Deep and Silent Waters

He gave her a look that made her insides turn to water. ‘I love them. They’re the sexiest things I’ve ever seen. With that beautiful body naked and those boots, you have no idea what you’re doing to me …’

Her head tilted back and she stared up through the lacy canopy above the bed, then froze in shock. Eyes were staring back at her from the painted ceiling. Not the painted eyes she had noticed earlier, these eyes moved, flickered. She saw light reflecting back from the glassy black pupil.

Someone was up there, behind the ceiling, watching them.

Chapter Nine

A scream tore from her throat. Sebastian started violently. ‘What the hell— What is it? What’s wrong?’

‘Eyes,’ she whispered. ‘Eyes – in the ceiling – watching – Somebody’s up there, watching us!’

He shot a glance upward. ‘Where? What are you talking about?’

‘Her eyes – Juno’s eyes – she’s watching us. Well, not her, of course, but somebody. There’s somebody behind the ceiling, I saw the eyes move.’

He was staring at her now as if he thought she was m

ad. ‘Well, they’re not moving now. All I can see is painted eyes. For God’s sake, Laura!’

She pushed him away and rolled off the bed, looked up at the ceiling. He was right. The eyes were painted, flat, lightless.

Naked, Sebastian got off the bed and reached for her. ‘Have you taken anything? Smoked a joint?’

‘No!’ she screamed, pushed him away and ran into the bathroom, bolting the door behind her. In the mirror her face was bleached white. ‘What was the matter with her? Sebastian had asked. Laura wished she knew. All that was certain was that she had seen those painted eyes move, had seen light glinting off their shiny surface, but they weren’t shiny now, they were the same dull, flat painted surface as the rest of the ceiling.

She had imagined it.

No! she thought, remembering the way the pupils had flickered. She hadn’t imagined anything. This house was full of secret passages and hiding places. Nico had told her of a back staircase from the boat-house up to this room. He had laughed, saying he often used it to come and go without his mother seeing him. Couldn’t there also be a false ceiling though which people could watch what was happening in this room? Secret panels and two-way mirrors were commonplace in brothels. Someone had been watching her and Sebastian making love. Who could it have been?

Nico? No, it was totally out of character. You’d have to be sick to do that, and Nico wasn’t sick, he wasn’t a voyeur.

How do you know? she asked herself, uncertainly. She buried her face in her hands. She didn’t want to think about it any more.

Hurriedly she pulled off the David costume and took a quick shower, then dressed in the clothes she had been wearing when she arrived and went back into the bedroom. Sebastian was standing at the window, fully dressed too, in jeans and an olive sweater with leather patches at the elbow. The sagging, cloudy sky was heavy with snow.

He glanced at her over his shoulder. ‘I heard your shower running. They’re more efficient than I’d expected. Feeling better?’

She was still too choked to speak.

His eyes narrowed. ‘You must be very hyper. Starting a new film is always an ordeal, but you have to calm down, Laura, or you won’t be fit to work. Look, we’re all going out into Venice to have a drink in St Mark’s Square, and then a meal together. Come along with us. You know most of the crowd and talking to them will help you relax.’

Her voice sounded rusty, like old bellows. ‘When are you going?’

‘Now, right away. I rang Valerie on the walkie-talkie, and told her to gather everyone together for a two-hour break. We’ve been working since first light and we need a rest.’

‘I want to unpack and settle in first. You go ahead and I’ll see you all down there.’

His brows jerked together. ‘You can’t walk around the city on your own!’

She snapped back hotly, ‘I’ll wrap up warmly. A hood and thick coat will be some sort of disguise and I’ll be careful.’

‘Don’t be so damn stupid! Do you want to get mobbed? Anything could happen to you.’

‘Look, I need some time alone. And I walked around Venice when I was here at the film festival,’ she said, with a touch of desperation. ‘I’ll be fine. Please, you go on, I’ll see you in the square – Florian’s?’

He said grimly, ‘Well, it’s your life.’

The words hadn’t been idle. Something in his face told her he was warning her. But about what?