"David Garnett - Still Life" - читать интересную книгу автора (Garnett David)

The outer gate shut and the inner one opened, and Corinne walked
across the bare concrete toward the entrance. She glanced up at the
twenty-story tower for a moment; then, as she reached the glass door, she
saw Robert in the hallway, waiting for the lift. Corinne slowly pushed open
the swing door and began to creep silently toward him.
Then she realized that he wasn't alone. A slender girl with short curly
red hair was with him, and Robert was nodding his head as she spoke.
Corinne paused, wondering who she could be. Perhaps she was one of the
neighbors. The lift doors opened, and Robert put his arm around the girl's
shoulder, drawing her close to him and kissing her on the cheek. She
laughed and pulled away, jumping into the lift.
Corinne froze, unable even to turn away in case Robert should see her.
But all of Robert's attention was on his companion, and the lift doors slid
shut. Slowly, Corinne walked toward the lift and pressed the button
automatically.
What was going on? She'd seen Robert, she'd seen the girl, and she'd
seen the way they had been behaving тАФ but she refused to believe the
evidence of her own eyes. No wonder Robert had asked her what time
she'd be finishing at the studio tonight and to tell him if there was any
change. He'd wanted to bring that girl back here with him.
The second lift appeared, the doors opening, but Corinne didn't move.
The doors swished shut. She turned and went out through the swing door.
When she reached the studio, it was twilight and she couldn't
remember having walked there. She felt dazed and bewildered as she
moved across the bare floor and sat down on her stool in front of the easel
and stared at Robert's picture.
"How could you?" she whispered. "How could you?"
Without realizing, she'd picked up her sharpest knife from the
workbench. Now she raised it like a dagger, about to plunge the blade into
Robert's treacherous face.
Her hand quivered, and her eyes were wet with tears, blurring her
vision of the portrait. This wasn't the answer. She opened her fingers, and
the knife dropped to the floor.
 Corinne sat without moving as night fell, and she shivered, feeling
hollow and cold inside.
After a while she stood up and walked across the room toward the
phone.



"Corinne! Where have you been?" Robert stared at her, his face
reflecting a complex series of emotions тАФ relief and anger, joy and anxiety.
"I've been nearly out of my mind, worried to death. What happened to
you?"
"Hello, Robert," said Corinne, pushing past him into the living room.
"I've been away,"
Robert rubbed his hands across his cheeks. "I know you've been away,
for God's sakes! But where? Why? What happened? Are you all right?"
"I'm fine." Corinne sat down. "I feel a bit tired, that's all."
She was exhausted. For fifteen days she'd been under sedation, and the