Dead Gorgeous Read Online Free PDF Page B

way!
    ‘Nova, stop swinging on the banister!’ Dad called out from the reception desk.
    Nova carried on rocking to and fro, her hands wrapped around the bottom banister post. Nova the pain. That was her new name. So now Raye was too old to hang out with and the twins were too
young. The half-term break was dragging more than usual this time round. Nova usually longed for school holidays and they ended much too soon – but this time not much had been going on at the
hotel. Friday morning and nothing dawning.
    ‘Nova, am I talking Martian? Get off the banister,’ said Dad.
    Nova sighed again, but did as she was told this time. She thought for a moment. The gardens. She’d go for a long walk across the gardens and after that maybe down to the beach. She headed
across the hall towards the front door.
    Miss Eve emerged from the hotel lounge. ‘Ah, Nova, my poppet. How are you today?’
    Nova bristled with indignation. How many times did she have to repeat herself before Miss Eve got it? ‘Poppet’ was out, OUT, OUT!
    ‘Fine,’ Nova muttered in a voice that suggested she was anything but.
    ‘I wonder if I might have a word?’ Miss Eve continued.
    ‘Any word in particular?’
    ‘Pardon?’
    ‘Nothing,’ Nova replied hastily. She didn’t want to spend the next ten minutes explaining. She looked at Miss Eve but her glance quickly slid away again. There was something
about the elderly woman that set the hairs at the back of Nova’s neck bristling. Miss Eve had off-white, blue-rinsed hair which matched her pale blue eyes. Ice cold eyes, Nova always thought.
She was tall and straight and laughed a lot, but very rarely smiled. Miss Dawn was the opposite: she smiled a lot but very rarely laughed. Miss Dawn seemed the sadder of the two.
    ‘Where’re you off to?’ asked Miss Eve.
    ‘I was going to take a walk in the garden. A long walk.’ Nova hoped that would put the old dear off. ‘A long, long walk.’
    ‘Excellent! I was just thinking of doing the same thing myself. Let’s walk together, poppet,’ suggested Miss Eve.
    Nova’s heart and hopes sank. She had wanted to spend some time by herself, not spend the next half hour listening to Miss Eve rabbit on about her various aches and pains and varicose
veins. ‘Are you sure you’re up to it, Miss Eve?’ Nova couldn’t give up without a fight. ‘I’ll be walking quite quickly.’
    ‘My dear poppet, I have more stamina than you might think.’ Miss Eve’s eyes twinkled wickedly. ‘Why, if I were to tell you some of the things I’ve got up to in my
time—’
    ‘Please don’t,’ Nova interrupted. ‘I mean, please don’t bother yourself. You should save your energy. For the walk.’
    ‘Of course. Shall we go then?’
    ‘Maybe you should go and get a cardie? It looks a bit nippy out there.’ Brilliant! Nova congratulated herself on her ploy. While Miss Eve was off getting herself a cardigan, Nova
would be out of there faster than a rat up a drainpipe. Perfect!
    ‘No thanks. I’m just fine,’ replied Miss Eve. She linked arms with Nova and set a brisk pace for the door. ‘Don’t dawdle, poppet. As you quite rightly said,
it’s not a proper walk if it’s not bracing.’
    Nova turned her head, searching for something, someone, anyone to rescue her. But there was only Dad at the reception desk. Nova threw him her best beseeching look, mouthing,
‘Help!’ in the process.
    ‘Enjoy!’ Dad called out, grinning maliciously as he waved goodbye.
    Nova was sink, sank, sunk – without a trace. She glared at Dad as Miss Eve continued to drag her out the front door.
    Miss Eve stood on the top step looking around at the autumn countryside. Nova looked around as well. She never got tired of this view. The front of the hotel stood tall and still like a faithful
sentinel. It was set back about two hundred metres from the cliff edge but was impressive enough to be seen from boats heading in and out of St Bart’s Bay. In past times fishermen in