Miss Treadway & the Field of Stars. Miranda Emmerson
Чтение книги онлайн.

Читать онлайн книгу Miss Treadway & the Field of Stars - Miranda Emmerson страница 19

Название: Miss Treadway & the Field of Stars

Автор: Miranda Emmerson

Издательство: HarperCollins

Жанр: Зарубежные детективы

Серия:

isbn: 9780008170585

isbn:

СКАЧАТЬ beautiful?’

      Her daughter stared back at her with a look of sheer bemusement.

      Ottmar thought of Rashida in her posh girls’ school. And Samira, poor clever Samira, who hadn’t quite made the grade. He blamed himself, he blamed Ekin, he blamed the whole world. Neither Ekin nor he had been able to read English when they arrived so Sami had had to pull herself through school. Struggling and failing and making all the mistakes so that Rashida might succeed after her. Yet she was the clever one, Ottmar always felt this – Samira was the talker, the thinker. It was their fault she’d failed the eleven-plus and a piece of supreme injustice that Rashida had passed. Samira, who would have loved that girls’ school so much, who would have sucked up every piece of knowledge available, who would have carved a greater path in the world than the one she would carve now.

      She’s only sixteen, he told himself: there’s time. But a terrible, sick part of himself said it was already too late. He’d had a clever uncle and a good mind but without the right education, without the private income, he’d had nothing to protect him. When the hard times came he had lived without a shell. He told his girls that in the Alabora he had built himself a little world from his dreams and that was – in part – true. The Alabora, with its turquoise walls and sunset-coloured chairs, its silver-framed mirrors and red and gold embroidered bunting was a vision from a dream he had; but it was a dream of childhood. It was a dream of visiting his uncle in Istanbul and sitting in the coffee shops watching the men smoking and playing chess. It was not, as Ottmar would have them believe, a dream that he wished to recreate in adult life.

      He was a cafe owner – little more than a serf, what with business partners and taxes and the local council. His daughter did not tell her fellow students what her father did, though she did sometimes mention her great-uncle who had lectured on the epic poets in the great university at Istanbul. He would, he thought now, become the forgotten generation. Oh, Ottmar – he was the one who came from Cyprus to England. His great achievement: a boat ride across the sea.

      ***

      Aloysius insisted on paying both their fares. ‘I’m dragging you across London. It’s the least I can do. Really. We’ll have a little walk at the other end unless we change but I love this journey, there’s this view over the river and … You don’t mind a little walk?’ Anna shook her head with a smile, the bell clanged, the 2A drew into a stream of traffic and they went to find themselves seats upstairs.

      For the first few minutes neither of them spoke. In that strange and hurried conversation on the corner of the Edgware Road Anna had found herself caught up in the excitement of chasing Iolanthe. At last she had a clue, a lead; she knew something Sergeant Hayes did not. She had sped through the streets to Baker Street, Aloysius taking her arm as they crossed each road. She had felt daring and unconstrained. A single woman running through the darkness with a handsome black man at her side. She hoped that people would see them and wonder who they were. She hoped that people thought they might be lovers.

      But now, under the unromantic glow of London bus lighting, she felt sweaty and unkempt. The two men travelling at the front of the bus had turned round and stared at her and Aloysius and then they’d laughed a hard and dirty laugh that had no hint of generosity about it. Aloysius himself seemed much more uncomfortable now that they had settled in for the journey and when the men started making monkey noises he asked her: ‘Would you like me to go and sit in the seat behind? Then no one would think anything about it.’

      ‘No!’ said Anna, though a little part of her wanted to answer ‘Yes’. Aloysius touched her hand very briefly then he picked up his briefcase and slid quietly into the seat behind her. Anna turned, knowing that she should say something but Aloysius smiled a weary smile at her.

      ‘It doesn’t matter,’ he said. ‘We can still talk.’

      Anna turned in her seat so that they would be face to face and she’d feel less ashamed in her acceptance that they should sit apart.

