Fear in the Sunlight Read Online Free PDF Page B

speak to her until two years later, when he had a better job than she did.’
    ‘How very modern of him,’ Archie said.
    ‘I don’t think it was like that. I get the impression that he needed to earn Alma’s respect before approaching her. Their marriage is a real partnership, apparently. She’s the one person he always listens to.’
    ‘Have you seen much of Marta lately?’
    Josephine glanced at him, but the casualness of the question seemed genuine. Her relationship with Marta Fox – which she still refused to categorise, even for her own peace of mind – was the only part of her life that her friendship with Archie seemed unable to cope with. Or perhaps that was unfair: perhaps she had simply never given it the chance. Only once, just after Marta had unexpectedly come back into her life, had Josephine even tried to raise the subject with Archie, and he had reacted angrily; now, she sensed that he had begun to come to terms with his own feelings for her, but still she shied away from discussing it – and only partly to protect him. ‘We’ve had dinner a few times in London, usually after one of Lydia’s opening nights. And I went to Tagley for a weekend party in the spring, but it was a nightmare. Never again.’ Much against her better judgement, she had been persuaded to stay with Marta and Lydia at the cottage they owned in Essex, but being an observer of their day-to-day life together had done nothing to ease her guilt at undermining their relationship, or to soften her own loneliness.
    ‘How is she getting on with Lydia?’
    ‘Fine, I think. To be honest, I haven’t really asked. We haven’t had the chance to talk properly.’
    ‘Why not? I can’t believe you couldn’t have engineered a way of seeing her without Lydia, so what are you afraid of?’ She said nothing, and he looked at her with concern. ‘I’m not trying to force you to talk to me about this, Josephine, but wouldn’t it help? You and Marta obviously care about each other, but you’re not free to be with her and she’s with someone else – that can’t be easy.’
    ‘Of course it isn’t, but it’s not fair of me to expect you to . . .’ She was interrupted by the sound of another car coming down the hill. It came to an abrupt stop outside the hotel, dangerously close to the Victorian balustrade, and they watched as Ronnie peeled herself away from the passenger seat and struggled out of the car, recovering sufficiently to deliver a healthy kick to one of the front tyres. Josephine glanced at Archie. ‘Not the most enjoyable of journeys, by the look of it.’
    ‘No, but impeccably timed as usual.’ He looked at her suspiciously. ‘I’m beginning to think you pay them to turn up on cue.’

4
     
    Leyton Turnbull stood at the front desk of the hotel, waiting to check in. He drummed his fingers irritably on the oak as the man on duty dealt in a leisurely fashion with an elderly couple’s dinner reservation, and wondered where the bar was; half past two in the afternoon was no time to be sober, but he had decided against stopping for a drink on the way, cowed into restraint by the importance of the weekend. There was time for a quick one now, though, and perhaps he could hook up with someone he knew. He scoured the terraces and peered through the doorway into the main building, but could see no one he recognised.
    ‘Good afternoon, sir. I’m sorry to keep you waiting.’
    Turnbull grunted impatiently. ‘I’m with Mr Hitchcock’s party.’
    The man waited a few seconds, then, when nothing else was forthcoming, said tactfully: ‘Could you just remind me of your name, sir?’
    ‘It’s Turnbull. Leyton Turnbull.’
    ‘Of course.’ He glanced briefly down a list of names, and took a key from the board behind him. ‘You’re in Government House, sir, just to the left of the Bell Tower. Your suite’s on the top floor.’ Turnbull followed his gesture and saw an apricot-coloured building with a red hipped roof, the