The woman reread the newspaper report about a Joan Doe discovered mutilated at Rushcutters Bay. It made her stomach shudder and she hid it, quickly, out of sight. She knew she should not be reading it. Breathing deeply, she leant forward in her chair and applied strong brush strokes, slowly, surely, across the clean white canvas. She didn’t like the man before her but she didn’t have a choice. The green would make good skin coloring she thought, wickedly, and began mixing the palate, relishing the sensuality of the paint as yellow merged with blue to form a glowing green hue. It reminded her of Limrock Lane and the old days, before. Things weren’t so good now but at least she had her paints. It was really all she needed.
Chapter 3: Catching Up
The frothy white foam was missing its chocolate sprinkles and Lorraine Jones was about to complain when she noticed Roxy’s scowl and shut her lips. Her daughter had no patience for her, she knew that, and she knew why. They were like chalk and cheese, it had to be said, there was no helping that. But she really wished her daughter would try slightly harder to be a little more, well, accommodating.
‘I don’t know why you like this place,’ she said, unable to help herself as Roxy stared into her latté.
‘It’s full of...’ she lowered her voice a little, ‘gays.’
‘So?’
‘So. So you’ll never meet a husband in here.’
‘Who says I want to meet a husband?’
‘Well you have to meet one to marry one, dear,’ her mother scolded, missing the point. Or at least pretending to.
If you enjoyed this excerpt, look for Killer Twist
by C.A. Larmer
• Other books by C.A. Larmer:
A Plot to Die For
Last Writes
Dying Words
An Island Lost
Words Can Kill
An Island Lost
calarmerspits.blogspot.com.au
The Agatha Christie Book Club Page 28
