“I think you should both leave,” Julia said. “I’d appreciate your doing so at once.”

To my hysterical astonishment, Bella tried appealing to her, a move I found grotesquely inhuman. “Who do you mean, Julia?”

“Are you seriously asking that? Not Roy. Not my poor son.”

For a moment I thought Bella would refuse to leave, lingering until some aspect of her presence overwhelmed everyone in the room. Then she gave a shrug that I imagined flexing the hollows in her shoulders and sauntered past Julia into the hall. I thought it best to keep an eye on her, but I hadn’t reached the hall when I heard her open the front door. As I made for it, Julia stayed alongside. “You’ve excelled yourself, Patrick. I wouldn’t have thought even you could be that jealous,” she said, and with further loathing “I wonder if you broke the law.”

She shut the door as soon as I was out of the house. No doubt she’d seen Bella waiting beyond the gate. I was determined not to be daunted by the sight – by the small face concentrated around those great eyes like emblems of a secret close to revelation, or a threat withholding its words. “Shall I take you back where you live?” I said.

“I’ve no need of you, Patrick. You’ll wish I had.” She turned away in the direction of the abandoned hotel, and I made for my car. As it unlocked with a chorus of clicks I heard her voice at my back. “Expect me any time,” it said. She sounded close enough to touch, but when I glanced around, the street was as empty as death.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The Constant Visitor