Read Through Dead Eyes for Free Online Page B

stuff?’
    ‘Going through your stuff?’ repeated his dad, putting down the newspaper he was reading. ‘You haven’t got much stuff to go through, have you?’
    ‘I’m serious, Dad,’ said Alex, finding his father’s joking annoying. ‘There’s no point in us having our own rooms if you –’
    His father reached out and put his hand on Alex’s sleeve.
    ‘I promise you,’ he said. ‘I have not been going through your things. OK?’
    Alex scanned his father’s face for any sign that this was not the complete truth, and found none. His father was a terrible liar anyway. But if he hadn’t been in his room, then who had?
     
    After breakfast they found Saskia and Angelien once more waiting for them in the lobby downstairs. As soon as Saskia and Alex’s father had gone, Angelien grabbed Alex by the arm.
    ‘Before we go, can I take another look at the mask, Alex?’ she said.
    ‘I . . . suppose so,’ said Alex, unsure of whether he ought to be agreeing to this. He could see his father and Saskia through the hotel window, crossing the canal. ‘It’s in my room.’
    ‘OK,’ said Angelien, patting him on the back. ‘Let’s go.’
    After a moment’s hesitation, Alex went back to reception and asked for his key and then took Angelien to the lifts, ignoring the arched eyebrows of the receptionist. While they were in the lift, Angelien noticed Alex’s key and the brooch attached to it.
    ‘The manager’s wife found loads of different things to use as key rings,’ said Alex.
    ‘It’s old,’ said Angelien. ‘It’s a bit battered about but it was probably a pretty brooch once.’
    Alex unlocked the door and showed Angelien in. She whistled appreciatively as they stepped inside.
    ‘Hey – nice room,’ she said, walking across to the window. ‘And nice view too.’
    As Alex let Angelien into his room, he was suddenly aware of how untidy it was and tried hurriedly to kick his clothes into a neat pile on the floor.
    ‘Don’t bother,’ said Angelien, turning away from the window. ‘You should see my room. I am the messiest person alive, believe me.’
    Angelien sat down on the bed and tested the springs. Then she flopped backwards, looking up at the ceiling. Her jacket fell open to reveal a white T-shirt with a red-and-blue target design across the chest. A sliver of pale flesh showed between the T-shirt and her faded blue jeans. Alex stood staring at her until she sat up, grinning at him.
    ‘Well?’ she said.
    ‘W . . . What?’ said Alex.
    ‘The mask? Remember?’
    ‘Yeah . . . right,’ mumbled Alex, turning and banging his arm against the chest of drawers and wincing.
    Alex opened the drawer, picked up the mask and handed it to her. She held it in her left hand, running the fingers of her right hand lightly over its cracked surface. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly with a puzzled look on her face.
    ‘What is it?’ said Alex.
    ‘It will sound crazy enough,’ said Angelien, ‘so I think the best way is for me to show you.’
    ‘Show me what?’
    ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Let’s go now. I’m probably wrong anyway.’
    ‘Wrong about what?’ said Alex.
    ‘There is something I want to show you,’ she said.
    Alex had no idea what Angelien was talking about but was curious enough to want to find out. He locked up the room and they left the hotel.
    Angelien set off across a nearby bridge and down a narrow alleyway that opened up on to a wide street criss-crossed with tramlines.
    ‘If we’re quick, we can catch that one,’ said Angelien as a tram rounded the corner, its wheels whistling and grating on the rails.
    Alex ran to keep up with Angelien and they reached the tram stop just as the doors opened and a small queue of people began to step aboard. Angelien paid the driver.
    They sat down, the doors shut and the tram moved away with a hum and a faint clanking. It stopped at a set of lights before setting off up a long straight and very wide avenue.
    ‘So where are we