CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
The sun hadn’t risen yet. Hours ago Rachel had heard Aubrey climbing the creaking stairs to his bedroom, but she’d continued her research and heard nothing since. She closed her laptop, checked the charge on her phone and then headed out, down Great Pulteney Street toward the Thames. The cobbles were dry and the night sky clear. No stars, but the edge of the uppermost eves caught a glint of predawn moonlight.
She felt unusually empty, but still she thought she knew in her gut where her research was leading, where her time within 38 Great Pulteney Street might end. She imagined Aubrey alone in his bed. Warm and n***d beneath a thick eiderdown. The gentle measure of his breathing, the flutter of his eyelashes as he slept.
She stopped and leaned against the stone balustra
