East of the Sun Read Online Free PDF

of a situation that didn’t involve her and which could even turn out to be dangerous for her? Was she being selfish in her desire to have an ally?
    ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, aware that Mara was still waiting for an explanation, ‘maybe this isn’t such a good idea. I’m not really sure I should be telling you why I’m here. I’m pushing you to understand something that must sound rather fanciful, to say the least. Perhaps we can talk again in a few days’ time, after I’ve had a chance to speak to some people and hopefully have a little more clarity.’
    ‘Amelia,’ Mara said, leaning forward. ‘I know you. I’m very sure you wouldn’t have come back if you didn’t think it was absolutely necessary. At least I hope you wouldn’t have. The point is that I can see this is important, even if I don’t understand it all immediately, so tell me, help me understand. Maybe I can help you think through whatever it is that’s bothering you so much about this business deal. And if I can’t, it may just help you to unburden.’ She hesitated, her next words tentative. ‘At the risk of sounding patronising, it really looks like you could do with a little of that.’
    The small reception room that Mara had brought her to half an hour earlier fell silent. From somewhere on the other side of the closed door Amelia could hear the faint noises of the residence’s kitchen staff setting about preparing the evening meal.
    ‘I suppose you think I’m hysterical,’ Amelia said, deflated. Compulsively she spooned more sugar into her already sweet coffee, driven by an urge to act, to do something with her restless hands.
    ‘No, I don’t. Not hysterical.’ Mara gave Amelia a sympathetic smile. ‘I don’t mean to diminish the significance of what you believe this article means, but to me it kind of just seems like a normal business announcement.’
    ‘Of course that’s what it seems like, because that’s what it’s designed to be. I just think there is something wrong when a company that has worked so hard to salvage a deal would suddenly sell its stake to some, I don’t know, some obscure third party! What if there’s a connection?’
    ‘To Robert?’ Mara asked very carefully.
    Amelia winced at the mention of his name. She sighed and gestured at the clipping, which was still in Mara’s hand. ‘To be honest, I don’t blame you for being confused. It doesn’t make much sense to me either. None of this makes sense. It’s just a gut reaction combined with a few random facts.’
    ‘Why don’t you try and tell me the whole thing, from beginning to end?’
    ‘I don’t know where the beginning is, Mara. That’s part of the problem. And as far as I’m concerned, there is no end yet.’
    ‘Something – this thing – brought you back and if it hadn’t been significant, you wouldn’t have been here. Just tell me what you know. Start wherever you think makes sense.’
    ‘All right. I’ll try.’ Amelia took a deep breath. ‘Last year, in the months before Robert disappeared, he was asked to get involved in that,’ she said, pointing at the article. ‘Things were pretty stressful for him, but because of the confidentiality requirements of the agreement he couldn’t really tell me too much about it. At the time I was simply worried about the toll it was taking on him, and then, when he disappeared, I wasn’t exactly thinking clearly. There was so much chaos and uncertainty around me and I was just trying to figure out what to do and where to go, but now . . .’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Now I think the negotiations may have actually had something to do with his disappearance.’ There, she’d said it, and even to her own ears it sounded crazy.
    ‘Go on.’
    ‘I really think there’s a link somehow between what he was involved in and the reason he was taken. Perhaps someone didn’t want the talks to continue.’
    ‘All right,’ Mara said evenly, ‘I’m curious to know why you feel there may be a