فصل 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

At breakfast, Bond asked her to tell the truth about the mysterious phone call.

‘Why do you ask,’ Vesper said angrily. ‘Do you think that I’ve got another lover?’ Her eyes filled with tears. ‘I’ve - I’ve got a very bad headache. I’m going to stay in my room this morning.’

For the next two hours Bond walked along the beach.

When Vesper and Bond met again for lunch, he did not speak about the telephone call. Instead, he talked about his walk that morning. Vesper only said a word or two. She did not look at him.

Then, suddenly, he saw that she was staring past him. Her face was white with fear.

Bond turned his head. A man was sitting at a table on the opposite side of the terrace. The man was about fifty years old with brown hair. He wore a dark suit. Bond guessed that he was a businessman.

‘What’s the matter, darling,’ he asked Vesper.

‘It’s the man in the car,’ she said. ‘The man who was following us!’

Bond turned and looked again. Versoix was showing the man the menu. They were talking about the wine. After a moment or two, Versoix walked away.

The man looked at Vesper and Bond for a second. Then he opened a newspaper and began to read. He had a black patch over one eye.

Bond turned to Vesper.

‘Are you sure that he’s the same man,’ he asked.

Her face was still white. She picked up her glass of wine and drank from it. Her hands were shaking.

‘I know that he is,’ she said. ‘My headache is still had. I’m going to lie down in my room.’

She left the table and walked from the terrace. She didn’t look back.

Bond ordered some coffee. Then he got up and walked through the hotel. There was a black Peugeot in the car park. Was it the car that they had seen before? Bond couldn’t he sure. He looked inside, but it was empty. The boot was locked. He made a note of the car’s number, then he walked back to the terrace. The man was eating and didn’t look up. Bond sat in Vesper’s chair and watched the other table.

A few minutes later, the man asked for the bill. He paid it and left. Bond heard the Peugeot drive away towards Royale.

Versoix brought Bond his coffee.

‘Who was the man at the other table,’ Bond asked the hotel owner. ‘He looked like a friend of mine.’

‘I don’t know,’ said Versoix. ‘I’ve never seen him before. But he enjoyed his lunch. He said that he would come here again, in a day or two. He comes from Switzerland.’

‘Miss Lynd made an early telephone call,’ said Bond. ‘I must remember to pay for it. A call to Paris. An Elysee number, I think.’

Mathis had an Elysee telephone number, Bond remembered.

‘Thank you, Monsieur, but there’s nothing to pay,’ said Versoix. There was no reply to Miss Lynd’s call to Paris. But it was an Invalides number, not an Elysee number.’