Page 173 - The Midnight Library

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So much dread in such a small word. Like a stone falling through water.

She remembered asking Ravi about her brother before the encore. She
remembered the crowd’s reaction when she had mentioned her brother on
stage.
‘He’s still around. He was here tonight.’

‘She means she feels him,’ said Joanna. ‘ ey all feel him. He was such a
strong spirit. Troubled, but strong . . . It was a tragedy how the drink and
drugs and the whole life got to him in the end . . .’
‘What are you talking about?’ Nora asked. She was no longer acting a life.

She genuinely needed to know.
Marcelo looked sad for her. ‘You know, it’s only been two years since his
death . . . his overdose . . .’
Nora gasped.

She didn’t arrive back in the librar y instantly because she hadn’t absorbed
it. She stood up, dazed, and staggered out of the suite.
‘Nora?’ laughed Joanna, ner vously. ‘Nora?’
She got in the li and went down to the bar. To Ravi.

‘You said Joe was schmoozing the media.’
‘What?’
‘You said. I asked you what Joe was doing and you said, “schmoozing the
media”.’

He put his beer down and stared at her like a riddle. ‘And I was right. She
was schmoozing the media.’
‘She?’
He pointed over to Joanna, who was looking aghast as she headed over

from the lis in the lobby.
‘Yeah. Jo. She was with the press.’
And Nora felt the sadness like a punch.
‘Oh no,’ she said. ‘Oh Joe . . . oh Joe . . . oh . . .’

And the grand hotel bar disappeared. e table, the drinks, Joanna,
Marcelo, the sound guy, the hotel guests, Ravi, the others, the marble floor,
the barman, the waiters, the chandeliers, the flowers, all became nothing at
all.