Soft (38 page)

That morning, after the press conference, he had walked up to Connor and congratulated him on his performance. Connor smiled stiffly, but said nothing; the ease and calmness that had always come so naturally to him suddenly appeared to require an effort. At one point Jimmy took a quick breath, thinking he might ask something, then he decided that the timing was inappropriate. But Connor had already noticed, of course.

‘You have a question, James?'

Jimmy hesitated. ‘Glade Spencer …'

‘Yes?' Connor was looking directly into Jimmy's eyes.

‘Who was she?'

‘Who was she?' Connor said. ‘I honestly don't know.'

His gaze had no depth to it, only surface, and the surface was hard and shiny, like lacquer or enamel. In the end Jimmy had to look away, as if he was the guilty party. As if the responsibility was his.

A horn sounded behind him.

‘All right, all right,' he muttered.

He let the clutch out fast and pulled away from the lights, leaving the woman leaning on her window-sill, not thinking anything, just breathing, dreaming.

RUPERT THOMSON
is the author of eight highly acclaimed novels, of which
Air and Fire
and
The Insult
were shortlisted for the Writer's Guild Fiction Prize and the
Guardian
Fiction Prize respectively. His most recent novel,
Death of a Murderer
, was shortlisted for the 2008 Costa Novel Award. His memoir
This Party's Got to Stop
was published in 2010.

 

Fiction

Dreams of Leaving
The Five Gates of Hell
Air and Fire
The Insult
The Book of Revelation
Divided Kingdom
Death of a Murderer

 

Non-fiction

This Party's Got to Stop

First published 1998

Copyright © 1998 by Rupert Thomson

This electronic edition published in 2012 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Line from ‘Hotel California' by the Eagles:

Words and music by Don Henley, Don Felder, Glenn Frey

© 1976 Warner Bros Music Corp, USA, Warner/Chappell Music Ltd, London W6 8BS

Reproduced by permission of International Music Publications Ltd

The characters, companies and brand names in this novel are entirely fictitious and any similarity with real people, companies or products is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages

The moral right of the author has been asserted

A CIP catalogue record for this book

is available from the British Library

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP

eISBN: 978 1 4088 3321 6

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