‘No,’ Marsh said. ‘Not yet.’
‘Do you think she’ll understand?’
‘Hard to say. She’s been here five years, ever since her mother died. I’m not sure I’ve reached her once.’
‘What was her original diagnosis?’
‘A heroin overdose, more than twenty years ago now. She jumped from a second-story window, spent a year or so in a body cast. It seems her body recovered, her mind never did. Her mother cared for her for fifteen years. Then she came to Fostoria.’
‘Shame,’ Alice said.
‘Yes,’ Marsh replied. He got up, walked over to the window, leaned against the sill.
She looked up at him.
‘We’re bringing you to a new place, my dear,’ Marsh said as he took her hand in his. ‘Soon. A brand-new place. Brand-new people. Do you think you’ll like that?’
Maybe Gillian will be there, she thought.
Maybe Gillian will finally be there.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Epub ISBN: 9781407059549
Version 1.0
www.randomhouse.co.uk
Published by Arrow Books 2010
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
Richard Montanari has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Material from The Wasteland and Whispers of Immortality by T.S. Eliot, reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber Ltd.
First published in Great Britain in 1999 by Penguin Books Ltd
Arrow Books
The Random House Group Limited
20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, SW1V 2SA
www.randomhouse.co.uk
The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9780099524823