A Note of Madness Read Free Page B

touch tentatively, elbows resting on the rail.
    He looked at her. The wind was whipping her hairacross her face and her eyes were very bright. ‘Yes,’ he said.
    ‘Please don’t tell me you thought it was nice.’
    ‘No, it was—’ He stopped. His true feelings would only sound fake. André’s playing had been exquisite beyond words.
    Harry and Jennah were both looking at him. The heat rose to his cheeks as he faltered.
    ‘Tell me, why does André keep rolling his head around?’ Harry stepped in effortlessly. ‘Does that help him keep tempo or something? You don’t play like that.’
    Jennah grinned. ‘No, Flynn just rolls his eyes.’
    ‘That’s at Professor Kaiser’s barking, though, not at the music,’ Harry said.
    Flynn forced a smile.
    ‘Let’s go,’ Harry said. ‘I’m getting cold.’
    At the other side of the ticket barriers Harry tried to tempt Jennah back to the flat with the offer of coffee.
    ‘No, I really should have an early night.’
    ‘Hot chocolate then? Ovaltine?’
    Jennah shook her head, smiling, and gave them each a kiss before departing for her platform. ‘Don’t talk to any strange men!’ Harry called after her.
    ‘You mean stranger than you?’
    They went down to their platform in companionable silence. Harry waved at Jennah, waiting alone on the other side. Her burgundy scarf was wrapped tightlyaround her neck, and her arms were crossed against her black jacket. Even all dressed up, Jennah still had a childlike, windswept look about her, with her tousled brown hair and overgrown fringe. She was so petite, she looked a lot younger than eighteen and still got asked for ID in bars. She often appeared wide-eyed and innocent – big green eyes set against a pale complexion, a small up-turned nose and naturally dark red lips. And when she smiled . . . her nose did this little crinkly thing and her eyes grew really bright and her teeth were very white . . . Flynn was sure she used that smile to keep Charlie wrapped around her little finger, because it was a smile you couldn’t say no to, a smile that made you feel really strange inside.
    As she stood gazing up at the train information, Flynn watched her covertly until a train came hurtling through. He glanced away as she waved at Harry through the window. When he looked back, the platform was bare.
    Flynn made coffee while Harry set up his battered laptop on the living-room carpet.
    ‘You’re not going to do that now, are you?’ Flynn asked in disbelief.
    ‘I’m going to try. I’m going to stress about it all night otherwise.’
    ‘I thought Jennah was going to give you hers to copy.’
    Harry glanced up as Flynn handed him his cup. ‘Do you think she meant it?’
    ‘Course she did. Jennah would do anything for you.’ Flynn sat down against the wall on one of the carpet cushions and glanced surreptitiously at Harry, who showed little emotion as the computer bleeped and lit his bespectacled face with an eerie, pale blue glow.
    For a moment, Flynn wondered if Harry had even heard, but then he said, ‘Yes, she’s very sweet.’
    A long silence stretched out between them, and Harry fiddled with the mouse as Flynn sipped his too-hot coffee. He wasn’t sure what had prompted his last comment and now felt more than a little embarrassed about it, but could hardly take it back. Jennah had been going out with Charlie since the summer holidays and in recent weeks Harry had started going out with Kate, a serious-looking violinist from their Musicianship class. But there had always been this thing between Jennah and Harry. It was hard to pinpoint. A gentle warmth. Shared jokes, joint secrets, an extremely similar sense of humour. They had an affinity, like brother and sister, that Flynn was unable to share, and it was only with varying degrees of success that he managed not to feel left out.
    Harry always seemed so at ease around everyone, even girls. Especially girls. He was good-looking, but in an unusual sort of way, with