The Thief by Ruth Rendell Read Free Book Online Page B

distant, ‘I suppose you’ll want another drink?’
    ‘No,’ she said. ‘I’ve had too much.’
    ‘At least you know it and that’s something. Sit down then.’ He sat facing her and took both her hands in his. ‘A lot of strange things have been going on. Let’s talk about it.’
    Feeling her hands held in his made her feel better at once. ‘Talk about what?’
    ‘Well, I believed your story about falling asleep on the bus. But I don’t believe it now. You said you were shopping this morning, but your dad saw you in Willesden. And this evening. You didn’t go to Louise’s. Louise told me on Friday she was away for the weekend. She was just leaving when I phoned. And then there was that fool who said he was the Komodo dragon. What’s going on, Polly?’
    ‘Nothing’s going on. Really and truly. It’s nothing.’
    He kept hold of her hands. ‘Are you seeing someone else?’
    ‘Oh, no, of course not. Of course I’m not.’
    ‘Sure? I’d rather know now.’
    ‘There’s nothing to know. I promise you. I love you, Alex. There couldn’t be anyone else, not ever.’
    ‘It’s just that when you went to New York to Lizzie’s wedding I thought, I could go too but she won’t want me. If she’d wanted me, why didn’t she ask? Is she meeting some man in New York? Is he coming back with her? And then when I met you at Heathrow you were so pleased to see me, you looked so happy, I thought I must be wrong.’
    ‘You were wrong,’ she said. ‘You’d been so generous, buying me a ticket in club class. I was so grateful that I didn’t want to go and leave you.’ She clutched at his hands, lifted them to her lips and kissed them. ‘I’ve never known you jealous before.’
    ‘Oh, I was. I always was. I didn’t let you see, that’s all.’

CHAPTER SEVEN
    L IGHT-HEARTED NOW, SHE got up early, had the washing in the machine by eight, her washing and Alex’s and Lant’s clothes. It’s going to be a good day, she thought. The sun was shining and it was less cold. There were pink flowers on the tree in the garden next door and tulips coming out in tubs. She took a cup of tea up to Alex. He would stay in bed to drink it while she took the things out of the washing machine. Just in case he noticed Lant’s clothes.
    They shared the housework. He might say he would do the ironing. So she quickly ironed Lant’s yellow shirt and a green one. By the time Alex came down, Lant’s clothes were packed in a plastic bag and wrapped in brown paper, ready for the post.
    It was like spring outside. She walked about, touching the new buds on the trees, smelling the air. Now everything was cleared up, she thought, Alex would ask her to marry him. He would probably ask her today. When she had taken up his tea he had said something about taking her out to lunch. It was to be at a pub on the river. Or he might wait until this evening to ask her. After dark was more romantic. They could have a June wedding. Where would they go on honeymoon? Not New York, definitely not New York, though it was said to be nice in June.
    She went inside and found Alex in the kitchen.
    ‘You’ve been busy,’ he said. ‘Do you want me to iron that lot?’
    ‘If you like.’
    It felt so good having nothing else to be afraid of, to know that she could tell the truth now. I will never tell any more lies, she said to herself. I will never tell him I’ve been somewhere I haven’t been or done something I haven’t done. I will change. I will be a different person. I will be the person he thought I was before last Friday.
    He had started on the ironing, had already ironed a shirt of his own. Now he pulled out from the basket an orange T-shirt. It was Lant’s. She had missed it when she was ironing his clothes. She had done all the rest and packed them but she had missed this T-shirt. Alex lifted it up, looked at it.
    ‘Is this yours, Polly?’
    ‘Yes, of course,’ she lied.
    ‘A strange colour for you. Did you buy it in New