Dreams of Origami Read Online Free PDF Page A

garden, a moment by a still lake. Nowhere he ever recognizes, although he is now widely travelled. They talk, that is all. Often he cannot even remember what they talk about, although the rational side of him knows it is all generated from inside his head, and therefore he has it stored safely within his subconscious mind. But his more intuitiveself feels she is not part of him. A memory? Another lifetime? Some ancestral imprint on his genetic helix? His explanations to himself pass through fashions and phases. He has learned enough to know that there may be other beings, ghosts if you like, spirit guides, angels, who communicate with the living. But somehow that doesn’t ring true here, either. Whoever or whatever she is, she comes to him in dreams of origami. More so recently, as if they are working towards something, some significant event. And the event is coming closer.
    Two o’clock in the morning and Triss is on her own. Audrey did offer to stay the night, but Triss insisted that she’d be all right and would rather be alone. She cannot think of going to bed, but eventually she falls asleep in an armchair, whimpering Matthew’s name, her face wet from tears that continue to flow in her dreams.

Four
    M ORNING, JACK.’ LACEY SLIPS out of her jacket, hooking it over the loaded coat-stand by the door. Eight-fifteen, and already the reporters’ room is up and running, coffee brewed and computer screens flickering with overnight news. ‘Anything for me?’
    ‘No, nothing much. Grant, you’re covering this meeting about cuts to the library service?’ As their chief reporter, Jack’s first objective of the day is to rally the team.
    ‘Yeah, but it’s probably a storm in a beer mug.’ Grant reaches for a ringing telephone.
    ‘I know, but with the local elections coming up…Here, you’d better deal with this, Simon; technically, it’s a sports item.’ He hands a printout to a young, blond-haired man whose desk is covered with Leeds United mascots.
    ‘What: “Local centre forward up on drugs charge"? Thanks very much.’
    ‘Don’t knock it. All part of the game nowadays, eh? Sue not here yet?’ He places a pile of papers on an empty desk. ‘I understand you covered that meditation thing for her last night, Lacey?’
    ‘Yes, she’s got some sort of problem with her mother.’ Lacey gathers up yesterday’s coffee mugs from her desk and takes them to the sink.
    ‘What was it like?’ asks Simon. ‘Did he put you all in a trance?’
    ‘That’s what Drew reckons.’ She rinses out the cleanest of the mugs and fills it with fresh coffee from the machine. ‘I’ll write it up this morning unless there’s anything urgent from the police handover.’
    ‘You’d better get a move on if you want to get there by eight-thirty. Everyone seems to be running late this morning.’
    ‘Oh Lord, is that the time already?’ Lacey takes a deep gulp of her coffee. ‘Sorry, Jack. Didn’t sleep well last night.’ She drags her tote bag over her shoulder and grabs her coat. ‘Right, I’ll see you.’ Another mug is left to go cold amid the clutter on her desk.
    Lacey arrives at the upstairs meeting room at the police station, which is, conveniently, in the next block to the Fenland Herald’ s office. A uniformed officer behind her holds the door open while she enters. Thank goodness she’s not the last in. The regular morning get-together is about to commence, with nearly thirty constabulary personnel, most in variations of a uniform plus a few in plain clothes, gathered around the huge table in the centre of the room. The sergeant chairing this morning’s meeting is shuffling through a stack of papers, occasionally passing something to one of his colleagues. Lacey slides into an empty chair along a side wall, trying to look inconspicuous. The press are tolerated here: a necessary evil that sometimes has its uses. She rummages in her bag for her notebook and pen as the morning round of reports from the day