Portrait Of An Assassin - Richard Godwin Read online

  Martoni called me one morning and told me the villa was all mine.

  “You can pick up the keys any time,” he said. “It would be good to see you.”

  This seemed the perfect opportunity to retire.

  I ran the idea of a holiday past Lauren.

  “I could do with a break,” she said.

  “How about work?”

  “I could do with a break from that too.”

  “We could go out there and spend some time, see if you like it, maybe live there a while.”

  “That sounds great. And we can talk.”

  “Sure. I’ll book the tickets.”

  I realised I’d run out of manoeuvring space and didn’t care.

  The next day I put my place on the market.

  ***

  On the plane, I looked over at Lauren and said, “I think I might take some time off work too.”

  “Whatever that is.”

  “I hope you like Sicily.”

  “I hope so too. Do you know anyone out there?”

  “I do have a contact.”

  “Now why doesn’t that surprise me?” she said.

  Below, the earth looked green and good.

  Outside only azure sky.

  We landed and stepped out into the wall of heat.

  A message from Martoni was waiting for me on my mobile.

  The End

  Other Works

  If you liked Portrait Of An Assassin then you might be interested in the following novellas in the Knuckle Cracking Series, published by Close To The Bone.

  1. Bad Luck City

  Matt Phillips

  2. One Day In The Life Of Jason Dean

  Ian Ayris

  3. Marwick’s Reckoning

  Gareth Spark

  4. Back To The World

  Jim Shaffer

  5. An Eye For An Eye

  Paul Heatley

  6. A Dish Served Cold

  B R Stateham

  7. Too Many Crooks

  Paul D Brazill

  8. A Case Of Noir

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  9. Big City Blues

  Paul D Brazill

  Paladins

  Various Authors

  Down In The Devil Hole

  David Jaggers

  Rogue

  An Anthology

  Gloves Off

  An Anthology

  Tales From The Longcroft Estate Volumes 1,2 & 3

  Darren Sant