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‘What?’ For the first time that she could remember Amy saw Blade momentarily nonplussed as he glanced from John’s round, bespectacled pale face to the pair of steel crutches lying in the back of the car.
‘The crutches,’ John repeated patiently. ‘Owing to an unexpected nosedive off a mountain in Spain some months ago I’m afraid those things are essential, so if you wouldn’t mind …?’
‘I don’t believe this.’ Blade flicked his head at Amy furiously. ‘Is this guy for real?’
‘It’s as he said,’ Amy said quietly, as she swallowed back the panic. ‘John was living in Spain, he’s a writer, and he went on a walking expedition into the mountains with some friends. There was an accident—’
‘I don’t want his life story,’ Blade interrupted bitingly. ‘Can he walk?’
‘Yes, I can walk.’ John’s voice was tinged with acerbity, which was unusual for him, Amy reflected agitatedly. She hoped he wasn’t going to pick this moment to step out of character. He was normally so mild-mannered, so easygoing …
‘Then I still want you out of the car.’ As Blade reached down and opened the back door to pass the crutches to John, Amy’s stomach took a crazy dive into her feet. What was he going to do? He wouldn’t attack John now, would he? Not knowing John was injured? She glanced round her frantically but the dark street was quite deserted.
‘Right.’ It had taken John a few seconds to manipulate himself from the interior of the car and she could tell he didn’t like it. His pale face was flushed and pink and his five-foot-eight frame fairly bristling with dislike as he stared straight into Blade’s furious countenance. ‘What’s this all about?’
‘What’s this all …?’ Blade’s voice trailed away as he stared at the smaller man propped up with the crutches under each arm. ‘Oh, you English. What the hell do you think it’s about? A small matter of adultery, or maybe that has slipped your mind.’ His teeth were grinding together in his rage. ‘Or are you going to deny it?’
‘Deny it?’ John’s round pleasant face flushed a deeper shade of red. ‘Do I take it you are accusing me of sleeping with Amy?’
‘Got it in one,’ Blade said viciously. ‘And believe me, if it weren’t for the fact that you are obviously unable to defend yourself—’
‘I can see now why Amy felt it necessary to leave you,’ John said tightly. ‘I’m only amazed it took her all of three months to find out she’d made such a bad mistake. How dare you—?’
‘How dare you?’ Amazingly, as John got angrier and angrier Blade became more calm and composed, his dark satirical features setting into cold ironical lines and his black eyes cynically cool. ‘I rather think in the circumstances that’s my line, don’t you?’ He smiled chillingly. ‘How long have you known my wife?’ The last two words were stressed, very slightly, with biting contempt.
‘Years,’ John answered irritably.
‘Could you be a little more precise?’ Blade eyed the smaller man expressionlessly, his voice dripping ice.
‘We met when Amy was doing A levels,’ John said testily. ‘Some of her college friends had a flat next to mine and in the evenings we all ate together. Amy moved in with them after a time when things became impossible for her at home. We found we had a lot in common,’ he added with spitefulness that was unusual to him. Amy glanced at him in horror and shut her eyes for a split-second as she drew in air between her teeth. What was the matter with him? she asked herself silently. Had he a death wish or something?
‘How cosy.’ Blade’s rapier-sharp gaze switched to Amy and then back to John’s defiant face. ‘And do I presume your relationship blossomed in the normal way?’
‘That would depend on what you consider normal,’ John said tightly. I—’
‘John lived with a girlfriend at that time,’ Amy put in desperately, ‘a very nice girl. We got on really well—’
Blade silenced the flow with one fiery glance before turning to John again. ‘And do I take it the girlfriend has long since been history?’
‘I’ve lived in Spain for the last three years and my private life is nothing to do with you,’ John said angrily as he drew himself up to his full height, his chin thrust out aggressively. ‘Amy is a dear friend of mine and I was honoured that it was me she came to when she left you.’
‘Were you indeed?’ For a moment Amy thought Blade was going to leap on the smaller man, crutches and all.
