24
Nicole Dubuisson nervously pulled a long, thin cigarette out of a silver case finished in elegant, pure gold plots. The cigarette case was a memento of her father, a French naval admiral who died of pancreatic cancer after sailing the seas for over thirty years.
Nicole was sitting on the bed, her legs crossed under the folds of her silk petticoat. She watched indifferently her husband who, that day, seemed to be out of his mind.
"No. He can't do this to me. He can't!" repeated Salieri, sitting in front of the bedroom desk, banging his research notes on the desk top. "Look. Look what he writes to me” he said to his wife, but really only talking to himself. He read the open e-mail on his computer again. He slammed his notes on the table again.
"I've studied him for years, that boy. He
