A Quiet Vendetta by R.J. Ellory Read Free Book Online

must give me something in return.’
    Verlaine nodded. He was aware of the rules.
    ‘Someone was found dead in the trunk of a car,’ Feraud said matter-of-factly. ‘You believe there is something I might know about this and you have come to ask me.’
    Verlaine nodded once again. He did not question how Feraud knew who he was or why he had come.
    ‘And what makes you think that I might know something of such a thing?’ Feraud asked.
    ‘Because I know who you are, and because I know enough to realize there is nothing that escapes your attention,’ Verlaine said.
    Feraud frowned, raised his right hand and took a draw from his cigarette. He did not exhale through his mouth but allowed the smoke to creep in thin tendrils from each nostril and obscure his face for a second. He wafted the brim of his panama hat and the smoke hurried away revealing his face once more.
    ‘I received a message,’ Verlaine said.
    ‘A message?’
    ‘It was simply one word: Always.’
    The old man smiled. ‘Seems the whole world believes I have something to do with everything,’ he said.
    Verlaine smiled with him.
    ‘So tell me a little about your man in the trunk of his car.’
    ‘His heart was cut out,’ Verlaine said. ‘Someone cut his heart out, and then replaced it in his chest. They drove him across town in the back seat of a beautiful old car, and then they put him in the trunk and we found him three days later. Right now we have very little to go on, but there was one thing. Whoever killed him drew a pattern on his back, a pattern that looked like the Gemini constellation.’
    Feraud’s expression registered nothing. He was silent for some seconds, seconds that drew themselves into minutes. The feeling within the room was one of breathless tension, anticipatory and oppressive.
    ‘Gemini,’ he eventually said.
    ‘That’s right,’ Verlaine said. ‘Gemini.’
    Feraud shook his head. ‘The heart was removed, and then replaced in the chest?’
    Verlaine nodded.
    Feraud leaned forward slightly. He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. ‘I think you may have a problem,’ he said quietly, his voice almost a whisper.
    Verlaine frowned.
    ‘If this is who I think it might be . . . well, if this is—’ Feraud looked up at Verlaine, his transparent eyes now sharp and direct. ‘You have a serious problem, and I do not believe there is anything I can do to help you.’
    ‘But—’ Verlaine started.
    ‘I will tell you this, and then we will not discuss this any more.’ Feraud stated bluntly. ‘The man you are looking for does not come from here. He was once one of us, but not now, not for many years. He comes from the outside, and he will bring with him something that is big enough to swallow us all.’ Feraud leaned back. Once again he closed his eyes for a moment. ‘Walk away,’ he said. ‘Turn and walk away from this quickly and quietly, and if you believe in God then pray that whatever might have been the purpose of this killing has been served. This is not something you should go looking for, you understand?’
    Verlaine shook his head. ‘You must give me something. If there is something you know you must tell me—’
    Feraud once again raised his hand. ‘I am not obligated to tell you anything,’ he said, his voice edged with irritation. ‘You will leave now, go back to the city and attend to your business. Do not come here again, and do not ask anything of me regarding this matter. This is not something I am part of, nor is it something I wish to become involved in.’
    Feraud turned and nodded at the man to his right. The man stepped forward, and without uttering a word made it clear that Verlaine should leave. Confused and disoriented, he was shown to the door, and once out on the veranda he started walking back the way he’d come, again feeling that eyes were burning right through him, his heart thudding in his chest, sweat glistening his forehead – a sensation that he had somehow walked into something