?’
    Enzo glanced with embarrassment towards his daughter, and saw anger and humiliation blazing in her eyes. Raffin stepped in quickly. ‘We were just leaving.’ He took Kirsty’s arm and led her firmly out into the corridor. He cast Enzo a parting glance that seemed to carry the conflicting attributes of both admonition and admiration.
    When the door shut, Enzo turned sheepishly towards Anna. ‘I thought you’d gone.’
    ‘Who were they?’
    ‘The girl’s my daughter. Kirsty. Raffin’s her boyfriend.’
    Something in his tone made her cock an eyebrow. ‘You sound as if you don’t approve.’ She began gathering her clothes together.
    ‘I don’t.’
    ‘And does her mother share your view?’
    ‘I wouldn’t know. I divorced her more than twenty years ago. Kirsty’s never forgiven me.’
    ‘Ah.’
    ‘What does that mean?’
    ‘Just…ah.’ She clutched her clothes to her chest. ‘I think I preferred it when we didn’t know too much about one another. And I certainly don’t want to get between a father and his daughter.’ She gave him one of her sad smiles. ‘I think I’d better go.’ She crossed the room to give him a tiny, soft kiss on the lips. ‘I loved making love with you last night.’ And then she hesitated. ‘Although you should know…I’m not in the habit of sleeping with strangers.’ She closed her eyes for a fleeting moment of introspection. ‘I was feeling pretty low, too.