Page 33 of Inbetweeners
“You’ll be lonely,” Emmett said.
“But I have you guys.”
“No, you don’t,” Phoenix said. “We’re on a mission and when it’s done, we’ll be gone.”
“I could help. I can be your sidekick. Give me a name. All sidekicks have a name. Robin, Bob, Falcon…”
“We don’t need help, dipstick,” Phoenix said.
“Dipstick’s not going to work.”
Phoenix grinned. “Youcan’thelp us, fuckhead.”
“I will anyway. I’ve always wanted to be the sidekick to a superhero. But I want a name. How about…Ghost?”
“Shut the hell up, fucktard.” Phoenix groaned.
“Nope. Fucktard doesn’t do it for me either. Keep thinking.”
The look of despair that Emmett shared with Phoenix showed him they had a shared view of Harry, at least.
The address they arrived at was a smart five-storey Georgian townhouse in Notting Hill. As Emmett could have predicted, there was nowhere to park. When Phoenix pulled up on double yellow lines, Emmett sucked in a breath.
“We don’t want to get a ticket. Remember what we were told about drawing attention.”
“Getting knocked down and killed didn’t count then?” Phoenix rolled his eyes but drove around until he found a space and they all got out of the car.
“Five pounds seventy an hour!” Phoenix kicked the meter.
“Do you think we need more than an hour?” Emmett asked.
“I hope not.”
“So, what’s our story?” Harry asked, as they set off.
“You’re our annoying pest that no one can see,” Phoenix said.
Harryhmphed.
As Emmett and Phoenix walked towards the house with Harry trailing along behind, Emmett whispered, “Whatisour story?”
“Let me handle it.”
“Did you get the private investigator business cards too?”
“Yes.” Phoenix knocked on the front door. No one answered. He took out his wallet and pulled out a credit card. “This might work.”
It didn’t.
“Wrong sort of lock.”
“You dropped one of your cards.” Emmett picked it up and handed it to him.
“I could go in and see if there’s anyone there,” Harry suggested.
That wasn’t a bad idea. “Okay,” Emmett said. “See if you can find out the name of the person who’s died, and if they’re still around.”
Harry walked through the front door as if it wasn’t there.
