BooksBarbecue
Back The Guardian of Lies Save as PDF
Chapters (56)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. CHAPTER ONE
  4. CHAPTER TWO
  5. CHAPTER THREE
  6. CHAPTER FOUR
  7. CHAPTER FIVE
  8. CHAPTER SIX
  9. CHAPTER SEVEN
  10. CHAPTER EIGHT
  11. CHAPTER NINE
  12. CHAPTER TEN
  13. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  14. CHAPTER TWELVE
  15. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  16. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  18. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  20. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  21. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  22. CHAPTER TWENTY
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  32. CHAPTER THIRTY
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  42. CHAPTER FORTY
  43. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  52. Acknowledgements
  53. ‘The Survivors’ Ad
  54. ‘The Betrayal’ Ad
  55. ‘The Liberation’ Ad
  56. Copyright

‘Or I will go to the police. Your Smith & Wesson gun has just been found beside the dead body of Gilles Bertin in Arles, so they will be interested in talking to you anyway. Even though you reported your gun stolen, they will be aware that it could be a set-up for using it in a crime. The police and the voters of Serriac are going to be crawling all over everything you’ve ever done. I hope your tracks are well covered.’

Rain ran in rivulets down his cheeks, his carefully groomed hair flattened to his head, but he made no attempt to move away. His lips were bone white. I wanted to hate this man who had put my father through such hell but all I felt was disgust. I felt dirty just sharing the same sodden air with him.

‘A name?’ I repeated.

But I’d underestimated this man. A crack of thunder rolled above our heads and though I saw his lips move, I heard nothing. I thought he was about to take his secateurs to me, then bury me in his sodden rose bed.

‘Do you know, Eloïse, what I did a few years ago to teach your father a lesson when he refused to pay up any more?’

I wouldn’t play his game. I said nothing. But I felt the cold rain seeping much deeper than my bones.

‘When he refused to pay,’ the mayor continued, slowly lowering the secateurs and dropping the crushed petals on the wet grass, ‘I told your brother André about what your father did. He refused to believe me at first, so I showed him the newspaper cutting.’ Durand’s lips pulled into a thin smile. ‘It seems he went home, had a blazing row with your father and left immediately for Paris.’

That is when the hate came. A cold wave of it crashed down on me. ‘I will make you regret that,’ I spat at him through the rain.

I spun away and hurried back to the pathway. He let me get almost as far as the house, my skirts plastered to my legs, the raindrops landing like small bullets on my broken nose.

‘Wait,’ he called.

I waited, but looked over my shoulder, eyes screwed up against the rain.

He hadn’t moved. ‘Mickey Ashton,’ he shouted. ‘He was my source.’ Another crack of thunder almost drowned out his next words. ‘Now it’s your friend, Major Dirke.’

A chasm seemed to open up inside me. Was Durand telling the truth? Or was this another lie to add to the pile in my pocket?

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

LÉON ROUSSEL