Page 58 of Box of Frogs
Re-focusing, I looked around. The gentle wheezes were coming from the corner of the room to my right. Although the monstrous spider webs remained in evidence here, hanging from various corners and with numerous dead insects caught in their lethal threads, I still felt like the area was cleaner than it should be. Given his attention to detail, it was obvious that Rubus was a canny bastard. For some reason, that thought comforted me. Whatever my reasons had been for abandoning Morgan to be with his brother, I’d not saddled myself with a complete nincompoop even though the evidence thus far was to the contrary.
I snuck along, ignoring the damp piles of ancient newspapers and the mouldy cardboard boxes. There weren’t any dead rats up here; maybe the giant spiders had eaten them. I scowled at myself for thinking that and tried to maintain regular breathing and stay relaxed. That didn’t mean I wasn’t ready for a fight.
As soon as I reached the doorway, I flattened myself against the wall. A mirror to peer round the corner would have been handy. Once all this was done and dusted, I was going to organise a proper handbag for myself with the things a girl really needed to get through her day. Without any equipment to hand, I’d just have to rely on myself. I tilted my head and squinted round.
The room was more comfortable than I’d expected, given the rest of the building. There were no cobwebs and definitely no small animal corpses. Whoever was sleeping inside had taken the time to spray some sort of potent air freshener liberally around the room. A flowery scent still clung to the air, masking the unpleasant smells from outside. There was a small table with a chair propped up next to it, and a dog-eared paperback sitting on top. The slumbering man wasn’t curled up in a corner and trying to sleep on a hard floor; he had a proper mattress with clean-looking sheets and two plump pillows. I half expected Laura Ashley curtains and a fur throw to come into view.
Satisfied that there was a lack of weaponry in the room, unless there was a gun underneath the pillow, I examined the man. All that was currently visible from beneath the pristine cover was a shock of tousled brown hair. I couldn’t see anything of his face from this angle. He was on his belly and definitely fast asleep.
I peeled away from the wall and went in. Three steps into the room and I trod on a creaky floorboard; to my ears, the noise was painfully loud. Fortunately, the man didn’t move. He was still sleeping. I breathed out.
Chiding myself for making a rookie error, I took more care. I sidestepped away from the plank of wood and sidled up to the mattress, then I stood over the prone figure. This was very Zen in both its simplicity and peacefulness. It was almost a shame that I’d have to ruin the picture.
I bent my head, catching a glimpse of the man’s face for the first time. It was in profile and he was slack-jawed, with a faint line of drool dribbling from the corner of his mouth onto the pillow. I recognised him instantly. I bunched my hands in fists and clenched my teeth. What were the chances, I thought grimly, that Dave from the Metropolitan bar was the same human who was here? I glared at him angrily. Then I reached down and slapped him hard on his exposed cheek.
He shot bolt upright, nostrils flaring and eyes wide. ‘Wh – what?’
I didn’t give him a chance to recover. My fingers curled round his throat and I hauled him upwards, slamming his body into the nearest wall and pinning him there. Well, go me. It appeared I did have some strength to call on when I needed it.
Dave blinked, the sleep vanishing from his eyes. ‘Who the fuck are you?’
‘Like you don’t recognise me,’ I snarled.
He stared at me, nervous tics starting up all over his face. ‘No, I don’t! I promise I don’t!’ His breathing was coming fast and shallow. ‘You look a bit familiar but…’
I held up my hand. ‘Enough.’ His babbling was irritating and I belatedly remembered that I’d been wearing my Madhatter superhero costume the last time we met. Maybe I could use his lack of memory against him. ‘The last time we met,’ I hedged, ‘was with Rubus.’
If I’d thought he’d been scared before, it was nothing compared to now. ‘R- Rubus?’ he stammered. ‘You were there when he gave me the stuff and told me what to do?’
Gasbudlikins. The idiot couldn’t have been more vague if he’d tried. ‘Of course I was,’ I snapped. ‘Do you still have the stuff with you?’
I could feel him shaking under my fingers. ‘Some. I’ve sold most of it. But Rubus said I could! It was mine to sell! Has he…’ He swallowed. ‘Has he changed his mind?’
I’d started this conversation aggressively and it seemed that now I had no way forward other than to ratchet up the level further. I cursed to myself and squeezed my fingers round his neck slightly. Dave whimpered. ‘No, he’s not changed his mind. But he wants to know who you sold it to.’
Dave’s arms flailed. ‘There were lots of people!’ he protested. ‘I don’t know their names. I don’t ask for that sort of thing. They wouldn’t trust me if they thought I was keeping records. The police are clamping down on any sort of shit to do with spice. Besides, anonymity works both ways.’
I looked into his eyes; I didn’t think I was imagining that his pupils were dilated. Dave might have given a good impression of a stand-up citizen when I met him a few nights ago but it was clear that he was little more than a drug addict. Perhaps a drug dealer too. Who knew? It was almost like we were kin. ‘Spice,’ I said slowly. It didn’t mean much to me but I doubted it was for cooking clandestine curries.
‘There’s a high demand for it! I told Rubus he should have given me more. Just because his lot don’t take dust very often doesn’t mean that my lot and spice are the same.’
I absorbed this information without easing my grip on this sorry excuse for a man. ‘Rubus wants me to make sure that you’re keeping to your side of the bargain. He wants to make sure you’ve not forgotten.’
Dave looked around him. ‘I’m here, aren’t I? I promised I’d stay and keep an eye on whoever showed up.’
‘That’s one thing,’ I purred, hoping my gamble would pay off. ‘What about the rest?’
He swallowed, his Adam’s apple juddering nervously in his neck. ‘I did the rest too! I went to that bar. Nothing happened. I didn’t even see the guy he’d been talking about.’
‘You might not have noticed him,’ I said, silently urging him to say more.
‘A green-eyed, muscled bloke who looks just like Rubus but with more hair?’ Dave asked. ‘I’m hardly likely to miss him.’
It was definitely Morgan that Dave was talking about. So what was the motive? Why would Rubus send a human to keep an eye on his own brother? ‘He was there,’ I growled. Then, for good measure, ‘Your instructions were very clear.’
‘I couldn’t follow him if I couldn’t find him! I’ve not used your sparkly shit on him yet. I was going to go back tonight and try to get him but I’m not Superman. I don’t have super powers.’ When he mentioned the superhero, his eyes flared. He looked more closely at me and I saw the cogs in his dim brain turning. Enough of that. I shook him hard, causing just enough pain for him to close his eyes. That would have to do.
‘Where’s this sparkly shit you were going to use? You’d better still have it or there will be consequences.’
