2 The Dante Connection Read Online Free PDF Page B

you be coming in today?”
    “If it’s not necessary, I won’t. I would prefer to go home and rest. Unless there is something urgent for me to work on.”
    “There is a new case I would like for you to look at, but it can wait until tomorrow.”
    “What new case?” My mood lifted. I loved a new challenge. It would also take my mind off my new neighbours.
    “Nothing urgent. A string of robberies over a period of time. It can wait until tomorrow. Take the rest of the day and go to the cinema, go shopping, go for a massage. Enjoy your day off.” Phillip was always trying to get me to go to recreational places other people frequented.
    “You know I won’t go to those places. Studies have shown the bacteria present on a cinema seat range from E.coli to faecal matter.”
    “Oh, for the love of God, stop.” He sighed. “I don’t know why I’m still trying. At least attempt to enjoy the time off.”
    I finished the call and went back into Francine’s room. Colin was standing next to the bed, his arms folded, and his tongue appeared very briefly between his lips. He was smug. Francine looked resigned. It appeared as if the two friends had come to some compromise. They stopped their whispered conversation as soon as they noticed me.
    “She’s going to stay in my apartment until we can sort this out,” Colin announced.
    “The apartment next to mine?” My throat hurt as I pushed the words past my lips.
    “Yes. It would be safer for everyone.” Colin looked less smug now. Even though I saw constant flashes of remorse on his face, I couldn’t stop being angry. “Vinnie will look after her.”
    “And you?” I asked, dreading the answer.
    “Oh, I’ll be staying with you, in my old room.” His smile was charming. I hated it when he tried to be charming. “It will be just like old times.”
    “No, no, no, no, no.” I didn’t care that I sounded like a panicked stuck record. “There are three bedrooms in your apartment. You will stay there. I’m still angry with you. I don’t want you in my apartment. And it took me four days of cleaning to have my place back to normal after the last time you stayed with me.”
    Colin’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “I left your place in perfect order.”
    “There were dust particles under your bed.” I grunted and gave in to the urge to clarify. “Not your bed. The bed you had used. There was a smudge on the left-hand corner of the windowsill, bits of fluff from your clothes on the shelves in the wardrobe and a scuff mark on the floor under the desk.”
    Francine’s laughter, causing her to groan in pain, stopped me. The list of dirt left behind by the thief was much longer and I truly wanted to recite it.
    “Oh Genevieve, you’re priceless,” Francine said past another groan. She sobered and looked at me with an intensity that warned me something significant was about to be said. “Thank you for being here. I can remember asking you to stay, but also remember thinking you wouldn’t.”
    Shame briefly touched my awareness. I blinked it away. “That’s what friends do for each other.”
    Not even the swelling in her face could disguise the relaxation of her facial features and the genuine smile pulling at her swollen lips.
    “You’re my friend,” she said as if announcing it. “I’m glad that I have you as my friend.”
    Surprise stole my speech. Here I had been thinking that they had all deserted me because I was socially unacceptable. Now I was faced with a declaration of this magnitude. I reached for a suitable riposte, but came up empty.
    “You don’t have to say anything,” Francine said. Because her voice was still scratchy, I couldn’t tell if it was hurt, annoyance or pain I detected in her tone. “I understand. And I trust you. Why else would I have asked for you to stay with me?”
    “I don’t know.” I took two steps towards the door. I had thought that Francine had insisted on those lunches with me from a need to speak to someone