Free Blood Ties by Sam Hayes Page A

for Louisa’s room number.
    Check-in complete, Robert guided his family to the small lift, his eyes darting to the ladies’ room several times. The lift door opened and they stood back while an elderly couple wrangled a huge suitcase out of the tiny compartment. Then Ruby skipped into the lift and pressed the button to hold the doors. Erin joined her and lastly, with the two weekend bags, Robert slid inside.
    ‘Robert?’ There was no mistaking the voice. He stuck a foot between the closing doors as she approached. The smile, way too wide for her face, reached him first, followed by her lovely green eyes, now framed by black businesslike glasses.
    ‘I thought it was you,’ Robert said, unable to help a broad smile in return. His body became wedged between the doors, causing them to open and close with a clunky sigh. ‘They’re nice,’ he added, having no hands free to indicate that he meant her glasses.
    ‘Dad, you’re breaking the lift.’
    They stared at each other silently for a time-warped couple of seconds. Robert didn’t know whether to step out of the lift or offer a hasty ‘I’ll catch up with you later’. Louisa solved the dilemma.
    ‘A few of us are meeting in the bar at seven for drinks. You’re welcome to join us.’ Louisa cast her eyes around the lift to include Erin and Ruby, although she didn’t verbally acknowledge either.
    ‘Seven then,’ Robert said, breathing deeply and removing his foot. The doors wheezed shut.
    The hotel bedrooms were small but very comfortably furnished in a country style that Erin adored. She curled up carefully on the bed, not wanting to disturb the pristine counterpane, but then couldn’t resist stretching out to rid herself of the week’s stress.
    ‘I’ll run you a hot bath,’ Robert said. ‘And there’s chilled wine in the fridge.’ It was nearly half past six. If Erin took a long bath, a really long one and then spent a while dressing . . . Robert popped the cork. He just wanted a few minutes alone with Louisa, to ask her advice, then he hoped his family would join them. He wanted to show them off.
    ‘Are we really going to meet Louisa and her crowd at seven? I was hoping for a quiet meal in the hotel restaurant. We could order room service for Ruby and it looks like there are enough movie channels to keep her entertained.’ Erin sat up on the bed.
    ‘It’s just drinks. We can make it short and then go for a meal. I doubt you’ll keep Ruby in her room, though.’ Robert handed Erin a glass of wine and ushered her through to the bathroom.
     
    For the first ten minutes, he took guesses at which one of the half-dozen or so men surrounding Louisa was Willem, her husband. Robert stood in a classic waiting-at-the-bar pose, holding but not drinking a single malt, idly watching a band set up their equipment in the bar area. He was not close enough to Louisa to give the impression of standing in line for her company, but not so remote as to distance himself from the party.
    ‘Rob.’ It wasn’t a direct cry for help – Louisa wasn’t the kind of woman who would need assistance in extricating herself from a group, admirers or not.
    ‘Hey,’ he replied casually, smiling, but made no move towards Louisa. He noticed the slight roll of her eyes as she pulled out of the group that surrounded her. Clearly her husband wasn’t among them. Robert wondered who, if left long enough, would have moved in for the kill.
    ‘Drowning?’ Robert suggested.
    ‘I can swim. They’ll scatter when their wives come down.’ She allowed a grin to light up her face and Robert noticed tiny lines at the corner of her eyes, perhaps always there but magnified by her new glasses. She thrust her empty tumbler at Robert’s chest. ‘I’m thirsty,’ she complained. ‘And I hate weddings.’
    Robert would gladly have offered his drink to Louisa – anything to help him spend the fifteen minutes he reckoned he had alone with her more productively than waiting at the bar for a