Devil's in a Different Dress
Page 24
“Fraulein Hanna,” he said, “how are you holding up?”
“I don’t know anymore,” I replied, the honest answer. “Everything just seems like some crazy dream. First the fire and then I hear about Arndt and Pieter and the things they’ve done.” I shuddered involuntarily. “I called him a friend,” I said, tasting the bitterness deep down at the very back of my throat. “He even let me sleep in his library, after the fire. I never thought he’d do something like this.”
“Do you have keys to the library?” Captain King asked. I nodded, pulling the enormous brass key from my pocket and showing it to him.
“He gave me a spare, to use until I found somewhere else to live.”
“Well, there’s no next of kin or anyone else for that place to pass onto. And I don’t know what we’d do with a big old library. Probably turn it into a bar or something.” Captain King smiled. “You interested in taking it over?”
“You mean,” I said, staring down at the key in my hand. “I would own the library?”
“Aye, why not. Give you a place to live too.”
“Yes.” I couldn’t help but smile, squeezing the key tight and slipping it back inside my pocket. “It will need some work, but yes. I can do it.”
“Sounds great,” Captain King said. “Don’t suppose you’d have room for a lodger too?”
“Lodger?”
“Aye, a guest.” He pushed the girl forwards and her eyes widened.
“Guest?” she mumbled, “me?” She shook her head. “I can’t, I…”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Captain King said, taking a tone like he was her father. “Your house is a ruin and there’s no Katz to look after you anymore. You need somewhere to stay.” The girl turned to me with a sheepish look.
“It’s okay,” I told her. “You can come stay with me. There’s plenty of room and it’d be nice having someone else there. It’s a little bit creepy just on my own.” The pair of them smiled.
“There we go,” Captain King said. “All sorted. You should be on your way, starting to get properly dark now. Think I’ll head back inside, see if those two have killed each other yet.”
“Will you come visit tomorrow?” the girl asked him and he nodded.
“Of course I will. I’m not much of a reader, but I can help you guys redecorate maybe. Place looked a little old fashioned.” He finished off his cigarette and stubbed it out with his heel, then he ruffled the girl’s hair and strode back into the infirmary. The girl watched after him, then she turned to me and chewed on her lip.
“Are you sure it’s okay?” she asked and I tried to give her my best, warming smile.
“What’s your name?”
“Katherine, my name’s Katherine. And you’re Emily, right?”
“Right. Come on, Katherine, let’s go home.” I held out my hand and she took it gently, and together we strolled into the orange glow.
About the author
Chris Barraclough is an award-winning crime author and journalist from Sunderland, now living in London. His debut tongue-in-cheek mystery novel 'Bat Boy' (told from the POV of a blind British boy searching for his father after a family tragedy) took him a sweat-inducing four years to write, but the pain was worth it. Bat Boy won the UK Authors Award and was published by the UKA Press, now available for eReaders.
Most recently, his darkly comic crime novel 'Dead Dogs' was nominated for the Dylan Thomas Sony Reader Award, and the first book in his Twin Towers Estate crime series, ‘Crack’, was shortlisted for the Page Turner Prize and nominated for the SpaSpa Award for best psychological fiction. You can pick up the entire Twin Towers series in two trilogies, and his thrilling The Bitch Is Back series is also now available in two collections.
www.ChrisBarraclough.co.uk
info@chrisbarraclough.co.uk
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