Read Out of the Sun for Free Online Page B

heard it, yuh. Along with Hammelgaard. And David's very good friend Donna Trangam."
    "Who?"
    "A neuro biologist An expert on brains who fancies herself as an expert on hearts as well. Funny how her friendship doesn't seem to have extended to offering help with David's treatment. Something of a specialist in comatose conditions, I believe. But nowhere to be seen when most needed. Odd that, wouldn't you say?"
    "You mean .. . she really might be able to do something for him?"
    "It's possible."
    Then where is she?"
    "Your guess is as good as mine. Well, maybe not. She used to be at Berkeley. I'd lay money she crawled back there after Globescope fired her."
    "Why were they fired?"
    "I wouldn't know. In David's case, he was probably spending too much of the corporation's time on his own research. As for the others ... I really can't imagine." She moved forward in her chair. "And I do have to be going, fun as this has been. If you want to do something for your son, Harry, persuade Iris to let go of him. He isn't coming back. Not as he was, anyway. And that means not at all."
    Tell me," said Harry, holding her gaze for a moment with his own, 'how do you think he came to take an overdose of insulin?"
    "I think he's been going nowhere fast since leaving Globescope. And I think he may have realized that. But don't take my word for it. Ask Adam Slade. From what I hear, he had dinner with David at his hotel the night it happened. If anyone can tell you David's state of mind at the time '
    "Who's Adam Slade?"
    "You've never heard of him?"
    "No."
    Hope rolled her eyes in mock surprise. "I thought you'd only been out of David's life for thirty years, not the world in general. Adam Slade the magician. Doesn't the name mean anything to you?"
    Harry shook his head.
    "Well, who'd have believed it? Not Adam, that's for certain. He's really quite big. Here and in the States. Claims to perform some of his tricks by manipulating higher dimensions. Hence David's interest in him. Amazing how a brilliant scientist can be taken in by a crude con artist, don't you think?"
    "I don't know what to think. I don't even know what higher dimensions are."
    "No. I don't suppose you do." Hope flashed him a smile of apparently genuine amusement. "Why don't you see for yourself? Adam had the gall to send Steve and me a couple of tickets for tomorrow night's show. He's doing a short season of what he calls "Pure Magic" at the Palladium. We won't be going, so you may as well be our guest." She plucked a small envelope from her tote-bag and dropped it onto the table between them. Take a friend." With that she rose and was gone, soft light shimmering on taut PVC as she strode swiftly away. Leaving Harry to realize, a second after he had lost sight of her, that he would have to pay the bill for their drinks. There was, it seemed, no such thing as a free ticket.
    EIGHT
    A measure of Adam Slade's eagerness to ingratiate himself with the Brancasters was the excellent location of the seats Harry and Mrs. Tandy found themselves occupying at the Palladium the following night. The centre of the stalls, half a dozen rows back from the stage, could hardly have been bettered as a vantage point from which to admire the man's magical talents. The admiration of a Hollywood luminary and his no less luminous wife was, of course, well worth such generosity. Adam Slade was not to know that the Brancasters' tickets had been passed on to a part-time employee of the Mitre Bridge Service Station and his elderly landlady.
    On the other hand, Mrs. Tandy was unquestionably cutting a dash in aubergine organza and pearls. She had been delighted to accept Harry's invitation, even though it had briefly and tearfully reminded her of theatrical outings with her husband long ago. But that was more than could have been said for Harry's only previous recorded proposal of a social evening: karaoke night at the Stonemasons' Arms. "Pure Magic' at the London Palladium was definitely more to Mrs. Tandy's