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As soon as he had walked past her she put the door back on the chain ‘I was just going to make some coffee – d’yer want some?’

‘I’d love soarlic, or both He followed Lilli Janacek into a tiny kitchen There was a pan on the stove Lilli stirred its contents, poured in steaain, then turned down the heat and put a lid on the pan

‘Chicken stew,’ she told Steve, turning round

‘Smells wonderful’

She sht me’

‘Czech?’

‘No, my mother was American – it was my father as Czech How do you like your coffee?’

‘Black and strong, no sugar Thank you Any idea where Sophie can have got to? The press conference ended an hour ago Would she have gone to her office?’

‘What office?’ Lilli Janacek asked with heavy sarcasm ‘She works from here You don’t think that old skinflint of a Czech would cough up for an office? Before Sophie ca his own ho paid in peanuts The monkeys in Central Park Zoo have better pay and conditions Every cent Sophie spends she has to account for – she can just about pay my rent and her fares If I didn’t feed her once a day, she probably wouldn’t eat’

Handing hi of coffee, Lilli led the way back across the little corridor into a sitting-room so small it just had roo-table squeezed into a corner with two chairs pushed under it and a set of narrow bookshelves running below theThe threadbare carpet was a dingy beige but there were jewel-coloured little rugs scattered across it, and the walls were lit by red glass globes which gave the roo

‘I don’t allow s in here,’ he was firmly informed

‘I don’t sot him a smile

Steve asked her, ‘What do you do? Are you a journalist too?’

‘I’azines You know the sort of thing; pieces onin some income Every little helps’

Sipping his coffee, Steve began to prowl along the shelves, looking at the books Heway, Thurber, Wallace Stevens, Dorothy Parker, Jack Kerouac, Scott Fitzgerald