Read Online Owning Jacob - SA by Simon Beckett - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Simon Beckett
Ads: Link
carrying.
'Pardon me for fucking breathing!' It had put her in a bad enough mood to make her forget he was part of the alien species of bereaved and treat him like a normal person again, and pushed him back on to his precarious platform of self-control. Half listening to Zoe berating the people responsible for delivering the model's clothes for the shoot, Ben closed the drawer and began setting up the lights.
Thank God for this, he thought, fervently.
It was after seven when he pul ed up outside Maggie and Colin's house. They lived in a curving row of vil as not far from the Portobel o Road, with half a dozen steps running up to the heavy, lustrously black-painted front door. They had been there three years, and Ben wondered how soon it would be before they took the next step up the housing ladder. Not long, he guessed, judging by Colin's success in the music law business, and Maggie's capacity for advertising it.
Ben pressed the stiff brass bel and yawned, though not exactly from tiredness. The shoot had gone wel , but the sense of satisfaction he'd felt had been snuffed the moment he emerged from his universe of angles, light and shade to an awareness of the real world again.
The door was answered by Scott, who greeted Ben with a brief lift of his chin before turning away and leaving him to come in and close the door himself. At nine he was already showing signs of being an objectionable little shit, although Ben wouldn't have dreamed of tel ing Maggie or Colin that. He suspected that Colin already knew, but Maggie was overseeing to the point of blindness.
And of course I don't have any problems of my own.
There was a rich smel of beeswax from the antique furniture as he went down the long, thickly carpeted hal way.
From somewhere deeper in the house he could hear the murmur of Colin on the telephone. A door opened at the far end of the hal and Maggie came out. In the brown knee-length dress with its white lace col ar she looked, as always, like she was caught in a 1980s Laura Ashley time warp. She faltered when she saw his hair, then, obviously deciding not to mention it, fixed her eyes on his face and smiled her stuck-on smile.
'We thought you weren't coming,' she said, jovial y, but Ben knew her wel enough to detect irritation at his late arrival.
'Sorry. It ran on for longer than I expected.'
"Yes, so we gathered.' The effusive offers of help that Maggie had made after Sarah had died were clearly wearing thin. He knew he would soon have to make other arrangements for the days when he was too busy to col ect Jacob from school, and hope it didn't take him too long to adjust to the change in routine. Then the thought came to him that he might not have to worry about such things for much longer.
He couldn't say how that made him feel.
'He's in here,' Maggie said, going into what she cal ed the 'TV room'. Jacob was sitting cross-legged on the floor watching Tom and Jerry do violence to each other on the big colour screen. Scott was sitting next to his younger brother.
Both of them sat apart from Jacob.
'Hi, Jake, had a good day?' Ben asked, doing his best to sound cheerful. Jacob looked at him blankly for a moment, then gave him a rare smile before turning back to the TV.
Ben felt pierced by it.
Colin came into the room. He had already changed into his 'at home' outfit of jeans and a T-shirt, but his solicitor's persona was so strong that the casual clothes looked unnatural on him. 'Hi, Ben, fancy a beer?' Ben was about to decline when Colin gave him a look and jerked his head towards the door. 'Er, yeah, perhaps a quick one.' Conscious of Maggie's disapproval, he fol owed Colin into the kitchen. Colin glanced back to make sure no one else had fol owed them, then closed the door.
'I've got you the name of a detective.'
Chapter Five
Ben couldn't park near the address Colin had given him.
The road, just off Kilburn High Street, was being dug up by workmen and was down to a single lane. The yammer of
'Pardon me for fucking breathing!' It had put her in a bad enough mood to make her forget he was part of the alien species of bereaved and treat him like a normal person again, and pushed him back on to his precarious platform of self-control. Half listening to Zoe berating the people responsible for delivering the model's clothes for the shoot, Ben closed the drawer and began setting up the lights.
Thank God for this, he thought, fervently.
It was after seven when he pul ed up outside Maggie and Colin's house. They lived in a curving row of vil as not far from the Portobel o Road, with half a dozen steps running up to the heavy, lustrously black-painted front door. They had been there three years, and Ben wondered how soon it would be before they took the next step up the housing ladder. Not long, he guessed, judging by Colin's success in the music law business, and Maggie's capacity for advertising it.
Ben pressed the stiff brass bel and yawned, though not exactly from tiredness. The shoot had gone wel , but the sense of satisfaction he'd felt had been snuffed the moment he emerged from his universe of angles, light and shade to an awareness of the real world again.
The door was answered by Scott, who greeted Ben with a brief lift of his chin before turning away and leaving him to come in and close the door himself. At nine he was already showing signs of being an objectionable little shit, although Ben wouldn't have dreamed of tel ing Maggie or Colin that. He suspected that Colin already knew, but Maggie was overseeing to the point of blindness.
And of course I don't have any problems of my own.
There was a rich smel of beeswax from the antique furniture as he went down the long, thickly carpeted hal way.
From somewhere deeper in the house he could hear the murmur of Colin on the telephone. A door opened at the far end of the hal and Maggie came out. In the brown knee-length dress with its white lace col ar she looked, as always, like she was caught in a 1980s Laura Ashley time warp. She faltered when she saw his hair, then, obviously deciding not to mention it, fixed her eyes on his face and smiled her stuck-on smile.
'We thought you weren't coming,' she said, jovial y, but Ben knew her wel enough to detect irritation at his late arrival.
'Sorry. It ran on for longer than I expected.'
"Yes, so we gathered.' The effusive offers of help that Maggie had made after Sarah had died were clearly wearing thin. He knew he would soon have to make other arrangements for the days when he was too busy to col ect Jacob from school, and hope it didn't take him too long to adjust to the change in routine. Then the thought came to him that he might not have to worry about such things for much longer.
He couldn't say how that made him feel.
'He's in here,' Maggie said, going into what she cal ed the 'TV room'. Jacob was sitting cross-legged on the floor watching Tom and Jerry do violence to each other on the big colour screen. Scott was sitting next to his younger brother.
Both of them sat apart from Jacob.
'Hi, Jake, had a good day?' Ben asked, doing his best to sound cheerful. Jacob looked at him blankly for a moment, then gave him a rare smile before turning back to the TV.
Ben felt pierced by it.
Colin came into the room. He had already changed into his 'at home' outfit of jeans and a T-shirt, but his solicitor's persona was so strong that the casual clothes looked unnatural on him. 'Hi, Ben, fancy a beer?' Ben was about to decline when Colin gave him a look and jerked his head towards the door. 'Er, yeah, perhaps a quick one.' Conscious of Maggie's disapproval, he fol owed Colin into the kitchen. Colin glanced back to make sure no one else had fol owed them, then closed the door.
'I've got you the name of a detective.'
Chapter Five
Ben couldn't park near the address Colin had given him.
The road, just off Kilburn High Street, was being dug up by workmen and was down to a single lane. The yammer of
Similar Books
