The Dragon and the Needle Read Online Free PDF

calmly now. ‘No, Mike. I can cope all right. Just about. I have my sister with me.’ She paused. ‘Just remember that name I gave you, Eleanor Johnson.’ She gave Mike Eleanor’s phone number.
    As soon as their call had ended, Mike rang Eleanor. She agreed to come to his flat the next day.

    Mike Clifford slept badly that night, but by five in the morning he had fallen into a deep sleep, so deep that he slept through the alarm clock. When he finally opened his eyes it was past nine o’clock. He washed and dressed hurriedly. He was drinking his coffee when the telephone rang. As he picked up the receiver, there was a sharp knock on the entrance door of his flat, but he ignored it.
    ‘Hullo, Mike Clifford here.’
    ‘Good morning, Dr Clifford.’ He recognised the woman’s voice immediately: it was Stuart Dorman’s secretary. ‘Isn’t it terrible!’ she said.
    ‘Yes! Look, hold on a moment, there’s someone at my door.’
    He picked up the mail on the doormat, and opened the front door. It seemed to him that the woman standing before him was the most remarkable-looking he had ever seen. He felt a profound presence. There was no doubting her beauty. Her smooth dark hair; her face, full and fresh, like the face of a child. Yet she had an aura of calmness and gentleness that could only belong to a woman of deep perception, denying the childlike face.
    ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, her English tinged with a soft American accent, ‘but are you Dr Clifford?’
    ‘Yes,’ he smiled back. ‘You’re Eleanor Johnson.’
    She held out her hand. He took it, gently pulling hertowards him into the flat, saying, ‘It’s wonderful to meet you. Thanks for coming. Please come in and sit down. I’m on the phone.’
    They went into the living room and as she sat down on the sofa he hurried back to the telephone, but he stood facing Eleanor, unable to take his eyes off her.
    ‘Hullo,’ he spoke into the receiver. ‘Sorry about that. You know I’m coming in to see you this morning?’
    ‘Yes,’ Dorman’s secretary said. ‘I was just checking. What time?’
    He took his eyes off Eleanor. ‘I’ll be with you before midday.’
    He put the telephone down and looked at Eleanor again. She was sitting in a composed way, with her legs crossed, her elbows on the arms of his favourite chair, looking at him. He smiled at her and at the same time felt the strong attraction of her personality.
    ‘Can I get you a coffee?’ he asked.
    ‘Thanks, but no.’
    She had raised her eyes to look directly at him. It was then he noticed the dark circles under them. He wondered if perhaps she had been going through the same turmoil as himself about Dorman’s murder. But then, how much did she know and why had Dorman been so anxious to meet her? And were her eyes green or light blue?
    She began talking, explaining her reason for calling on him so early. ‘I was out late last night, and I’ve got a heavy day in front of me. Early bed tonight for me,’ she smiled. ‘So here I am. Professor Dorman told you about me, no doubt?’
    It suddenly occurred to him that she might not know about Dorman’s murder.
    ‘Yes, he did tell me,’ Mike answered, and sat down on the sofa opposite her. ‘That’s why I rang you. Of course you know what’s happened to him?’
    ‘Happened to him?’
    ‘You don’t know? He was murdered last night.’
    ‘He was murdered!’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘I can’t believe it!’ She spoke in a voice curiously devoid of emotion. ‘I’m terribly sorry. Tell me what happened.’
    She raised her eyes to look directly at Mike. He could see her eyes were green. What the hell did that matter, he said to himself. But then he noticed that her hands were slender and long. Her face bewitched him. She wore no make-up at all.
    ‘Perhaps I’ll have a coffee after all,’ she said.
    ‘Come into the kitchen with me. I’ll tell you what happened.’
    How could she possibly not have heard the news? It had been spread all over the