Disturbing Stranger (charlotte lamb) لمن ترف الجفون شارلوت لامب بالانكليزية

Untitled Part 1

CHAPTER ONE

THE wind blew fiercely along the river Thames, the twisting, grey surface into a

hundred broken ripples, setting moored barges rocking to and fro so that their

warped berths creaked, whipping through the branches of gender plane trees, eating

into the bones of old men who slept out in secret corners of the night-time city, their

huddled bodies under rustling piles of old newspapers. Pub signs swung on rusty

hinges. Shutters clacked on shop windows. Dried leaves blew into drifts in empty

doorways and made a rustling sea along the deserted alleyways.

'London can be quite eerie at night,' said Laura Hallam, staring around her.

'It was your idea to come with me on this visit,' Pat Basset reminded her. 'I told you

you'd find this district a bit alarming.'

'I'm glad I did,' Laura said soberly. 'Those poor children! It must be bad enough to

lose your mother, but to have your father sent to prison on top of that must have

been traumatic.'

'It happens every day,' Pat shrugged. 'We do the best we can, it isn't much. The kids

you saw tonight are lucky. They have an aunt who's ready to take them in there are a

lot of others who have to be farmed out to strangers. That's much worse. I'm quite

hopeful about the family we've just seen. They have a strong family tie, and that's

half the battle.'

Laura had the distinct impression that Pat disapproved of her, and she wondered

why. Was it because she was not one of the unlucky ones whom Pat cared for in her

job as a social worker? Or because she had wanted to come tonight out of what Pat

clearly regarded as vulgar curiosity? She did not want to explain to Pat that her

motives were far more personal. Pat knew and worked with Tom. That was how they

had met in the first place. Laura could never confide in someone who knew him.

They walked in silence for a while, their footsteps echoing down the narrow street. A