Never Close Your Eyes Read Free Page B

tongue. It’s true, she did find herself thinking of her husband whenever she described Spiculus, Cornelia’s dishy love interest. But she’d tried to make them different. For instance, Neil had dark-brown hair while Spiculus’s was black. And the novel was set in Rome in 60 BC , for heaven’s sake, not London suburbia.
    She hugged her cardigan around her. It was only September, but the evenings were getting chilly.
    â€˜Hey, gurrrls!’
    The women swung round. It was Russell, another member of the writer’s group. Russell was small and slight, with pale skin, longish, thinning black hair and a wicked sense of humour. He had written several rather difficult literary novels, all unpublished.
    â€˜Going for a beverage?’ he asked, starting to unpadlock his bike, which he’d chained to a bike rack just beyond the church hall.
    Evie smiled. ‘Fancy coming?’
    Russell shook his head. ‘Nah, I should get back.’
    â€˜How’s the job?’ Evie enquired. ‘Any interesting tales to tell us?’
    Russell worked in a genito-urinary clinic or, as he preferred to put it, he was a ‘willy-and-fanny doctor’. He could be deliciously indiscreet.
    â€˜Wee-ell,’ he said, cocking his head on one side and fastening his helmet. ‘We had a newly pregnant woman and her husband in the other day. They were terribly worried because he’d lost his wedding ring in an awkward place and they were afraid it might strangle the baby.’
    Evie squealed. ‘So what did you do?’
    Russell grinned. ‘Oh, I just fished around a bit and got it out. It wasn’t difficult. Then I gave them a quick anatomy lesson and showed the husband how to do it himself next time. Bob’s your uncle!’
    Nic guffawed. She had a surprisingly loud, dirty laugh for someone so small; she was only about five feet three and tiny with it, like a sparrow. ‘God, how embarrassing. Don’t you find it embarrassing when people do things like that?’
    Russell shrugged. ‘I’m used to it. I’ll tell you about the bloke with the penile piercings next time – if you’re good.’
    â€˜Oooh, yes,’ Becca giggled. ‘Where exactly—?’
    Russell put his hand up. ‘Gotta shoot.’ He swung a canvas bag over his shoulder and climbed on his bike.
    â€˜See you next month,’ Evie called out as he pedalled off down the street. ‘Lovely man,’ she went on, turning to the others. ‘What a job, though. Wouldn’t suit me. Shall we go to the Swan? It’s not exactly glamorous but at least you can get a seat.’
    â€˜Good idea,’ Becca replied, in that rather precise way that she had of talking, as if she were reciting lines. ‘Don’t let me stay too long, though. I’ve got a plane to catch in the morning. I’m hoping to clinch a multi-million-pound deal with a company in San Francisco.’
    Evie whistled. Why wasn’t she clinching multi-million-pound deals rather than fretting about how she was going to pay the gas bill?
    Something had definitely gone wrong somewhere.

Chapter Three

    The women strolled along the main road in the direction of the station before turning left down a narrow, cobbled side road which led to the River Thames. The pub, about halfway down, was set back slightly from the other buildings and had an old-fashioned-looking sign with a painted swan outside.
    Inside there was just one dimly lit room and a few elderly men were propped up on bar stools in the corner. They looked up and stared when Becca, Nic and Evie strode in.
    â€˜God, you’d think they’d never seen a woman in here before,’ Nic whispered.
    Becca smirked. ‘Praps they think we should all be at home washing the dishes and ironing shirts.’
    Evie grinned up at her. At five feet ten, Becca was by far the tallest of the group. She had long, slim arms and legs but she wasn’t