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAu4AAAR/CAIAAADLlfRBAAAACXBIWXMAAC4jAAAuIwF4pT92AAAH aWlDQ1BQaG90b3Nob3AgSUNDIHByb2ZpbGUAAHjalZVZVJMHHsX/35KVkEAIEJDlg7AbSEBkFQqE VfZVwJUkHxAJJCZhq2LpqIjiAlYsVRAVpI4riFAcl0pFK+JYgQq44AZapVgVR9SplnngzLEvnXPm Pv3OPee/PN0LQOcFh4aEoUEA+QU6TVJECJGekUnQhgEDFJhAA+csmVYNfy0EYHoIEACAQVdplERS n+958Fhz2DQvv641kcXNh/8thkyt0QFQewCgV05qZQC0agBYV6xT6wDgJQDwNClJEgAEB6Csz/kT S//EmvSMTABqJQDwcma5HgB40lluBQBeekYmMXv208+yQk3RrIeeBQAmGIM1uIAnBEIUJMNSyAUN lMFGqIF6aIFWOAOX4AbchnF4Ae8RDGEjfESAuCLeSAgSgyxCspA8pAgpRzYjtUgjchg5hZxHepFB ZBR5ikwhH1EaaohaoA6oGPVHw9AENBMlUTW6Gq1Aa9B69BDajn6P9qHD6Bj6Av2A0TFjzBYTYQuw KCwNk2Ma7AtsK7YHO4x1YZexm9g49hpHcUPcBhfjQXgCvgJX4+V4Db4fP4lfxH/GH+NvKXSKOUVI CaQkUGSUQkolZQ/lOKWbcpPylPKBakC1o/pQY6lZ1CJqFXUftYPaR31AnaaxaAKaLy2elk0ro+2k HaVdpN2hvabr0QV0f3oKPZ9eQW+kd9EH6JMMKoNg+DFSGSrGZsZBRjfjLuMdk8cUM2OZCmYFs4l5 gXmP+buemZ63XqqeTm+HXpveDb2XLA5LxIpnqVjbWa2sftaUvpH+fP00/RL93frn9O+zUbY9O4qt ZFezT7FH2B85NpxwTh6nhtPJuWuAGjgZxBsUGTQY9BhMGhoZ+hvKDbcYdhje49K47txM7nruce4t I9xIZJRptMGozWiUx+B58WS8at453oQx3zjcWGfcZDxggpiITVaYVJtcMHlpamOaZLrOtMP0Cd+M H80v47fyx8xMzRaarTVrN/vF3MI80bzC/Kz51BynOcvn1M65ZoFb+FtoLY5YjFtaWqZZbrfstcKs AqyKrU5aPbd2tpZb77MeJcyINOIrot+GYxNrU2Vz1ZZhG2lbaXtFQBdECTYJ+uxYdnF21XYD9sb2 6fZ77O87CBxyHI46vHL0clzj+IMT3SnOqdbprrOds9L5lPMHlzCXbS4jc23nKud2ChFhjLBOOOYq dl3j2utm4iZza3ObEcWJGkSTYn9xlfiuu9C9zP26B+Gh8eiZZzpv5bxznoaepOfp+ez5svldXmwv udcZb663wvuCD99nlU+vr63vGt8hP7HfZr/H/kH+9f7vFqQsaAtgB+QF9AY6BlYEPv4s9LPmIDxI HnQp2CG4MngiJCbkhIQrKZTcCg0IPRBGC8sPGwj3CW+MoEbkR9yMDIhsieJElUQ9WhizsDPaJnpL 9LsYeUx/bEDskTh+XEXcm3h5/GCCJKE9UZC4M4maVJw0kbwk+aeUkJTOVJfUxjRe2ua0mUVFiybT 5el3MpIz+jJDM88v9l7ctkS45Nultkv3LjNf9vVy3vKaFZwV27JYWVuketIqGUu2Vc6WV5Ncsjab