Read Online Sidney Sheldon by Are You Afraid of the Dark? - Free Book Online Page B

so embarrassed. It’s just that I—I didn’t know how to tell you how I felt, and…” His voice trailed off. There was a naked vulnerability about him. “I’m just not good at…at explaining my feelings. I’ve been alone all my life. No one ever…when I was six years old, my parents got a divorce, and there was a custody battle. Neither one of them wanted me.”
    Kelly was watching him, silent. His words were resonating in her mind, bringing back long-buried memories.
    Why didn’t you get rid of the kid before she was born?
    I tried to. It didn’t work.
    He went on. “I grew up in half a dozen different foster homes, where nobody cared….”
    These are your uncles. Don’t bother them.
    “It seems I couldn’t do anything right….”
    The dinner is lousy…. That dress is the wrong color for you…. You haven’t finished cleaning the bathrooms….
    “They wanted me to quit school to work at a garage, but I—I wanted to be a scientist. They said I was too dumb….”
    Kelly was becoming more and more engrossed in what he was saying.
    I want to be a model.
    All models are whores….
    “I dreamed of going to college, but they said with the kind of work I would be doing, I—I didn’t need an education.”
    What the hell do you need to go to school for? With your looks, you could peddle your ass….
    “When I got a scholarship to MIT, my foster parents said I would probably flunk out, and should go to work at the garage….”
    College? You’ll waste four years of your life….
    Listening to this stranger was like hearing a replay of her own life.Kelly sat there, deeply touched, feeling the same painful emotions as the stranger seated across from her.
    “When I finished MIT, I went to work for a branch of Kingsley International Group in Paris. But I was so lonely.” There was a long pause. “Somewhere, a long time ago, I read that the greatest thing in life was to find someone to love, who loved you…and I believed it.”
    Kelly sat there, quiet.
    Mark Harris said awkwardly, “But I never found that person and I was ready to give up. And then that day I saw you…” He could not go on.
    He stood up, holding Angel in his arms. “I’m so ashamed about all this. I promise never to bother you again. Good-bye.”
    Kelly watched him start to walk away. “Where are you going with my dog?” she called.
    Mark Harris turned, confused. “I’m sorry?”
    “Angel is mine. You gave her to me, didn’t you?”
    Mark stood there, nonplussed. “Yes, but you said—”
    “I’ll make a deal with you, Mr. Harris. I’ll keep Angel, but you can have visiting rights.”
    It took him a moment and then his smile lit up the room. “You mean I can—you’ll let me—?”
    Kelly said, “Why don’t we discuss it at dinner tonight?”
    And Kelly had no idea that she had just set herself up as a target for assassination.

Chapter 11
    Paris, France
    A T REUILLY POLICE Headquarters on Hénard Street, in the Twelfth Arrondissement in Paris, an interrogation was taking place. The superintendent of the Eiffel Tower was being questioned by Detectives André Belmondo and Pierre Marais.
    T OUR E IFFEL S UICIDE I NVESTIGATION
    Monday, May 6
10 A.M.
Subject: René Pascal
    B ELMONDO : Monsieur Pascal, we have reason to believe that Mark Harris, the man who supposedly fell from the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower, was murdered.
    P ASCAL : Murdered? But—I was told it was an accident and—
    M ARAIS : He could not possibly have fallen over that parapet by accident. It is much too high.
    B ELMONDO : And we have established that the victim was not suicidal. In fact, he had made elaborate plans with his wife for the weekend. She’s Kelly—the model.
    P ASCAL : I’m sorry, gentlemen, but I don’t see what that—why was I brought here?
    M ARAIS : To help us clarify a few matters. What time did the restaurant close that night?
    P ASCAL : At ten o’clock. Because of the storm, the Jules Verne was empty, so I decided