JACK OF DIAMONDS

A SERIAL NOVEL

Photo by Alexander Ramsey on Unsplash

CHAPTER 28

CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM-EATER

Sonia sat down slowly and closed the Bentley’s door, listening to the door as it click shut. She found herself leaning back into the soft leather seat, trying to wrap her mind around what had just happened. Still, she congratulated herself for not slamming the door — for actually keeping her temper in check — as she told herself she needed a moment to gather her thoughts. It was too much to comprehend; too much to understand.

No, that wasn’t it, she told herself. How could she have not noticed?

“I’m sorry,” Nigel said, sitting beside, the door open and one foot one the running board.

“You’re sorry? Are you serious? We have a suspect — even if we don’t know what he’s guilty of, we know he’s guilty of something — not murder, but something — maybe he’s the thief, I don’t know — and we have to leave because he accuses you of smoking opium? And he’s not wrong. Opium? But that’s not the worst part of it, because you’ve been smoking it since I met you,” Sonia said, turning to look at him. “And now, all you can say is that you’re sorry? I suppose next, you’re going to say that it didn’t go the way you’d hoped it would? My one chance to make an impression on those smug bastards, and you — you do this?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Of course you didn’t,” she said, turning to look at him. “I don’t know how I didn’t notice it in the first place,” she said, more to herself than him. 

She searched in her purse for her keys, found them, and then paused again, trying to settle her nerves. Her hands were shaking. She sat silent for a moment, taking deep breaths.

“Why do you think you should have noticed?”

“What?” she asked, looking at him. It was an exasperated tone, and she wondered if he even noticed — not that it mattered to her.

“Why do you think you should have noticed?”

“Why? Because I was a fucking nurse, that’s why! I should know what it goddamned smells like!” She turned the key and started the engine, shifting into gear and releasing the hand-brake, slowly creeping out of the driveway. She could see Richard leaning against the smooth painted rails of the paddock, watching them leave, at the same time urging the boy to let out more lead for the horse. In a moment, he was out of sight, lost behind the immense West wing of the manor house and the stables.