Page 101 of The Side Road
Oliver declined. Tash took two. Unfurling the wrapper, she popped the mint into her mouth.
After that, Arthur said goodbye. They watched him disappear between the headstones while they walked back to the car. Tash was on the lookout for robins, but there were none about.
‘Do you feel comfortable around Arthur?’ Oliver asked, opening the car door.
‘Yes. Why?’ She brushed the grass off her shoes before sliding into the car.
‘No reason.’ Oliver leaned on the door. ‘Just be careful. Not everyone is honest.’
‘You’re giving me the creeps.’
‘Good.’
Oliver climbed into the car. He started the engine, and they drove back to town. As the car idled in the mid-morning tourist traffic, he said, ‘Can you hear that? There’s a rattle.’
‘In the engine?’ Tash asked.
‘On the left.’
They listened. As the car moved forward, the rattle returned. Oliver frowned, concerned. ‘Probably just a loose plate.’
‘Let’s hope so.’
Oliver drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.
Tash frowned. ‘You do that on the kitchen table. Mary and I find it annoying.’
32
A PILL
In the garage,Leo was helping Oliver repair the aged wiring loom on the Black Shadow. With a new battery installed and the electrical system updated, the rebuild was almost complete. Oliver’s search for an original exhaust had so far proved fruitless. A custom version was his only option, and the design would need to be commissioned soon.
‘Have you seen Mike’s wife lately?’ Oliver, perched on a low stool beside the bike, pointed at a nearby pair of pliers.
‘Helen? No, not for a while. Why?’ Leo passed him the pliers.
‘Every time I see Mike, he tells me she’s at the hairdresser’s or getting her nails done. Yesterday she was having her eyebrows waxed.’
‘Sounds about right.’
‘I’ve seen her once in six months and her car hasn’t moved from the driveway.’
Leo’s frown greeted his hairline. ‘You think we should check on her?’
‘Yes.’ Oliver put down the pliers.
A short time later, Leo and Oliver were standing on the front veranda of Mike and Helen’s house. A three-bedroom Californian bungalow with wide eaves. The cushions on the cane patio furniture were missing, and several chairs had toppled over.
Oliver righted the fallen chairs.
With a nod, Leo directed his gaze at the garden beds that ran along the front of the house. ‘The hydrangeas haven’t been pruned since last year,’ he noted.
Shielding his eyes, Oliver peered through the window. Inside, the house was conspicuously dark.
At the front door, Leo stepped in front of Oliver. ‘I’ve known Mike and Helen for twenty years.’ He rang the bell. ‘Mike was an animator, worked for an advertising company drawing cartoons. Retired a few years ago.’
‘And Helen?’
