Page 14 of Quiver of Cobras
‘Weather’s been good lately.’
‘Yep. It’s nice to have some sunshine for a change. Have you been busy?’
‘Ticking along. There are a lot of tourists at this time of year so I’ve not done too badly, especially with ferrying people to and from the airport.’
‘That’s good.’
‘Certainly is. Especially with all the doom-and-gloom news about tax rates rising.’
‘It’s all doom and gloom these days.’
‘Terrible, ain’t it? Did you see the bit about the Chinese place that went up in flames? I’ve driven the bloke who owned it. Nice bloke. Chen Lee, I think he was called.’
I’d only been murmuring my responses and half paying attention until that point. Suddenly I sat upright. This had to be that freaky amnesia thing working again – the magic was trying to reassert natural order by leading me to where I needed to go.
‘There was a fire?’ I questioned.
Sensing my shift from detached politeness to agog interest, the driver smiled. ‘A huge one.’ He tutted. ‘I went past there the other day. The whole building is little more than a shell now.’
‘Where?’ I asked. ‘Where is it?’
‘The east end of Belmont Street,’ he said. ‘You can’t miss it.’
Making a quick decision, I checked how much cash I had on me. It was probably enough. ‘Can you wait for me at the studio?’ I asked. ‘Then take me to Belmont Street afterwards?’
‘You really are interested, ain’t ya?’
I shrugged. ‘I’m morbid that way,’ I said cheerfully.
He sent me a sidelong glance and shuffled away from me slightly, as if my morbidity were contagious. ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘I can do that.’
I guessed the lure of a fare back to the city centre was tempting despite the fact that I was a weirdo. Excellent.
***
The driver dropped me at the main studio gates before circling round to find an appropriate, law-abiding parking spot. I strode up to the security guards. From my previous visit here with Julie, I knew that they took their jobs seriously. That was good for Julie but right now it was bad for me.
‘I’m here to see Julie Chivers,’ I announced.
The two guards exchanged glances. ‘We don’t know anything about this,’ one said.
‘Yeah,’ the other agreed. ‘We can’t let anyone in without prior arrangement.’
‘I’ve been here before. I’m her bodyguard.’
They both stared at me. It took a full second before they burst out laughing.
I put my hands on my hips and glared. ‘I’m not lying.’
Cheeks suffused with red, and stifling more laughter, the first guard held up his hand. ‘Wait here.’ He ambled into the small office to his left. Through the window I saw him picking up the phone.
‘You don’t really expect us to believe that a girly like you is Ms Chivers bodyguard?’
I sniffed loudly. ‘You shouldn’t judge people by appearances.’
‘Do you have a gun?’
‘No.’
