In Jeopardy Read Online Free PDF Page B

news story or other project. Julian arranged the trip on the Flying Scotsman to York where they were to spend a day in that city before returning to London. The following week Julian left for overseas.
    Since then their contact has been fleeting and reduced to the occasional phone call. Like his twin, Julian, religiously sends Christmas and birthday cards. His greeting is always followed with, ‘If ever you need anything contact me.’ He has never said, but Christine suspects, that her brother doesn’t like Richard.
    They met briefly before Christine married Richard when Julian came to Melbourne to help finalise the sale of their parents’ house. It was rented for some years because no one could face the raw feelings that stirred from being in the family home. Diana was reduced to tears and hysteria at the very suggestion of returning after being involved in tidying up their parents’ belongings. Julian, who had power of attorney, took on the task of selling their parents’ home, administering then distributing their modest estate before returning to London.
    Contacting Julian is difficult. He often returns calls weeks or months later after returning from a project in a faraway place. He doesn’t mention the details of his life or anything of a romantic nature. Although he is friendly, outgoing and a fluid conversationalist he is aloof and his emotional life closed. Despite this, he is kind and exudes emotional warmth lacking in Diana. He is easy company to wear and gives the impression that you can trust him.
    Christine is disappointed that her brother and sister are largely absent from her life. There are times when she is consumed by sorrow that they aren’t and despairs when things have gone wrong. Neither of them has been unkind to her and when in their company they give the impression that they are interested in her and like her.
    She often wonders what her brother and sister would do or think if they knew what her relationship with Richard was like. What would they make of Richard’s temper and some of the ugly scenes that have exploded? And although Christine is estranged from her siblings she feels fortunate that she can preserve the idealistic impressions she has created of them.
    However, the great geographical distances that have kept the siblings apart have created awkwardness. Christine continues to decline their offers for her to visit and stay. Similarly, they have always declined her offers for them to visit and stay with Richard and herself.
    She avoided telling them about the drama involving Roland a former partner. She wasn’t going to burden them with details of the brutal treatment he subjected her to when the relationship ended. She only mentioned in a greeting card that they had broken up. Once she has packed herself out of Richard’s life and legal proceedings are in place to dissolve the marriage she will inform Julian and Diana. She will spare them details of the drama and the grisly scenes she expects will unfold.

 

Chapter Five
    The taxi pulls up in front of her home. It strikes Christine as foreign and unwelcoming before she steps through the door. She hears the answering machine beep from the front door. Leaving it open, she drops luggage in the hallway to listen to the messages. She suspects that Richard has phoned home. She listens to his three messages then walks away. After hauling her luggage up the stairs she falls onto the bed. Lying on her back she stares at the ceiling, trying to forget recent events.
    She wakes up from disrupted sleep broken by moonlight bursting through the venetians, the dog next door barking, conversations from the street and the odd car speeding before screeching to a grinding halt at the T junction. The phone rings. She blocks her ears until it stops ringing, knowing it is Richard. The magpie who has taken residence in the pomegranate tree closest to the house, taps the window screeching: ‘Get up, get up!’ This quarrelsome, noisy creature has