John le Carré - The Honourable Schoolboy_part2

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PART TWO

PART TWO - SHAKING

THE TREE

Chapter 13 - Liese

Star Heights was the newest and tallest block in

the Midlevels, built on the round, and by night

jammed like a huge lighted pencil into the soft

darkness of the Peak. A winding causeway led to

it, but the only pavement was a line of kerbstone

six inches wide between the causeway and the

cliff. At Star Heights, pedestrians were in bad

taste. It was early evening and the social rush

hour was nearing its height. As Jerry edged his

way along the kerb, the Mercedes and Rolls-

Royces brushed against him in their haste to

deliver and collect. He carried a bunch of orchids

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PART TWO

wrapped in tissue: larger than the bunch which

Craw had presented to Phoebe Wayfarer, smaller

than the one Drake Ko had given the dead boy

Nelson. These orchids were for nobody. 'When

you're my size, sport, you have to have a hell of a

good reason for whatever you do.'

He felt tense but also relieved that the long, long

wait was over.

A straight foot-in-the-door operation, your Grace,

Craw had advised him at yesterday's protracted

briefing. Shove your way in there and start

pitching and don't stop till you're out the other

side.

With one leg, thought Jerry.

A striped awning led to the entrance hall and a

perfume of women hung in the air, like a foretaste

of his errand. And just remember Ko owns the

building, Craw had added sourly, as a parting

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PART TWO

gift. The interior decoration was not quite

finished. Plates of marble were missing round the

mail boxes. A fibreglass fish should have been

spewing water into a terrazzo fountain, but the

pipes had not yet been connected and bags of

cement were heaped in the basin. He headed for

the lifts. A glass booth was marked 'Reception'

and the Chinese porter was watching him from

inside it. Jerry only saw the blur of him. He had

been reading when Jerry arrived, but now he was

staring at Jerry, undecided whether to challenge

him, but half reassured by the orchids. A couple

of American matrons in full warpaint arrived, and

took up a position near him.

'Great blooms,' they said, poking in the tissue.

'Super, aren't they. Here, have them. Present!

Come on! Beautiful women. Naked without

them!'

Laughter. The English are a race apart. The porter

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PART TWO

returned to his reading and Jerry was

authenticated. A lift arrived. A herd of diplomats,

businessmen and their squaws shuffled into the

lobby, sullen and bejewelled. Jerry ushered the

American matrons ahead of him. Cigar smoke

mingled with the scent, slovenly canned music

hummed forgotten melodies. The matrons

pressed the button for twelve.

'You visiting with the Hammersteins too?' they

asked, still looking at the orchids.

At the fifteenth, Jerry made for the fire stairs.

They stank of cat, and rubbish from the shoot.

Descending he met an amah carrying a nappy

bucket. She scowled at him till he greeted her,

then laughed uproariously. He kept going till he

reached the eighth floor where he stepped back

into the plush of the residents' landing. He was at

the end of a corridor. A small rotunda gave on to

two gold lift doors. There were four flats, each a

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PART TWO

quadrant of the circular building, and each with

its own corridor. He took up a position in the B

corridor with only the flowers to protect him. He

was watching the rotunda, his attention on the

mouth of the corridor marked C. The tissue round

the orchids was damp where he'd been clutching

it too tight.

'It's a firm weekly date,' Craw had assured him.

'Every Monday, flower arrangement at the

American Club. Regular as clockwork. She meets

a girlfriend there, Nellie Tan, works for Airsea.

They take in the flower arrangement and stay for

dinner afterwards.'

'So where's Ko meanwhile?'

'In Bangkok. Trading.'

'Well let's bloody well hope he stays there.'

'Amen, sir. Amen.'

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PART TWO

With a shriek of new hinges unoiled, the door at

his ear was yanked open and a slim young

American in a dinner-jacket stepped into the

corridor, stopped dead, and stared at Jerry and the

orchids. He had blue, steady eyes and he carried a

briefcase.

'You looking for me with those things?' he

enquired, with a Boston society drawl. He looked

rich and assured. Jerry guessed diplomacy or Ivy

League banking.

