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She shuddered, re

‘Please, leave my father alone Mr Vitale is a union official, and my father is his chauffeur What could he say that would interest anybody?’

But Townsend had been deaf to her pleas And eventually, just as he’d predicted, Gabrielle had agreed to testify She’d have agreed to anything, just to keep the bastards froh why they wanted her to repeat the pointless details of a phone call she’d overhead Tony Vitale make was beyond her She’d let theher into what they called a ‘safe’ apartents—for her protection, they said, which was, she was certain, a lie

Who would want to hurt her? Certainly not Tony Vitale No, they wanted to intimidate her and keep her where they could watch her

It hadn’twas important, not when compared to her father’s illness

Gabrielle finished the last of her wared in place for a few seconds, then broke into an easy lope, her running shoes whispering over the uneven flagstones as shestreets of the French Quarter

Running was still new to her She’d taken it up in the last stages of her father’s illness, when it had begun to feel as if her life was bound by the silence of his hospital room and the silence of the heavy-jawed ht and day

Running took you out of yourself, so celebrity on a television talk-show had said one day By then, Gabrielle had beco she heard Still, she’d been desperate enough to test the glib re, she’d put on sneakers, terry shorts and a ‘Save the Whales’ T-shirt Then she’d overnment-owned apartment

The expressions on the faces of her dark-suited sentinels had been worth seeing

‘I’ for a run,’ she’d said sweetly ‘Does that mean you have to run, too?’

They did, of course, and at first that had been half the pleasure of it—the sight of those pallid, expressionlessbeside her in their flannel suits and thick-soled shoes

After a while, all that mattered was the sense of release she felt while she ran through the city streets

And it still worked, she thought as she ran lightly along the quiet streets The ht always brought By the time she reached the flower shop, she’d be ready for the day’s work, and after that there’d be no ti orders and learning the hundred and one things she had yet to learn about the flower business

Everything that had happened in New York was history Her father was gone, and the authorities were never going to be able to use her again

And neither would anybody else

The streets of the French Quarter were alht, Le Vieux Carr6 was thronged with tourists and street perforht of as its true face: housewives leaned from balcony s as they shook out bedclothes, restaurant doors stood open as the old buildings were swept clean

And the Quarter s the heady scents of freshly roasted coffee and Creole spices She teased Al her she was an inveterate New Yorker and alould be, but the truth was that even she was beginning to fall under the spell of New Orleans’ unique charm—not that she’d chosen the city for that reason In truth, she’d picked it at random, influenced as much by the travel poster at the airline ticket counter as by anything else

‘One-way to New Orleans,’ she’d said, and as easily as that she’d left her old life behind

But the choice had been a good one The city was different enough tothe past a possibility Here, she could escape the notoriety of being the reclusive star witness against theTony Vitale’ Here, she was not the woman those same papers had eventually hinted was Vitale’s beautiful mistress

It hat the authorities thought, too She would never forget the way Townsend had looked at her the day after her father’s funeral, when she’d announced that she was leaving

‘You can’t do that, Miss Chiari We’ll subpoena you’

‘Do whatever you want,’ she’d said coldly ‘My father is gone, and you can’t threaten me any more’

‘Vitale’s not going to let you just walk away, young lady You know too much’

‘That’s ridiculous,’ Gabrielle had snapped ‘Mr Vitale isn’t a villain He’s been very good to me’

The sly look on theshe owed no explanations to hi to fear from the man who’d been like an uncle to her

Still, when she’d bought her ticket to New Orleans, she’d surprised herself by using herfor Gabrielle Shelton, a little voice inside her had whispered, and she’d quickly forced it aside, telling herself the reason for the change of name was simple

Didn’t a new start deserve a new name?

Gabrielle’s breath rasped in her chest, and she raised her hand and wiped her wrist across her forehead Of course it did—but that didn’t explain why she so of her heart, or why she’d avoidednew friends, or why sometiin to race…

Stop thinking that way, Gabrielle! she told herself It’s nonsense and you know it Tony Vitale’s not the first union official who’s been accused of

being crooked and he won’t be the last But he’s not crooked Men with power always had enemies, and everybody accused them of…

Daly ideas in her head Gabrielle picked up her pace She was running harder now, panting a little, but it felt good The fog was beginning to burn off, and the old buildings and narrow streets of the Quarter were bathed in soft golden sunlightShe raised her arlanced at her watch It was later than she’d realised Al with her usual end-of-the-week list of things that had gone wrong

What would it be this tiood repair It was just that Alht words— she was perhaps a little too conscientious

‘The roses are dyin’, Gabrielle,’ she’d say breathlessly, which would turn out to es

‘They delivered the most terrible orchids today,’ she’d say, which would probably mean that one orchid was less than perfect

It had been s in the back roo about the teh? Or was it too low?

Gabrielle sighed It would take another ten minutes, at least, before she reached the shop By then, Al her hands in distress

Just ahead, a narrow alley angled away from the street It was a shorter route and would cut the tiain, shook her head, and turned towards it

‘OK, Alma,’ she murmured softly, ‘I’m on my way’

She had used the alley once before, and she hadn’t liked it For one thing, the pave down And there was a feeling about the narrow passageway that she disliked, a sense of isolation that was unpleasant The overhanging balconies, soto the feeling of separation from the rest of the world

Gabrielle’s footsteps faltered as the oppressive brick walls sed her up She gri to be afraid of here There were sections of the city you didn’t walk at all, day or night, and others you avoided after dark, and soht here, in Le Vieux Carrd