But even if you didn’t know, he was an intimidating presence and he was glaring at her with an unreadable emotion in his dark eyes. Susan gripped the edge of the door in both hands, as though preparing to close it in our faces, but she hesitated, caught in a crossfire between her survival instinct and good breeding.
I wasn’t sure how to make the introduction, so I didn’t try. I turned to Moloch instead, as the more immediate problem.
‘Juliet lives here,’ I said to him. ‘But she’s not here now. She hasn’t made any contact with anyone since she got back from the States.
Susan’s anxious gaze flicked backwards and forwards between the two of us. ‘No,’ she said. ‘Not a word. I’m just . . . sitting hÖus ere by the phone.’
‘She’s probably lying,’ Moloch said, his tone detached and thoughtful. ‘You could hurt her and make sure, one way or the other. You clearly have impressive skills in that area.
Susan gave a yelp, like a dog that’s had its tail trodden on, and tried to slam the door. Moloch held it open with one negligent, unhurried hand. I knocked the hand away and he gave me a look of politely mystified inquiry as the door slammed in our faces.
‘Nobody,’ I said with slow, heavy emphasis, ‘is hurting anyone. In fact, you’re not even coming in here.’
‘No?’ Moloch’s voice was mild now, but there was an edge of amusement to it.
‘No. You’re going to wait on the other side of the street, under that lamp.
‘And why am I going to do that?’
‘Because if you don’t, the poor doggy isn’t going to get so much as a bone to gnaw on. If you want to eat tonight, you’ll do this my way.’
He stared at me in silence for the space of two or three heartbeats. It felt like a lot longer.
‘If she offers you tea,’ he said at last with a nasty grin, ‘decline it. Time is short enough as it is.
Moloch turned his back on me and walked away. I knocked again, and waited. After a minute or so I rang the bell.
Eventually, the door opened a crack and Susan stared out. The tears had been shed in the meantime. Her cheeks were wet and her face as she glowered up at me was full of a terrible pain.
‘You should go away now, Fix,’ she said, her voice surprisingly strong and even now as though crying had bled some poison out of her.