Read Online The Sleepless by Graham Masterton - Free Book Online
Authors: Graham Masterton
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later.’
Joe stood up, and set his empty bottle down on the table. He picked up his hat, stared into it as if he half-expected to find something interesting inside, like money, or the answer to all of his problems, and then put it on.
‘You can’t say I didn’t try,’ he said, with genuine regret in his voice.
‘It was good to see you, whatever,’ Michael told him. ‘Why don’t you bring Marcia down sometime for Sunday brunch?’
‘Well, thanks for the invite, but I don’t think so. Marcia hates the beach as much as I do. Besides ... I wouldn’t like to take food from the mouths of a starving inventor and his family.’
‘Joe – ‘ Michael warned him, but Joe took hold of his hand and slapped him on the back and said, ‘Only kidding. Only kidding.’
Michael walked him out to his car, a brand-new Cadillac Seville, in shining midnight blue metallic. Patsy stayed up on the boardwalk, her blonde curls fluffing in the breeze. A seagull flew overhead, keening and crying.
‘You know what they say about seagulls,’ Joe remarked, as he opened his car door. ‘They’re supposed to be an omen. Bringers of bad news.’
‘That’s what they say about you, too, Joe,’ said Michael, and he wasn’t really joking.
Joe backed up his car on the sandy roadway, gave them a wave, and then drove off. Michael stood on the sidewalk for a long time watching him go, until the sun glanced sharply off his door mirror and then he was gone. Michael climbed slowly back up the wooden steps to where Patsy was standing, and made a resigned face. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘He wanted me to look into that helicopter crash – the one that killed John O’Brien and his family.’
‘And you couldn’t face it?’
Michael pursed his lips, and gave her a quick shake of his head.
‘But you wouldn’t have to look at the bodies, would you?’
‘Of course I would. You have to know how they died, where they died ... you have to check the positions where they were found.’
‘And you really can’t do it?’
Michael stood close beside her, grasping the splintery wooden rail. ‘Ever since that night when Joe and I had to search through Rocky Woods, my head’s been as close to the edge as anybody’s head can get. I got out because it was either that or going totally Fruit-Loop. I can’t explain what that experience did to me, and I don’t really expect you to understand why I can’t take a job that would solve all of our money problems with one snap of the fingers.’
Patsy took hold of his arm and kissed him. ‘Michael ... I don’t have to understand. I couldn’t understand, could I? Not unless I’d been there, not unless I’d seen it for myself. But I don’t have to understand because I trust you. I know you would have done it if you could. I trust you and I love you, and the last thing in the world I want is for anything to hurt you. I’m not going to sell your peace of mind for the price of some new towels.’
Michael kissed her hair, and then her forehead, and then her lips. ‘Something’s going to turn up,’ he promised her. ‘I can feel it in the air.’
The seagull wheeled and fluttered overhead, balancing itself against the wind. Every now and then it cried like a baby; or a long-lost child; or a bringer of bad news.
He was lying in bed that night when the world opened underneath him and he plummeted into the darkness. For one long suspended moment he was hanging in mid-air, with the dark landscape slowly turning beneath him, and pinprick lights sparkling in the distance. There was no slipstream, rushing past his ears, only silence, but he knew that he was falling and he knew that he was falling fast.
He was aware of other people falling, all around him, a silent hailstorm of people. Nobody was screaming, nobody was crying out. They were simply dropping together through the darkness, waiting for the moment when the trees would suddenly rush up to them and they
Joe stood up, and set his empty bottle down on the table. He picked up his hat, stared into it as if he half-expected to find something interesting inside, like money, or the answer to all of his problems, and then put it on.
‘You can’t say I didn’t try,’ he said, with genuine regret in his voice.
‘It was good to see you, whatever,’ Michael told him. ‘Why don’t you bring Marcia down sometime for Sunday brunch?’
‘Well, thanks for the invite, but I don’t think so. Marcia hates the beach as much as I do. Besides ... I wouldn’t like to take food from the mouths of a starving inventor and his family.’
‘Joe – ‘ Michael warned him, but Joe took hold of his hand and slapped him on the back and said, ‘Only kidding. Only kidding.’
Michael walked him out to his car, a brand-new Cadillac Seville, in shining midnight blue metallic. Patsy stayed up on the boardwalk, her blonde curls fluffing in the breeze. A seagull flew overhead, keening and crying.
‘You know what they say about seagulls,’ Joe remarked, as he opened his car door. ‘They’re supposed to be an omen. Bringers of bad news.’
‘That’s what they say about you, too, Joe,’ said Michael, and he wasn’t really joking.
Joe backed up his car on the sandy roadway, gave them a wave, and then drove off. Michael stood on the sidewalk for a long time watching him go, until the sun glanced sharply off his door mirror and then he was gone. Michael climbed slowly back up the wooden steps to where Patsy was standing, and made a resigned face. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘He wanted me to look into that helicopter crash – the one that killed John O’Brien and his family.’
‘And you couldn’t face it?’
Michael pursed his lips, and gave her a quick shake of his head.
‘But you wouldn’t have to look at the bodies, would you?’
‘Of course I would. You have to know how they died, where they died ... you have to check the positions where they were found.’
‘And you really can’t do it?’
Michael stood close beside her, grasping the splintery wooden rail. ‘Ever since that night when Joe and I had to search through Rocky Woods, my head’s been as close to the edge as anybody’s head can get. I got out because it was either that or going totally Fruit-Loop. I can’t explain what that experience did to me, and I don’t really expect you to understand why I can’t take a job that would solve all of our money problems with one snap of the fingers.’
Patsy took hold of his arm and kissed him. ‘Michael ... I don’t have to understand. I couldn’t understand, could I? Not unless I’d been there, not unless I’d seen it for myself. But I don’t have to understand because I trust you. I know you would have done it if you could. I trust you and I love you, and the last thing in the world I want is for anything to hurt you. I’m not going to sell your peace of mind for the price of some new towels.’
Michael kissed her hair, and then her forehead, and then her lips. ‘Something’s going to turn up,’ he promised her. ‘I can feel it in the air.’
The seagull wheeled and fluttered overhead, balancing itself against the wind. Every now and then it cried like a baby; or a long-lost child; or a bringer of bad news.
He was lying in bed that night when the world opened underneath him and he plummeted into the darkness. For one long suspended moment he was hanging in mid-air, with the dark landscape slowly turning beneath him, and pinprick lights sparkling in the distance. There was no slipstream, rushing past his ears, only silence, but he knew that he was falling and he knew that he was falling fast.
He was aware of other people falling, all around him, a silent hailstorm of people. Nobody was screaming, nobody was crying out. They were simply dropping together through the darkness, waiting for the moment when the trees would suddenly rush up to them and they
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