The Empress Holds The Key Jack Rogan Mysteries Book 2 Gabriel Farago

‘I can see ...’ said Jana, smiling.
The tiny lounge room on the ground floor looked like it hadn’t seen a cleaner for at least
a year. A scratched coffee table was covered in empty beer cans, bottles and crushed milk
cartons, and the sofa in front of the fireplace was barely visible under layers of old
newspapers, magazines and various items of crumpled clothing. A lonely ironing board
stood in the middle of the room with a basket full of limp washing nearby. Newspaper
cuttings littered the floor.
‘It’s been, what, five years?’ asked Jack, clearing a space on the sofa for Jana to sit
down. ‘I was just making coffee – would you like some?’
‘Let me help you. Is this the way to the kitchen?’ asked Jana, pointing to the back of the
house.
‘It is, but even I’m a little afraid to go in there just at the moment,’ said Jack. ‘You stay
right here. And besides, I make excellent coffee ... remember?’
‘Sure,’ said Jana, crossing her legs and smiling at him.
‘Poison,’ said Jack, touching his nose with his finger.
‘Beg your pardon?’
‘Dior, you’re wearing Dior’s Poison. I hope it’s not an omen.’
He’s good, thought Jana, sitting down on the sofa.
She’s obviously working out. She looks great for the wrong side of forty, thought Jack.
Her simple black dress accentuated her trim, athletic body, and her short honey-blonde
hair showed off her dark tan.
After a lot of clattering around and cursing, followed by a long silence, Jack swept into
the room balancing a steaming coffee plunger and two mugs on a tray. He’d put on a
fresh shirt and combed his hair, Jana noticed.
‘When I take on an assignment, I often work through the night nowadays,’ he said,
pouring the coffee and searching the room in vain for a cigarette. ‘I hate distractions. I
haven’t listened to my answering machine since my divorce last year. My ex and her
lawyers used to call all the time and leave messages. Every time I called back, it cost me
money. Then I just stopped listening,’ he rambled on. ‘It worked, you see. They don’t
bother me anymore.’ Jack drained his mug of black coffee and sat down next to Jana.