n12fQ+Q05zrnnlB4Ks6sDF55JS8hb0SZpXyWr83/WLBRxVU1qJ3VHauCV13XLNFMaEt0NN2uQofC zqKIopFiRfGHkm2lNqUdn0d+Prpas4a2pqFsXtnVtVlr339RU+5SfvHLJV9O/61mnXDdj+tlG2BD Q4VfxcjG4krjyo5NqZvebN5V5V11a8vqrVZbu7eR2xnbj1cnV7+vadwRvuP5V7U7A3Y+qd2+y3fX 2Ndb63zrxr+p2R2we2JPXX14/ZuG5r0pjXhjx76c/fz9fQfKmtybHjd/czCuBWs5/a36kOOhe3/f dTj+CP1I99HVx7yOvTp+7ISi1aF1rG3/yeXtVu2jpxo6lnVadT747kAXedrp9K//aD2jO+t7dubc 5fNbvk+5YHFhvPvYD8UXg3tYPcOXmi6rflxwhXFluLflamFf2DXja0/++d31TT8tvuHWj/YPDRwe LP859aZwCBu6PXxypOqW/HbgHf6d13evjx6+t/G+/EHIQ+LhzKN7Y+fHGx+XP5H+EvrU8Rnz2W8T g792Te59vv63vBfJL/1f2U3pT719/fBf1950TTe/rXm39r3y34t/X/jB76PLH3Nm9GdmPuVySwlA 4h8AAJ88150AuwkAw6WfPNteAKNHAN03dGSJDgBAolKXahQ5uTrCSeJMeIjF3oS0lJColCoNkaxS FuoUqgKtkAhWKokkRU6uTkskkVpSU0TK3YgYhYws0JKEnNRlKZRaQpZVQEhJIltVWCAnVAV+RK5O p/YTiYqLi91ImcJNpckRkTKFiCwQkTJFUkSImzpXzRQQyaSSlOlIuZCQFuqIApWOyFfJFdkKUi4k pKVEZJZGTWokKqVSUaAlEgqlSoU2l9RoidRoQgAAMNt/AADAjpQkELPLiSKP/7alPkSCBBKAABJk oIAkiIAQIKAIPP5q5P/VfwBbvqbpOzxixQAAACBjSFJNAACHCgAAjA0AAQW3AACA6AAAUgUAARVb AAA2rwAAH0EC0NxpAAzCmElEQVR42tz97ZZk2W0lCGID51wzjwgmSUlVqqnq1fO6/STza95qetaa 6laJVH5EuN0DYM8P4Fwzz0yyWJJYUncsMldmhIe72bXzAWzsD/xv/+//lzAFIiKqSso6PTNE4O5J UVWIABjDxqGqAIaqChARZBrAZJKAqIEp7g6oGkgChABqCpAkE9CIcE+z+t5CESEhYJJCGyb1goT7 f0qhJEkRACoiyExmQhVQQCSZmSICqEBUVeq3M0VIgaoByCQYJEXEV2SGmo051ExESApThExJMiLG GKoqpAgyw5fbmCTXuQDLDJJjGCmZISJmNo8BiEcKRQRqhAigBNHvS4QCYMwJHet8rwfOTF+pCjMF RBSAig5AJSNzifA8w1dCOG9jjkERhUakh89hqgYbFJFISrq7L88UEWESAIUZAcCGqekcBhUIsL+J iJhqMhVqw9zXjz+8MwXITABy3A4A5+PMTFLqSQICwFQpspYDYsPGmBCJTBGZZsfbsDEBBVDPU5iZ 8cP3X91jHpOZ7k6RYTamkTwfK1MgQiGgIiRTAAhIQurdQ4QkzQYgEUECKrVShRQIBKp2f5vjNhQT 0GSSQSYItQEISSYFFGZmRmatWgqECRGKhEcmPaLWCKV+ СКАЧАТЬ