Chapter 14
Once I stop talking the room fills with a sizzling silence.
“Everyone thought Steven Mayer’s death was an accident”, John says after a while
“Now I’ve told you how he really died”, I say
“You have not yet told me everything”, John objects
“What else do you want to know?”, I ask
“I want to know about Leslie Carson. What did she do after Steven committed suicide?”, he says
I look at John, tilting my head with a smile.
“But…”, I say with an ironically reprimanding pout, pointing at my book
John shakes his head no.
“The answer is in there”, I insist
“I was ordering a coffee to kill some time before my flight home when I met her again”, John starts, reciting from my book
I look at him, surprised he knows my lines by heart.
I want him to continue, but he stops, looking at me with an expression I cannot decipher.
“Can you go on, please?”, I find myself almost begging
“Why do you want me to tell your story?”, John wants to know
I don’t have an answer so I look at John, silent.
John bugs his eyes and smiles, handing me the book.
“Will you read to me, Iris?”, he says
I nod, and here is how the story goes.