Chapters (49)
- Cover
- Table of Contents
- Also by Graham Hurley
- LIMELIGHT
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- AFTERWARDS
An hour later, I’ve settled in. Evelyn is spoiling me with industrial-strength gin and tonics and a giant plate of canapés. The canapés are an extravagant riff on her usual theme of olives, steamed asparagus and anchovies, married to rich twists of sundried tomato. These are flavours she knows I adore and, apart from the silence outside, we could easily be back in Holland Park, with yours truly reporting back after another day on the showbiz front line. Except that this latest adventure is hers, not mine, and I’m keen to know more about her neighbour.
‘They’ve been here a while, him and his partner. She’s lovely. Impossible not to like.’
‘And him?’
‘Difficult.’
‘Difficult how?’
‘Difficult to like.’ Evelyn frowns, reaches for another canapé, then hesitates. ‘No, that’s unfair. Difficult to make a judgement about would be kinder. He’s hard to talk to, hard to pin down. There’s lots to admire about him, not least Christianne, and I know he’ll help anyone who really needs it and has the courage to ask.’
‘Courage? Why would you need to be brave?’
‘Because he’s forbidding. And because he doesn’t have much time for conversation.’
‘Is he shy?’
‘Not at all. Neither is he lazy. Back in the summer, just after I’d first arrived, I happened to mention to Christianne a new flower bed I wanted dug and Andy was on it like a flash the next day. I explained what I was after and said I was happy to pay, but he wouldn’t hear of it. I thought the work would take the best part of a week. He did it in a day and a half.’ She shook her head at the memory. ‘Remarkable. He never stopped, never wasted a spade full of earth, sorted every weed, gave me exactly what I wanted. I offered him lunch on the second day, but he said no. Fresh lemonade was the closest I got to the man. And you know something else? Back then, it was hot. He was working in shorts and that matters in this little story because it was only then that I realized he’s only got one leg. Think prosthetic, my love.’ She put her hand on my right knee. ‘His starts from here downwards.’
‘So how come?’ I ask, thinking of the scars on his face.