CHAPTER TWO
Daphne leaned against the front door, listening to the footsteps down the stairs. She took a deep breath and expelled the air slowly in a sigh of immense relief.
"Thank Christ that's over!" She walked across to the windows and opened them wide, letting some of the stale cigar-smoke escape. The lounge was musty and overheated; the ashtrays were overflowing, the tables littered with half-filled glasses.
Daphne stood at an open window, looking out across the London skyline. It was two in the morning; the streets brightly lit but almost deserted, the full moon reflecting only an occasional car or pedestrian wending their way home in the silent small hours.
She breathed the night air into her lungs for a few minutes, then turned back and winced at the state of the room.
"Like a
