Read Online Skypoint by Phil Ford - Free Book Online

slip around his waist, the way a wife might squeeze her husband’s waist when she found him at the door talking to a cute blonde stranger.
    ‘Hello?’ she smiled.
    ‘Wendy Lloyd. This is my daughter Alison. We live just there,’ she said, indicating the half-open door across the passageway. Number forty-four.
    ‘Just wanted to welcome you to the block.’
    Toshiko leaned forward to shake Wendy’s hand. ‘Toshiko,’ she said. ‘And Owen.’
    ‘Hi,’ said Owen.
    Toshiko looked down at the little girl and tugged playfully on her kitten-face T-shirt. ‘I like your kitty cat.’
    ‘Mummy says I can have a real one when I’m six.’
    ‘And how old are you now?’ Toshiko asked.
    ‘Five and three-quarters.’
    ‘Not long to wait then,’ said Toshiko.
    See, thought Owen, that’s what he couldn’t do – find something to talk about with kids. Largely because all you could talk to them about was kitty cats and puppy dogs and dolls and toy cars. And, quite frankly, he didn’t give a shit.
    Toshiko straightened up and asked Wendy if she and Alison wanted to come in. Owen, she said, had just put some coffee on. Maybe Wendy caught the look of horror that flashed across Owen’s face.
    ‘No, it’s all right, you’re probably up to your necks in packing cases. I know what it’s like on moving-in day. But if you want, why not come over later for dinner? You’ll probably be too tired to cook, and we’re just sending out for an Indian. You can meet my husband, and I can bring you up to speed on all the SkyPoint gossip.’
    Owen was forming a polite decline when Toshiko said they would love to.
    Wendy’s smile shone, and Owen had another vision of angels.
    ‘Wonderful,’ she said. ‘Come round about seven and we’ll dig out the take-away menu.’
    ‘See you then,’ said Toshiko.
    And Wendy led Alison away by the hand. The little girl was still watching them as Wendy closed the door of their apartment behind them.
    Toshiko slipped back through their door. ‘At least the neighbours seem nice.’
    Owen followed her back into the apartment and kicked the door shut with his heel. The Dave Brubeck Quartet had moved on to ‘Cassandra’. Maybe that would have chilled out his mum and dad, but right now it didn’t do anything for him.
    ‘What are you playing at, Tosh?’
    She looked back at him, genuinely puzzled. ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Going around the neighbours for dinner. Look, this isn’t for real, you know. Whatever’s going on inside your head, Tosh, this isn’t us living happily ever after. I’m here to find out what’s making people disappear around here, not to fulfil some warped fantasy of yours.’
    Toshiko’s eyes burned with a moist rage. ‘Is that what you think?’
‘Oh, come on, Tosh. This is your dream come true.’
    ‘Actually, Owen, no it isn’t! This is nothing like my dream come true!’
    She couldn’t look at him any more. She crossed to the window, stared out across the water and wished she could throw herself into it.
    Owen stood still, watching her. He could see her trembling with pent-up rage. He felt like an idiot. How the hell could this be anyone’s idea of a dream come true – pretending you were married to a bloody corpse!
    Still staring out of the window, determined to keep at least some control of her emotions, Toshiko said, ‘I know what we’re doing here, Owen. It’s my job, too. And that’s all I’ve got, my job.
    ‘But the instruments have drawn a blank. There’s not the first sign of Rift activity. And that means the only way we’re going to find anything out is from the people that live here. I’m sorry if that means we have to make it look like we love each other, but believe me, Owen, that is no dream-come-true for me. It doesn’t even come close.’
    Owen stood at the window and looked out over the Bay with her. He wanted to touch her, wanted to tell her that he was a prick, and that he was sorry. But he thought she would tell him to shove it,