2026-10-27 23:09:57
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Chapter 828
Alex looked at the little blue box in her hands as if he had never seen it before."A kind lady gave it to me," he said."A kind lady? Why?""For being good." He nodded hard, pleased with the answer. "She said I was very good.""Very good at what?""Standing still," he said proudly. "I'm the best at it."It was true. She could hear that it was true. And it sounded exactly like a child's lie.Then she closed the box. She did not ask again."Will you put it on me?" she said instead. "My hands are still stiff."She turned her back to him, careful of the bandage, and lifted her hair. His fingers fumbled at the clasp. Once. Twice. He dropped the end down the back of her collar."Alex, it's a clasp. It isn't a lock.""It's a tiny clasp," he said, keeping a straight face. "Clearly meant for a lady with dainty hands. My big paws are struggling here, so be patient with me while we work on our truce."She laughed before she could stop it. The clasp closed with a tiny click. The jade settled col
Chapter 827
Natasha Vale did not answer at once.She walked past Patricia as if she were a puddle and looked at the vase for exactly one breath."A market copy," she said. "A few dollars.""That's a lie!" Patricia cried. Then she remembered who she was talking to. "I mean... with respect, Ms. Vale, you've hardly looked at it."Natasha's eyes moved along the brown lines under the newspaper."Broken once already," she said. "And glued. Badly.""I did say somebody already did the puzzle," Alex said brightly.He wandered over to the old door and began to swing it like a bored child. In, and back. In, and back. The old latch clanked."It only goes this way," he told Gideon. "In. See? It's a silly door."Natasha watched it swing inward, away from the step."And that door never touched it," she said. "It opens into the room. Somebody stood outside and dropped this on the step."Every face in the yard turned to Patricia."You knocked," Serena said quietly. "You called my name. 'Serena, darling, are you t
Chapter 826
Patricia came back across the yard with the stick, thick as a broom handle and dark with old rain."Patricia," Gideon said. "What are you doing with that?""Helping," Patricia said."Put it down," Serena said quietly."Kneel, and I will.""No."Patricia's mouth went thin. She took the stick in both hands and swung it low and hard at the backs of Serena's legs, with all her weight behind it.Nobody was looking at the idiot.By the shards, Alex flicked a little stone without looking up, the way a man brushes off a fly.The stone hit Patricia's knuckles with a sharp little crack.Her hand jerked. The stick swept past Serena's legs by a finger's width and kept going, round and up, whistling.It smacked Patricia full in her own face.Thwack.For one second the yard was perfectly silent.Patricia swayed, a red stripe rising across her nose. Her lipstick had gone sideways."Oh!" Marissa put both hands over her mouth. "Not on the face, Patricia! You have to be seen!"Cordelia coughed into her
Chapter 825
Serena's thumb hovered over the screen.For a moment nobody in the yard spoke.Then Marissa found her voice, the way she always did when money was in the air."Well, I'm not paying it," she said. "Don't anybody look at me. Gideon, don't look at me either. Who pays if she doesn't? Not us. We don't have a million dollars. We don't have a million of anything.""We have a lot of curlers," Gideon said quietly."Gideon!""Sorry, dear."Patricia didn't laugh. She was watching Serena the way a cat watches a bird with a broken wing.Alex shuffled nearer the blue and white pieces, squatted on his heels, and turned one shard over with a finger."Is it a puzzle?" he asked.Everyone looked at him."Is it a puzzle?" he said again, hopefully. "I'm good at puzzles."Cordelia rolled her eyes to the grey sky. "Somebody take the idiot back to his kennel."The whole yard laughed. One of Marissa's curlers fell out and bounced on the stones."Look at him, Serena," Patricia sang. "Your husband. Your knight.
Chapter 824
Serena hit the cobbles back first.The stones bit through the white bandages under her blouse, and the pain went through her like a hot wire. Two nights ago, in Victor Russell's house, four lashes had split that back open. It had not healed.She did not cry out. She lay still in the pale light under the low grey sky, and breathed.All round the garage-wing doorstep, pieces of blue and white china glittered on the wet black stones. One curved piece still showed half a painted bird, its blue wing broken off at the shoulder."You take everything!" Patricia screamed down at her. "Everything! My position. My fame. And now my vase! This vase was given to me by Grandma. It's worth a million dollars. How dare you break it!"At the yard gate, Alex stood very still.The jewel box sat warm against his heart, inside his old brown jacket.Now there was grit in her hair."Patricia," Serena said, and pushed herself up on one elbow. "I never touched it.""Liar!""I only opened the door."It was the t
Chapter 823
Alex did not argue.He wandered along the glass instead, hands behind his back, and read every little price card, moving his lips."No touching unless you're buying," Gina said."I'm only reading! Is that wrong?" Alex said."It's wrong for you to even walk in here. Poor people have no right to set foot in this place.""Do you know how arrogant you are, judging people like that?" Alex asked mildly. "You're not rich yourself.""Maybe not. But I'm still much richer than you."Alex nodded to himself, as if that settled it, and turned for the door."That's right, sweetheart, off you go," Gina called after him. "This place isn't for you. Try the stalls on the fish quay. That's more your place.""Is that jacket meant to be vintage?" said one of the other shop girls. "So desperate to look rich."The shop laughed.Round the corner, out of sight of the windows, he took out his old phone."Natasha. Larkspur's, on the high street. Come. Hurry. Bring money. I want to buy something.""Yes, sir. I'm
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