The Silver Dragon Read Online Free PDF

worries of my own!”
    She smiled, walking with him to the door.
    “I’m going to sleep tonight as soon as my head touches the pillow,” she said, trying to sound convincing. “No pills or sedatives! I’m just healthily tired.” He waited until she had reached the door of her room.
    “Good night, Adele,” he called to her. “Pleasant dreams!”
    She opened her bedroom door, switching on the light, and the muffled cry she gave brought him swiftly up the narrow staircase to her side.
    “Someone’s been here,” she cried breathlessly. “They’ve turned everything upside down.”
    The presence of an intruder was evident. Drawers had been opened and her suitcase searched. John closed the door behind them.
    “Before we start making a fuss,” he advised, “let’s find out exactly what’s missing.”
    The restraint in his voice calmed her.
    “I’m not sure that I can check everything accurately,” she said, “but I’ll try.” She crossed to the wardrobe. “I didn’t unpack because we were only going to stay for one night, so the drawers were empty, and there’s only my coat and scarf in here.”
    He came across and closed the wardrobe door. In the narrow mirror on the outside panel they saw themselves reflected for a moment before they turned to the suitcase lying on the slatted wooden luggage stool at the foot of the bed. The clothes it had contained were tossed out onto the huge feather duvet and into the lid of the case itself, but nothing appeared to be missing.
    Adele’s hands shook as she lifted the last woolen sweater from the floor.
    “It’s absolutely bewildering,” she said unhappily. “There was the money the professor lent me. They haven’t even touched that.”
    “I don’t think they were looking for money,” John said slowly. “I think it was something else.”
    “What? What could they have been searching for?”
    “I don’t know.” He turned to the door. “I’ll see what they have to say downstairs,” he added as he went out, “but it’s going to be difficult, especially when there’s nothing missing. Try to get some sleep.”
    She slept fitfully, waking every now and then to turn restlessly on her pillows, sure that the room had been entered again, although she had barred the door securely.
    In the morning John told her that he wanted to get off to a good start.
    “We’ve got a fair way to go, and I don’t think we’re going to be too popular here, having virtually accused the host of breaking and entering while we were out last night!”
    Adele flushed scarlet.
    “John, you don’t think I could have done it?” she asked nervously. “Without knowing, I mean? Tossed the things around and ... searched the drawers, looking for something I imagined I might find?”
    He shook his head.
    “You would know if you had done that,” he assured her. “No, Adele, you are absolutely normal in every way—except for the fact that the past has been completely wiped from your mind.”
    She sighed, allowing him to help her on with her coat. The car was waiting at the door.
    “I’m making it all very difficult for you,” she apologized. “I don’t really know why you bother about me.”
    “I’ve told you that you’re an interesting case,” he said doggedly. “That will have to be explanation enough for the present.”
    “Yes,” she agreed. “Yes, I suppose it will.”
    They drove for the remainder of the way without mentioning the incident at the inn again. If John connected it with the car that had followed them the day before, he did not say so. It was evident that he wished to spare her any extra emotional strain, and therefore she did not press him with questions. But now she recoiled from thoughts of the past, feeling that she did not want to remember.
    Sunshine, sea, firs and fragrant pines lay ahead of them as they crossed the last Alpine barrier to the south and dropped down to the Lower Comiche road toward Villefranche. The Mediterranean was hazily blue as