The Lie [antikvár]

chapter 1It was well past midnight when she saw the Ught in the upstairs bedroom go out, leaving the house dark.By that time she had been waiting almost two hours in the deeper part of the surrounding woods, and she would probably wait another hour before going in. Since she had been waiting eighteen years for what lay just ahead, these last few hours only added to the anticipation, to the excitement, and to the fear and trembhng.She sat with her back to a tree, feeling the damp earth beneath her and the roughness of the bark through the fabric of her shirt. The night was warm, with little wind. Patches of mist drifted from the Bay of Salerno off to the west. In the distance, she saw the lights of a late plane starting its final descent toward Naples.When the lights disappeared, her hand went to the automatic she carried inside the belt of her slacks. She fingered its butt, trigger guard, and safety for perhaps the fifth time in the past half hour. It was the only visible sign of her nervousness.Then she just sat holding the gun in both hands like a supplicant making an offering to a god she could not see but, she knew with absolute certainty, was out there someplace.Her name was Kate Dinneson.