Read Online Nyctophobia by Christopher Fowler - Free Book Online

Happiness lives within sunlight . Or Happiness only in sunlight. Think this was put there by the original architect?’
    ‘I imagine so.’
    ‘He wanted to live in everlasting sunshine,’ I explained. ‘A bit of a romantic notion, but quite common throughout history. Persian sultans were mortally afraid of shadows. They equated them with death. They constructed their courtyards so that no part was ever in darkness. They were inbred and isolated, and very sensitive. They hated noise of any kind. There’s a story that someone accidentally shattered a pane of glass in the Topkapi Palace and a Sultan dropped dead from fright.’
    ‘It’s good that the house always remains in sunlight,’ said Mateo. ‘Your mother told me that when you became a teenager you started to hate the dark. She said you used to have panic attacks –’
    ‘I told you to ignore anything she said.’
    ‘It’s okay, there’s no shame in that. Everyone’s afraid of something.’
    ‘I can’t imagine you being afraid of anything.’
    ‘As it happens, I’m scared of wasps. There – not so tough now, am I?’
    ‘At least you can see them and move out of the way. The dark – you don’t know what’s in it.’
    ‘Well, you could never be frightened here,’ said Mateo. ‘Don’t you see? From now on, you’ll live your life in sunshine. The house is built in the lee of the mountains. There are no shadows. I sensed it the moment I stepped inside the door, and I could see you did too. Rosita says that even the cut flowers she sets out in the dining room stay in bloom longer because of the light. So let this be my gift to you.’
    ‘Everlasting sunshine.’ I pressed my head into his chest and tried not to cry. In the last few years I had become lost. Now I felt as if I had been found and brought home.

 
     
    CHAPTER EIGHT
    The Staff
     
     
    T HE NEXT MORNING, Mateo took the car down to Estepona for a meeting with some supermarket managers, and as I had very little to do until my belongings arrived, I decided to start work on my project immediately. I began with Senora Delgadillo. I found her on the first floor, ironing.
    Rosita appeared to resent the intrusion of the new wife into her private service area, and pointedly set the iron aside, staring ahead and awaiting instruction.
    ‘It’s all right,’ I said, ‘please don’t stop for me. I just thought it would be good to get to know you a little. Mateo says you’ve been with the house for a very long time.’
    ‘I was born here,’ she replied, ‘as was my mother before me.’ She sprinkled water and smacked the iron onto white linen, snaking it, hissing, through the creases.
    ‘Then you must have seen many changes.’
    ‘Not really, no. The house is the same as it always was. But it will be good to have everything working again.’
    ‘Why, what’s wrong?’
    ‘The lights are always going out. Senor Torres tells me he will pay to have the electrics repaired. Also, many of the roof tiles are loose and cracked. This he will fix. And the garden buildings need clearing out. He says he will do this also.’
    I was surprised that Mateo hadn’t mentioned his plans to me, but there was no reason why he should tell me everything.
    ‘He says you will write a book about the house. I hope people will not come here to stare.’
    ‘I don’t think you have to worry much, it’ll be an academic book, and we’re not exactly on the beaten path. Of course, the perimeter walls are still in place, so you can’t see much from the road. And I don’t suppose anyone is able to get in.’
    ‘This was built as a family home, and it will always remain so. It is a very happy place.’
    ‘So it appears,’ I said. ‘There has to be a catch.’
    Rosita set aside her iron. ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘It’s just so perfect. It’s hard to believe that in this day and age you can still find such a home.’
    ‘Spain is suffering through very hard times, Senora. Many great houses are falling into the