The Alchemist’s Code Read Online Free Page A

me. Yes, she was beautiful – an uncompromising, faultless beauty. Her face was simply perfect, with full, oval lips, defined eyebrows and a straight well-proportioned nose. For a split second I almost forgot the absurd situation in which I found myself.
    â€œMr Aragona, is there something you have every day? I mean, something you eat, or drink every day, always at the same time?”
    â€œThere are several—”
    â€œI mean something unusual – not coffee or your favourite drink. Think about it tonight and find a way not to eat or drink it any more. But don’t let the woman you believe is your wife find out. Behave naturally. I’ll be back.”
    Without giving me time to reply, she opened the door and disappeared in the direction of the station.
    I sat there stunned for a few seconds, trying to take in what she had said.
    Suddenly, I was seized with the feeling that all the passers-by were watching me. It couldn’t be so, I told myself. The idea that the girl could have invented everything struck me again. Maybe she’d just wanted to get rid of a stolen SUV and had come up with this bizarre way of doing it. That thought made me feel even more stressed, so I decided that the best thing to do was to take the car back to the garage as quickly as possible. I slipped into the driver’s seat and headed back to the Parker’s hotel.
    Once there, I picked up my car, changed back into my own clothes and set off quickly toward home. As I drove, however, my tension only increased: how would I act with my wife? What Anna – if that actually was her name – had said would have been enough to shock anyone. How could I go home and pretend that nothing had happened? The fake accident on the scooter, the messages, swapping cars, and the phrase, “Your wife, your partner, your house, your shop. It’s all fake.”
    I smiled.
    â€œCome on, Lorenzo – the Russian was just having a bit of fun with you.”
    In the meantime I had almost arrived home. I’d never been a particularly attentive driver, but that night I checked repeatedly in the rear view mirror and peered constantly about me to try and figure out if I was being followed, but I didn’t see anything, and so, taking a deep breath and shaking my head as though to free it from the memory of that strange experience, I walked in through the front door.
    â€œÃ€rtemis, it’s me.”
    â€œHi,” replied my wife from inside. Her voice was calm.
    I joined her in the kitchen and found her busily preparing Greek meatballs. “Hello, darling, how are you?”
    â€œI’m fine. How are you? I heard about the accident.”
    I went white. We hadn’t spoken all afternoon, how could she know?
    â€œThe accident?”
    â€™Yes. Bruno told me that you knocked someone over this afternoon.”
    Ah, she’d spoken to Bruno.
    â€œOh, it was nothing serious. A girl came shooting out into the road without looking and ran into me. But she was fine, luckily.”
    Art stared at me with those feline eyes of hers as though she wanted to penetrate my head. Was she trying to expose my half-truth? After a moment, she looked away and went back to preparing dinner. “Ok, just as well. I’m making
biftekia
, so I’ll need another half an hour.”
    â€œFine, I’m in no rush.”
    â€œIn the meantime, maybe you could finally have a look at that box of old junk that I put in your study a few days ago.”
    â€œYes… excellent idea.”
    The box was on the carpet in the study, and was full of objects accumulated over the last forty years. Àrtemis said she had put it there a few days before, but I had no memory of the fact. Among the comic books, broken watches and other useless stuff there were also some old toys which I was very fond of. Àrtemis knew how much they meant to me, so finding them there, ready to be thrown away, annoyed me.
    There were soldiers with