Page 158 - The Midnight Library

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Maybe she worked for the record company. She had the air of a strict mum

about her. But she began with a smile.
‘Stroke of genius,’ she said. ‘ e Simon & Garfunkel thing. You’re trending
across South America.’
‘Cool.’

‘Have posted about it from your accounts.’
She’d said this like it was a perfectly normal thing. ‘Oh. Right. Okay.’
‘ ere’s a couple of last-minute press things tonight at the hotel. en
tomorrow it’s an early start . . . We fly to Rio first thing, then eight hours of

press. All at the hotel.’
‘Rio?’
‘You’re up to speed with this week’s tour schedule, right?’
‘Um, kind of. Could you just remind me again?’

She sighed, with good humour, as if Nora not knowing the tour schedule
was totally in character. ‘Sure. Rio tomorrow. Two nights. en the final
night in Brazil – Porto Alegre – then Santiago, Chile, Buenos Aires, then
Lima. And that’s the last leg of South America. en next week it’s the start

of the Asia leg – Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Taiwan.’
‘Peru? We’re famous in Peru?’
‘Nora, you’ve been to Peru before, remember? Last year. ey went out of
their minds. All fieen thousand of them. It’s at the same place. e

racecourse.’
‘ e racecourse. Sure. Yeah. I remember. Was a good night. Really . . .
good.’
at’s what this life probably felt like, she realised. One big racecourse.

But she had no idea if she was the horse or the jockey in that analog y.
Ravi tapped the woman on the shoulder. ‘Joanna, what time’s that podcast
tomorrow?’
‘Oh damn. Actually, it’s tonight now. Timings. Sorr y. Forgot to say. But

they only really have to speak to Nora. So you can get an early night if you
want.’
Ravi shrugged, dejected. ‘Sure. Yeah.’
Joanna sighed. ‘Don’t shoot the messenger. ough it’s never stopped you

before.’
Nora wondered again where her brother was, but the tension bet ween
Joanna and Ravi made it feel wrong to ask something she should so