Read Online The Night Ferry by Michael Robotham - Free Book Online Page B

not polite to stare?”
    “My mother told me to beware of strangers who tel lies about owing me money.”
    “Can I come in?”
    “That depends.”
    “On what?”
    “I’m fucking certain I ordered a Thai girl but I guess you’l do.”
    He hasn’t changed. The pregnant girl is standing behind him. “This is my sister, Carla,” he says.
    She nods, sul enly.
    “It’s nice to meet you, Carla. I went to school with your brother. Did you go to Oaklands?”
    Donavon answers for her. “I sort of shat in that particular nest.”
    “Why did you run yesterday?”
    He shrugs. “You got the wrong guy.”
    “I know it was you.”
    He holds up his hands in mock surrender. “Are you gonna arrest me, Officer? I hope you brought your handcuffs. That’s always fun.” I fol ow him along the hal way, past a coatrack and assorted shoes. Carla continues painting her nails at the kitchen table. She is flexible and shortsighted, pul ing her foot almost up to her nose as she dabs on the varnish with a thin brush, unconcerned about exposing her knickers.
    A dog beneath the table thumps its tail several times but doesn’t bother rising.
    “You want a drink?”
    “No. Thank you.”

    “I do. Hey, Carla, nip up the road and get us a few cans.”
    Her top lip curls as she snatches the twenty-quid note from his fist. “And this time I want the change back.” Donavon gives a chair a gentle shake. “You want to sit down?”
    I wait for him to be seated first. I don’t feel comfortable with him standing over me. “Is this your place?” I ask.
    “My parents’. My dad’s dead. Mum lives in Spain.”
    “You joined the army.”
    “Yeah, the Paras.” His fingers vibrate against the tabletop.
    “Why did you leave?”
    He motions to his leg. “A medical discharge. I broke my leg in twelve places. We were on a training jump above Andover. One of the newbies wrapped his chute around mine and we came down under the one canopy. Too fast. They wouldn’t let me jump after that. They said I’d get a pension but the government changed the rules. I got to work.” I glance around the kitchen, which looks like a craft workshop with boxes of leather strips, crystals, feathers and painted clay beads. On the table I notice a reel of wire and pliers.
    “What are you making?”
    “I sel stuff at the markets. Trinkets and shit. Don’t make much, you know…”
    The statement trails off. He talks a little more about the Paras, clearly missing army life, until Carla returns with a six-pack of draft and a packet of chocolate biscuits. She retreats to the stairs with the biscuits, eating them while listening to us. I can see her painted toes through a gap in the stair rails.
    Donavon opens a can and drinks noisily. He wipes his mouth.
    “How is she?”
    “She might be brain damaged.”
    His face tightens. “What about the baby?”
    “She wasn’t pregnant.”
    “What?”
    “She was faking it.”
    “What do you mean—faking it? Why would she…? Makes no fucking sense.”
    The phantom pregnancy seems harder for him to accept than Cate’s medical condition.
    “Why are you interested in Earl Blake?”
    “Same reason as you.”
    “Yeah, sure. What difference does it make to you?”
    “You wouldn’t understand.”
    “Try me.”
    “Fuck you!”
    “You wish!”
    “The bastard could have stopped,” he says suddenly, his anger bordering on violence.
    “Did you see the car speed up? Did it veer toward them?”
    A shake of the head.
    “Then why are you so sure?”
    “He was lying.”
    “Is that it?”
    He raises one shoulder as if trying to scratch his ear. “Just forget it, OK?”
    “No, I want to know. You said the driver was lying. Why?”
    He goes quiet. “I just know. He lied. He ran them down.”
    “How can you be sure?”
    He turns away, muttering, “Sometimes I just am.”
    My mother always told me that people with green eyes are related to fairies, like the Irish, and that if I ever met someone with one green eye and one