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.The next thing that came into view was a freestanding shelf unit, crowded with bottles and jars.The door was half-open when he saw the partly wet nightdress crumpled on the carpet.He edged the door open further and now he could see an empty shower unit in the opposite corner of the room.Next was the end of a bath.And in it, a pair of feet.They lay below the surface of the water, motionless.His eyes narrowed and he looked at the lilac painted nails, waiting for movement.When nothing happened he stepped forwards and opened the door fully.As the hinges reached their limit they let out a long, high-pitched creak.He craned his neck round the door; saw a pair of submerged knees, thighs, crossed hands over a stomach, a pair of slack breasts.Finally he looked at Patricia Du Rey's face, eyes shut below the water, lips tinged blue and hair like tendrils of an aquatic plant floating about her head.The tap continued dripping and the overflow let out a single glug as water drained into it.Rubble stepped fully into the bathroom and examined her more closely.The flesh all over her body waslaced by an intricate network of wrinkles.Crouching down by the bath, he reached into the water.It was chilly.He lifted out a cold hand.Its surface was as deeply furrowed as that of a raisin.He let it fall back and looked at her face.Trapped in the underside of each nostril was a silver sphere.He pinched her nose, squeezing out the two bubbles.They floated up a couple of inches and popped at the surface.Back down in the kitchen his stomach rumbled and he remembered what Agent Orange had said about not picking him up for several hours.He walked over to the fridge in the corner of the room and opened the door.The shelves were stacked with strange things.A jar containing lumps of square shaped pale cheese in a thick oil.Another with green berry-like objects with small red things shoved into their hollow middles.A small bottle full of a watery brown liquid.He smelt the neck and recoiled at the sharp aroma of dead fish.The door was lined with little shelves and the top one held a row of eggs.Something he recognised.He plucked four from the rack and slipped them into the front pouch of his overalls, alongside the unused syringe.Outside he locked the door, walked back round to the front of the house and crossed to the large cedar tree in the corner of the garden.Sitting up in its boughs he took out an egg and pressed his thumb through the brittle surface.Then he held it above his open mouth and pulled the shell apart.His mouth flooded with thick mucus.Locating the egg yolk with his tongue, he punctured it, washed the mixture around his mouth and swallowed.Then he placed the empty shell back in his pocket and took out another egg.Around three hours later he saw headlights approaching along the narrow lane.Recognising the tone of Agent Orange's engine he climbed down and was waiting by the hedge when the car pulled up.He climbed in and Eric immediately pulled away.'Was the operation a success?''She's dead, but I never killed her.'‘Pardon?' said Eric, braking hard and looking at Rubble.'She was in the bath.Drowned.'‘You found her in the bath?'‘Yeah.''With her head under the water?''Naked she was.Sick all over her nightie.She must have been ill with that disease.''You're quite sure she was dead?''Yeah.She'd been in there a bit.The water was cold and she'd turned all wrinkly.'Eric mused on the information.'So you didn't inject her?''Nope.' Rubble fumbled in his pocket and brought out the syringe.'Here.'Eric took it and noticed how it glistened.'Why is it wet? Has it leaked?'‘Egg white,' explained Rubble.Preferring not to ask for an explanation, Eric just dropped the syringe back under his seat.So that was it, he thought.Patricia had been removed.The project was over.When they reached the caravan he took back Rubble's gloves and Patricia's key.'Thank you Agent White, you have done very well.' There was a note of finality in his voice and Rubble looked alarmed.'It is policy to rest our agents every three jobs, so you will not be hearing from me again for a while.''I've done something wrong,' Rubble immediately said.'Not injecting her - was that it?'‘Agent White, you have done nothing wrong.It’s just regulations.Now, I really must be going,' he held out a hand and Rubble shook it uncertainly.Then he got out of the car and looked on forlornly as Eric reversed back up the lane.In the grey of early dawn he turned off the motorway and followed the signs for Fairwind Waterpark.Soon he had parked at the side of a small lake with a fenced off area next to it full of tarpaulin-covered sailing boats, masts rising at erratic angles into the slowly lightening sky.Only when he went to get the mobile phones from the glove compartment did he realise he'd forgotten to take Rubble's back.Cursing himself, he retrieved his own, scooped up the syringe from under the seat and got out of the car [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]