In the three years since she had come to England from Poland she had worked her way up from secretarial temping to a life of subsidised insolence and the promise of future matrimonial security. No need for Philip to know that she passed half of the money he gave her to relatives back home. No nee...
The dealer had stopped talking, the recorder’s red light flicking off as silence descended over the two men. David Gerrald, of number 16 Cromwell Road, Battersea, aged thirty-eight, freelance journalist and mortgage-shackled, stared at the dealer. Of course he had wanted t...
Hurriedly, he turned his wheelchair round, knocking it into a table as he did so and spilling some tea. Just reaching the phone on its last ring, he snatched it up. ‘Hello!’ ‘Samuel, it’s Marshall.’ Samuel sighed, wondering why he was so nervous. Outside the door, Mrs McKendrick began vacuuming; ...
The previous night Ben had slept intermittently, troubled by noises and the image of his dead brother. When he woke he remembered that the skull had been stolen and sat on the side of the bed, his head in his hands. Who had broken into his house? And, more importantly, how had they known the skul...
The tent was smoggy with cigarette fug and the overwhelming smell of beer; two dark-skinned men stood by the entrance taking money, one wearing a T-shirt with a DKNY logo. Staring at Tully, the younger man nodded in recognition and let him move farther inside. His eyes stinging from the thick cig...
He had worked his way through all the books Nino had brought for him and dismissed the art magazines. His respiratory infection now under control, he was feeling more alert but aching to be home, back at the gallery. He knew that he would have to remain in hospital, but his enforced idleness had ...