"Littleford, Clare - Death Duty" - читать интересную книгу автора (Littleford Clare)

that I had felt the damp warmth of his breath, and looked into those
eyes, and felt the pressure of his hand against my skin. But that
hadn't happened, I was certain of that. I had hardly seen his face at
all, and the impact of the first blow had been so hard, so sudden. I
wanted to tell Alex, to explain that feeling of familiarity, to tell
him that maybe I had recognized the attacker, but I wasn't sure. I
didn't know if that was just the immediacy of the dream, and I didn't
want to fix the idea in my mind by vocalizing it, not when I could have
been wrong.

Alex had started to lace up his shoes. He said, "I'll pop into your
office later, pick up your stuff."

Then he hesitated, and added, "Why don't you come round tonight? About
seven? I'll cook. You need a day off, yeah?"

"Thanks," I said, surprised by his thoughtfulness and then ashamed of
my surprise.

"You'll be okay?" he said. "To drive round, I mean?"

"Oh yes," I said, because I didn't see why I wouldn't be. I was glad I
hadn't taken the car to work the previous day I couldn't imagine going
to pick it up, past the place where he had, past that shop.

Alex had stood up and was pulling on his jacket. I got to my feet,
feeling slightly dizzy, but Alex didn't notice that anything was wrong.
I saw him to the front door and then shut it and stood listening to his
car start and pull away up the street. When the sound of his engine
faded I went back into the front room and turned the TV off. The house
was very quiet. I had intended to have a bath before getting dressed,
but I didn't want to any more.

When I was dressed and had brushed my teeth, I phoned work. My
supervisor, Douglas, wasn't in, so I had to talk to Colin. He was a
gush of questions, about how I was and whether the police had caught my
attacker. "You'll be back in no time," Colin said. "Nothing'll keep
Jo Elliott away from her caseload, eh?"

I gave a tentative laugh. Behind him in the office I could hear the
usual noise of conversations and phones ringing. "I'll let you get
back to it," I said. "Tell Douglas I'll send my sick note in."

I looked back at him. He had short dark hair and chocolate-brown eyes;
like Alex, I thought. He wore heavy boots that laced right up his
ankles and disappeared under his trouser legs. He had taken his
notebook out of his pocket and was leafing through the pages. PC
Andrews suddenly seemed to feel that she was needed at his side and sat
down next to him on the sofa.