'Well I don't think so actually,' Jerry confessed,

playing the English bloody fool. 'Cavendish,'- he

said. Over the American's shoulder Jerry saw the

door quietly close on a packed bookshelf. 'Friend

of mine asked me to give these to a Miss

Cavendish at 9D. Waltzed off to Manila, left me

holding the orchids, sort of thing.'

'Wrong floor,' said the American strolling toward

the lift. 'You want one up. Wrong corridor too.

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PART TWO

D's over the other side. Thattaway.'

Jerry stood beside him, pretending to wait for an

up lift. The down lift came first, the young

American stepped easily into it and Jerry resumed

his post. The door marked C opened, he saw her

come out, and turn to double-lock it. Her clothes

were everyday. Her hair was long and ashblonde

but she had tied it in a pony tail at the nape. She

wore a plain halter-neck dress and sandals, and

though he couldn't see her face he knew already

she was beautiful. She walked to the lift, still not

seeing him and Jerry had the illusion of looking

in on her through a window from the street.

There were women in Jerry's world who carried

their bodies as if they were citadels to be stormed

only by the bravest, and Jerry had married

several; or perhaps they grew that way under his

influence. There were women who seemed

determined to hate themselves, hunching their

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PART TWO

backs and locking up their hips. And there were

women who had only to walk toward him to

bring him a gift. They were the rare ones and for

Jerry at that moment she led the pack. She had

stopped at the gold doors and was watching the

lighted numbers. He reached her side as the lift

arrived and she still hadn't noticed him. It was

jammed full, as he had hoped it would be. He

entered crabwise, intent on the orchids,

apologising, grinning and making a show of

holding them high. She had her back to him, and

he was standing at her shoulder. It was a strong

shoulder, and bare either side of the halter, and

Jerry could see small freckles and a down of tiny

gold hairs disappearing down her spine. Her face

was in profile below him. He peered down at it.

'Lizzie?' he said, uncertainly. 'Hey, Lizzie, it's

me; Jerry.'

She turned sharply and stared up at him. He

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PART TWO

wished he could have backed away from her

because he knew her first response would be

physical fear of his size, and he was right. He saw

it momentarily in her grey eyes, which flickered

before holding him in their stare.

'Lizzie Worthington!' he declared more

confidently. 'How's the whisky, remember me?

One of your proud investors. Jerry. Chum of Tiny

Ricardo's. One fifty-gallon keg with my name on

the label. All paid and above board.'

He had kept it quiet on the assumption that he

might be raking up a past she was keen to

disown. He had kept it so quiet that their fellow

passengers heard either 'Raindrops keep fallin' on

my head' over the Muzak, or the grumbling of an

elderly Greek who thought he was boxed in.

'Why of course,' she said, and gave a bright, air-

hostess smile. 'Jerry!' Her voice faded as she

pretended to have it on the tip of her tongue.

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PART TWO

'Jerry - er -' She frowned and looked upward like

a repertory actress doing Forgetfulness. The lift

stopped at the sixth floor.

'Westerby,' he said promptly, getting her off the

hook. 'Newshound. You put the bite on me in the

Constellation bar. I wanted a spot of loving

comfort and all I got was a keg of whisky.'

Somebody next to him laughed.

'Of course! Jerry darling! How could I possibly...

So I mean what are you doing in Hong Kong?

My God!'

'Usual beat. Fire and pestilence, famine. How

about you? Retired I should think, with your sales

methods. Never had my arm twisted so

thoroughly in my life.'

She laughed delightedly. The doors had opened at

the third floor. An old woman shuffled in on two

walking sticks.

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PARTTWOPARTTWO-SHAKINGTHETREEChapter13-LieseStarHeightswasthenewestandtallestblockintheMidlevels,builtontheround,andbynightjammedlikeahugelightedpencilintothesoftdarknessofthePeak.Awindingcausewayledtoit,buttheonlypavementwasalineofkerbstonesixincheswidebetweenthecausewayandthecliff.AtStarHeights,pe...

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John le Carré - The Honourable Schoolboy_part2

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