Treasonous
Page 31
“I don’t think, Bill,” I said, and tried to say it in a kind way. “For the people she left behind, it is best not to think at all.”
“Now I’ve made you angry,” said Bill. “I knew it would.” He took a large handkerchief out of a pocket and blew his nose noisily.
“You lost a friend,” I said. “That is worse than losing a lover.”
“But you lost both,” he said. “I still ask myself: why did she do it?”
“Maybe we’ll find out one day,” I said. “In the meantime, get me more of that delicious veal, and let’s see if we can finish the bottle of Chardonnay.”
I placed the folder of photos in the bottom drawer of my desk. Then I stepped out onto the balcony. My sliver of sea was lying calm and polished, syphoning the spilt milk of the moon up to shore in a wobbly line.
“It’s your journalist, isn’t it? Sandy.”
Robyn stood at the door of the balcony, wearing nothing but a sheet from my bed. Her head was shaved and a jagged scar arched over her left ear. It was a look which should have robbed her of her femininity but which somehow only enhanced her appeal.
“Someone photographed her,” I said. “Recently, in Johannesburg.”
Robyn came to join me and shivered from the cold.
“You’ll have to go and find her,” she said.
“For what purpose? She doesn’t want to be found.”
“It’s not what she wants, Ben. It’s for you. You’re trapped by her, don’t you see? You need to confront her. Get some closure.”
“Closure? Fat-Boy told me you were a psychologist.”
“Not just for you, Ben. Do it for me, because we cannot happen, can we? Don’t you see that? Not until you’ve moved on.”
She smiled, and I wished for all the world that it wasn’t true.
“Besides, I like the City of Gold,” she said.
“Chandler warned me about you. Said I should be careful.”
“And so you should,” said Robyn. “Colonel Steven Chandler knows me better than anyone. Well, almost anyone.”
She stood up, dropped the sheet to the ground and walked back to the door.
“It’s cold out here, Ben. When you’re done punishing yourself and gazing into the distance, come inside and warm up.”
Contents
GET EXCLUSIVE GABRIEL MATERIAL
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
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About the Author
David Hickson is an award-winning filmmaker and writer from South Africa. His work has included internationally released feature films, television series and live entertainment television shows.
David travelled to Italy in 2010, an adventure that he and his family, including two young troublemakers and an assortment of very spoilt and demanding domestic animals, are still enjoying. He loves walking and cycling in the hills of Italy, drinking the local wine, and telling stories that entertain and stir the emotions of his readers.
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Also by David Hickson
Have you read them all?
Treasonous - The Gabriel Series - Book One
A journalist’s dead body is pulled from the waters of Cape Town harbour, and disillusioned ex-assassin Ben Gabriel wonders whether he died because of questions he was asking about the new president. Gabriel knows that sometimes it takes one killer to stop another, and will do anything to discover the truth, even if that means stepping outside the law. (You’re reading it now!)
Murderous - The Gabriel Series - Book Two
When a massacre in a small country church shatters an Afrikaans farming community, the message that this is “only the beginning” sparks the fear of genocide. The Department asks Ben Gabriel to apply his unconventional approach to discover the truth behind the massacre - a task made more difficult by the intensive search to find a large number of gold bars stolen from one of the country’s most powerful men.
Vengeful - The Gabriel Series - Book Three
A series of prominent members of South African society are being brutally murdered. When the police discover that a certain Ben Gabriel recently visited each of them, he becomes a hunted man. And when Gabriel is linked to a multi-million dollar gold heist, his life becomes even more complicated.
Copyright © 2021 by David Hickson
The moral right of David Hickson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons living of dead is purely coincidental.
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