Nightsiders Read Online Free PDF

did not know why he had lied. Of course, they had the bags from their two-week holiday, and the tent was stashed in the roof-rack storage container. “Just a couple of overnight bags. I’ll get them later.”
    After giving his credit card details, Robert took the key and led the way up the wide staircase to the second floor. The place had clearly been nice once, but a lack of regular maintenance had ensured the hotel was now going to seed. Paper was curling on the walls, the carpets were worn in places, and the banister in the stairwell was loose.
    “We won’t be here long,” he promised the kids, as he reached the top of the stairs and made his way along the landing to their room.
    The room itself was clean, but basic. There were three beds—a double, a single, and a fold-out divan—and a large wardrobe. A set of drawers was positioned behind the door, with a television set on top, and an old armchair sat forlornly in the bay window. The en suite bathroom was spacious, but again it showed signs of general wear and tear: a cracked tile, damp stains in one corner, a broken window latch.
    “I’ll go and get our cases—the small ones, with the toiletries. If we need anything else, we can just get it as and when.” He smiled. No one returned the gesture.
    Robert went back down to the car. The street seemed filled with light as he opened the boot and extracted the luggage: enough light to fill his senses, but with little heat behind it. There were not many people around, and those few pedestrians he did see ignored him, as if he were an extra in the movie of their lives. Cars passed slowly on the main road, obeying the speed limit. The place was almost too quiet to be real.
    He carried the bags back up to the room. When he tried to get back inside, the door got stuck in the frame. He pushed; Sarah pulled from the other side. The kids laughed. Eventually the door lurched open and he sprawled into the room, almost dropping the bags.
    “Can we go and explore?” Molly was excited, and Robert thought it best to try and maintain her good mood.
    “Yes,” he said. “But I want you back here in exactly one hour, and do not get into any trouble. I mean that…”
    The kids slunk from the room, and then, when the door closed, he heard them running for the stairs. At least they were upbeat; that meant one less thing to worry about.
    He sat on the bed next to Sarah. She shifted along, away from him, and stared at the blank television screen. He saw her face reflected there; saw the way her body had stiffened and her hands lay dead in her lap.
    “What’s going on, Rob?” Her shoulders began to shake. The shock of what had happened back at the house on Oval Lane was finally setting in, and her reaction was extreme. “This is too much. Just too damn much.”
    He reached out to her, but she pulled away, twisting her body out of his grasp.
    “Who the hell are those people? And why did you attack that man? That’s not like you; you’re not a fighter.” She turned to him at last, her face soft and blurred by emotion. “He wanted you to hit him. You do realize that, don’t you? He was pushing you into it, and you responded exactly how he wanted you to.”
    Robert looked down at his hands, at the frayed bedsheets. “I know. It’s just…I never want to fail you again. I need to protect you, and the kids, too.” He kept his head down, closed his eyes.
    Her hand slipped into his, clasping it tightly. There should have been warmth there, in her touch, but all he felt was cold. A distance had crept between them, replacing the bond they had once shared. The attack back in London had wounded their relationship in ways that were only now becoming clear. The rape and beating had hurt so much more than her body; even the internal scars she carried were nothing compared to the wounds that had developed in their marriage.
    “I’m sorry.” Her voice was barely audible, less than a whisper. “This all feels so strange…like a bad