"Quintin, Jardine - Gallery Whispers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Quintin Jardine)

potential than I do. I'm sorry about going back to the baby thing. That
was a cheap shot. Listen, if you want to become the managing partner
of Curie Anthony and Jarvis, I'll back you all the way. If you want to
become a QC, I'm all for that too.
'I don't begrudge you your ambitions, my darling. But I'm coming
to believe that as you pursue them, you'll leave me behind; you'll
outgrow me. I'm afraid that's starting to happen already. When we got
together you were a student. Now you've been marked out for stardom
within your firm. And I can see the effect it's having on you.
'For the last few days, there have been times when I've had the
feeling that you've been trying to distance yourself from me in some
way. Deny it if you will, but that's how I see it. and I can only blame
it on one thing; Curie Anthony and bloody Jarvis.'
He shifted his weight on his elbow. 'Listen, I do my job damn well,
I think, and I'm completely committed to it, but I'm not in love with
it. You are with yours. One day you may feel that you have to choose
between it and me, and maybe that day's coming close. That's what
keeps me awake at night.'
She leaned over and kissed him. 'Would it help if we got married
next month?' she asked.
He looked sadder than ever. 'No, love, it wouldn't. If my fears are
real, it wouldn't change a damn thing. You have to be all you can be,
with, or if it has to be, without me. You're your father's daughter, and
I can't change that.'
'So what are you saying?'
He gave a sigh so deep that her hair moved on its breeze. 'I suppose
I'm asking myself whether it will hurt even more later than it would if
we split now ... if I backed off to let you concentrate full time on
your career.
'I know how I would feel about it. But maybe for both our sakes,
you should ask yourself the same question.' He looked at her solemn
face, at her averted eyes. 'Yes, maybe you'
As if it had been waiting for the perfect moment to intervene,
the bedside phone burst into life. 'Fucking thing has a mind of its
own,' Martin snarled, but still he turned to pick it up. 'Yes!' he
snapped.
'Sorry Andy,' said Brian Mackie, on the other end of the line, 'but
I've just had a call out to a suspicious death, in a steading development
out near Whitekirk. From what I've been told it's a murder for sure.
I'm just leaving for the scene. Do you want to turn out?'
The Head of CID looked at his fiancee, hating what he saw in her
eyes. 'Aye,' he answered. 'I think that would be a good idea.'
3
James Andrew Skinner had always been, by any reasonable measurement,
a considerate child. But cutting back teeth can upset the calmest
temperament, so Sarah and Bob had shared floor-walking duties until
finally, at around five am, their younger son had settled down.
They had been asleep themselves for little more than an hour when
Brian Mackie had called, to ask Sarah if she could attend the scene of
the Whitekirk death.