Killing Me Softly

Killing Me Softly by Nicci French Read Free Book Online Page B

Book: Killing Me Softly by Nicci French Read Free Book Online
Authors: Nicci French
Tags: Fiction, General, Suspense, Psychological, Thrillers, Mystery & Detective
inveigled into your bed.’ Adam didn’t laugh or say anything, so I got embarrassed and clumsily tried to change the subject. ‘I’ve never done much outdoors. Have you climbed big mountains?’
    ‘Sometimes.’
    ‘Really big ones? Like Everest?’
    ‘Sometimes.’
    ‘That’s amazing.’
    He shook his head. ‘It’s not amazing. Everest isn’t…’ he searched for the right word ‘… a technically interesting challenge.’
    ‘Are you saying it’s easy?’
    ‘No, nothing above eight thousand metres is easy. But if you’re not too unlucky with the weather then Everest is a walk-in. People are led up there who aren’t real climbers. They’re just rich enough to hire people who are real climbers.’
    ‘But you’ve been to the top?’
    Adam looked uncomfortable, as if it was difficult to explain to someone who couldn’t possibly understand. ‘I’ve been on the mountain several times. I guided a commercial expedition in ’ninety-four and I went to the summit.’
    ‘What was it like?’
    ‘I hated it. I was on the summit with ten people taking pictures. And the mountain… Everest should be something holy. When I went there it was like a tourist site that was turning into a rubbish dump – old oxygen cylinders, bits of tent, frozen turds all over the place, flapping ropes, dead bodies. Kilimanjaro’s even worse.’
    ‘Have you just been climbing now?’
    ‘Not since last spring.’
    ‘Was that Everest?’
    ‘No. I was one of the guides for hire on a mountain called Chungawat.’
    ‘I’ve never heard of it. Is it near Everest?’
    ‘Pretty near.’
    ‘Is it more dangerous than Everest?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Did you get to the top?’
    ‘No.’
    Adam’s mood had darkened. His eyes were narrow, uncommunicative. ‘What is it, Adam?’ He didn’t reply.
    ‘Is it… ?’ I ran my fingers down his leg to his foot and to the mutilated toes.
    ‘Yes,’ he said.
    I kissed them. ‘Was it very terrible?’
    ‘You mean the toes? Not really.’
    ‘I mean the whole thing.’
    ‘Yes, it was.’
    ‘Will you tell me all about it some day?’
    ‘Some day. Not now.’
    I kissed his foot, his ankle and worked my way up. Some day, I promised myself.
    ‘You look tired.’
    ‘Pressure of work,’ I lied.
    There was one person I hadn’t felt able to put off. I used to meet Pauline almost every week for lunch and usually we’d wander into a shop or two together, where she would watch indulgently as I tried on impractical garments: summer dresses in winter; velvet and wool in summer; clothes for a different life. Today I was walking along with her while she did some shopping. We bought a couple of sandwiches from a bar on the edge of Covent Garden then queued at a coffee shop and then at a cheese shop.
    I immediately knew I’d said the wrong thing. We never said things like ‘pressure of work’ to each other. I suddenly felt like a double agent.
    ‘How’s Jake?’ she asked.
    ‘Very fine,’ I said. ‘The tunnel thing is almost… Jake is lovely. He’s absolutely lovely.’
    Pauline looked at me with a new concern. ‘Is everything all right, Alice? Remember, this is my big brother you’re talking about. If anybody describes Jake as absolutely lovely, there must be some kind of a problem.’
    I laughed and she laughed and the moment passed. She bought her large bag of coffee beans and two takeaway polystyrene cups of coffee and we walked slowly towards Covent Garden and found a bench. This was a bit better. It was a sunny, clear, very cold day, and the coffee burned my lips pleasantly.
    ‘How’s married life?’ I asked.
    Pauline looked at me very seriously. She was a striking woman whose straight dark hair could suggest severity, if you didn’t know better. ‘I’ve stopped taking the Pill,’ she said.
    ‘Because of the scares?’ I asked. ‘It’s not really…’
    ‘No,’ she laughed, ‘I’ve just stopped. I haven’t changed to anything.’
    ‘Oh, my God,’ I said, with a half-scream,

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