The Dark Room Read Online Free PDF Page A

she was ready to face. She was tempted
to leave it until it occurred to her that it might be an internal call. If she didn’t answer it, said the voice of paranoia inside her head, then a little black mark would go down
in a book somewhere and her mental equilibrium would be called into question . She lifted the receiver and held it against her ear on the pillow. ‘Jinx Kingsley,’ she said
guardedly.
    ‘Thank God,’ said a man’s voice. ‘I’ve had the devil’s own job trying to find you. It’s Josh Hennessey. I finally got through to your
stepmother, who gave me this number. She says you’re OK to talk but that you’ve lost bits of your memory.’
    ‘Josh Hennessey?’ she echoed in surprise. ‘As in Harris and Hennessey? You sound so close. Where are you?’
    He gave a rumble of laughter at the other end. ‘The very same, except that it’s all Hennessey at the moment and remarkably little Harris. She’s buggered off to
France and left me nursing the office. I’m in a call-box in Piccadilly.’ He paused briefly and she heard the sound of traffic in the background. ‘I’m damn glad the memory
loss doesn’t extend to your mates. There’s a few of us eating our hearts out over this.’ He paused again. ‘We were really sorry to hear about your accident, Jinx, but your
stepma says you’re progressing well.’
    She smiled weakly. Typical Josh, she thought. Always we and never I. ‘I’m not sure I’d agree with her. I feel like something the dog threw up. I suppose you know
about Leo and Meg?’
    He didn’t say anything.
    ‘It’s all right, you don’t have to spare my feelings. Matter of fact, I’m quite glad Leo found a good home.’ Was she telling the truth? ‘They’re welcome to each other.’
    ‘Well, if it’s of any consolation to you, I can’t see it lasting. You know Meg and her brief enthusiasms. She’ll have some French guy in tow by the time she
comes back, and poor old Leo will be on the scrap heap along with all the others. She’s a two-timing bitch, Jinx. I’ve always said so.’
    Liar, she thought. You adore her. ‘She hasn’t changed just because Leo prefers her to me,’ she said. ‘I don’t bear any grudges, so why should
you?’
    He cleared his throat. ‘How are you coping after the – well, you know?’
    ‘You mean my suicide attempt? I don’t remember it, so I’m fine.’
    There was a short silence.
    ‘Good, well, listen, the reason I phoned is that I’ve been trying to get hold of Meg for the last eight days and I’m getting zilch response from her answerphone.
She swore on her sainted granny’s grave that she’d call in for her messages every day but, if she’s doing it, then she sure as hell isn’t replying to any of them, and
I’m going slowly ape-shit with all the work that’s piling up. I’ve tried her brother and a few of her other friends to see if they know where she and Leo went, but they’re
as much in the dark as I am. You’re my last hope, Jinx. Have you any ideas at all how I can contact her? Believe me, I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t desperate. I’ve got a sodding
contract here that needs her signature and I’ve got to fax it through post-haste.’ He gave an angry grunt. ‘I tell you, the way I feel at the moment, I could wring her neck. And
Leo’s, too.’
    Jinx jabbed her fingers against the vein above her eye that was pounding and rushing like a swollen river. A strangely murky image had floated into her mind as he spoke, a
meaningless, dark negative that relayed nothing to her at all except an intense frustration. She sought to hold on to it but, like a drowning man, it slipped away and left her cheated. ‘Well,
if it’s France,’ she said slowly, ‘then they’ve probably gone to Leo’s house in Brittany, but I’m afraid I can’t remember the phone number, Josh, and I
doubt he’s got a fax either.’
    ‘That doesn’t matter. Do you know the address?’
    She dug deep into her memory. ‘I think so.