The Guest by B.A. Paris

Author:B.A. Paris
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

35

The sound of raised voices drew Iris from the bathroom to the bedroom window. From behind the curtain, she saw Laure and Joseph on the terrace below. They were facing each other, but there was a distance between them, as if Laure had stepped back.

“I can’t.” Laure’s voice traveled to her through the open window.

“You have to,” Joseph insisted, grabbing her arm.

“No.” She pulled away from him. “Not now. I’m going for a run.”

“Laure!” But Laure was already running toward the gate.

Joseph stared after her, then took his phone from his pocket. He had his back to Iris but she could see his head bent over the screen. The next moment, he broke into a run and disappeared around the side of the house. Intrigued, she hurried through to the bedroom at the front of the house and saw him run out of the gate.

She hadn’t seen Laure since lunchtime, when she’d come to see if Iris wanted to join her and Joseph for a sandwich. Shuddering internally at the thought, she had smiled her thanks and said she wasn’t hungry. She barely saw Laure on the days that Joseph came to work, as she spent all her time in the garden. How much use she really was, Iris had no idea.

“How about a run later on, then?” Laure had asked, aware perhaps that she’d been neglecting her in favor of Joseph.

“Thanks, but I’ve got some tidying to do and I plan to have a long bath,” she’d replied.

She’d been tempted to say that she was waiting for a call from Samantha Everett, to see if it would jog Laure’s memory. But what was the point? The damage had already been done.

“Okay.” Laure hadn’t seemed to mind, and Iris couldn’t help thinking how much had changed since she’d first arrived.

“Pierre should be back in Paris this weekend. Do you have any plans to go and see him?”

“Not at the moment. I’ll wait to see if he contacts me.”

As Iris returned to her bedroom, her phone rang. It was Gabriel.

“Just checking to see how you are,” he said.

“That’s nice of you. I’m fine. I’m about to have a bath.”

“Good. Did you see Laure at all?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“I didn’t mention Samantha Everett, if that’s what you mean.” She paused. “I think she had a row with Joseph.”

“Really? That doesn’t sound good. I hope we don’t have even more pieces to pick up. I heard him telling her to back off earlier.”

“Her place is with Pierre, not Joseph. I asked her earlier if she planned to go and see him, given that he’ll be back in Paris this weekend. She said she didn’t. Sometimes I wonder if she’ll be with us forever.”

“There’s absolutely no way,” Gabriel said so fiercely that Iris could imagine his face darkening. “Forgetting to tell you about Samantha is the last straw. We can’t tiptoe around her anymore.”

“How about you?” Iris asked, hurriedly. “Have you had a good day?”

“Not bad. If I’d stuck to the main roads it would have been

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