The Blame Read Online Free

sharply. " Olá , Dona Maria. Is everything all right?"
    " Sim, Dona Laura. I just wanted to know if you will be home in time for the school bus."
    "Yes, don't worry, I'll be there. You can go now, if you like."
    "OK, I am done for today, unless there is anything else you would like."
    "No thanks, Dona Maria. That will be all. Have a good weekend."
    " Obrigada . See you on Monday."
    Dona Maria had been with them since they’d bought the property and had been a blessing when it came to looking after Vanessa, whom she treated like a granddaughter.  She had also doubled up as resident shrink and kept Laura from losing her cool, and her mind, when the renovation works didn’t go according to plan.
    ***
    Sixty minutes later the coach pulled into the bus terminus in Óbidos. The beautifully preserved citadel, perched atop a hill, looked down over   expanses of vineyards speckled with whirling windmills and terracotta-roofed homes. Whether shrouded in mist or kissed by the sun, it never failed to look alluring.
    Laura got off the coach and headed for the taxi rank where a couple of men stood chatting and smoking. There wasn’t much of a demand for taxis in a small town with an efficient bus service, and where practically everything was within walking distance.
    However, to get to her neck of the woods in the adjoining municipality, one definitely needed a car for the ten minute drive through undulating hills of forestland. Unfortunately, it was mostly eucalyptus for the pulp and paper industry. Although she couldn’t blame landowners for wanting to make a buck or two out of this otherwise infertile soil, it just made her all the more determined to turn her five acres into a sanctuary for the local wildlife. Just because they didn’t have The Big Five in this country, it didn’t mean that she couldn’t have The Small Five, she always joked.
    She had just paid the taxi driver when the school bus pulled up at the gate that opened onto a long gravel driveway. Vanessa got off, dropped her school bag on the ground and leapt into her mother’s arms. Laura spun her around until they were both dizzy.
    “Hey, princess. How was your day?” she asked, kissing the top of her head.
    “It was fine, but I’m glad there’s no school tomorrow.”
    “Yes, I’ll bet you are. So am I. C’mon. I’ll fix you some milk and chocolate biscuits.”
    “Yummy, but I don’t feel like walking all the way up to the house,” she groaned. “It’s too far.”
    “Come on, lazy bones. I’ll carry your bag. At least you don’t have to totter along on high heels like me!”
    As they made their way up the gently sloping driveway, the gravel crunching below their feet, a cacophony of barking could be heard, deep baritones intermingled with high soprano.
    “Listen to the girls! They’ve heard us arrive. We´ll let them out after the builders have gone.”
    “Daddy’s gonna get upset if they dig up the lawn again. And they broke the new shrubs down by the fence.”
    “I know. I know. My six-pack can be quite a lot of hassle, but they are guard dogs and if we want them to do their job, they have to be free to run around.”
    “Well, daddy says that nobody in their right mind has six dogs, and he says that we don’t need guard dogs anyway, because this isn’t South Africa.”
    Yeah, well, daddy’s obviously not been watching the news , she muttered to herself.
    The driveway wound round a thick screen of cypress and Lombardy poplars and opened up onto a cobbled courtyard. The double-storey villa with the adjoining utility room, home gym and garage formed an L that dwarfed the courtyard. Off to the left, stood the smaller cottage they were now living in as it had been the only building that was habitable when they bought the property.
    A white battered cargo van was parked in front of the double garage, its back doors hanging open. The three men who were loading it with an assortment of tins and tools turned in unison as they heard their