Thursday 9 May 2019

Episode 76 – Corinne meets Felicity

Corinne heard the squeal and realised that it was Daisy, and almost instantly regretted leaving her outside, in harm’s way.

She almost leapt out of the chair and was at the office doorway in a few seconds.

There she saw another woman, one who did not look very friendly, standing a short distance from Daisy, who in turn, looked terrified.

Felicity spoke first, “Corinne, I presume.  Harry sent me.”

“How do I know that’s true?  He’s in hospital.  You should know the police will be here any minute.”

“You mean Detective Sykes.  Good.  You shouldn’t be afraid of me.  My name is Felicity and your brother and I have been working on the Jones’ cases.  He told me he’s asked you to get some information off Sykes, and that I should keep an eye on you.  The people he’s been dealing with,” she took another look around the room, checking to see if anything had been moved, “are very dangerous.”

“We should be leaving, now, Corinne.  This woman can take care of matters.  This is too much for either of us to get involved in,” Daisy found her voice, but it was shaky.

“We’re here to meet Sykes.  I’m staying.”

Daisy looked at Corinne, then Felicity.

“Go sit down before you fall down,” Felicity said, then watched Daisy pick her way carefully through the books to the sofa., and sit.

To Corinne Felicity said, “I’m assuming his office is as messy as this.”

“Someone was looking for something, and they found it.”

“What do you mean?”

“In here.”  Corinne went back into the office and Felicity followed her.

When they were both standing behind the desk, Corinne showed her the bottom of the drawer, and the piece of paper still taped to it.

“A not so unique hiding spot,” Felicity muttered.

A closer inspection showed the fragment to be from a legal pad, same as the notes she could see in the open files.  If he had written something on one of the sheets, perhaps, if she could find the pad, there might be some trace of what had been written.

“Look for a blank writing pad,” Felicity said.

“Why?”

“Because that page was ripped from one, and if we find it...”

“...it might still have a trace we can use a pencil to shade over the indentations.”

Maybe not as silly as she looked, Felicity thought, though coming to the office alone was not such a smart move.  That man watching them below might have followed them up.  It wasn’t a pleasant thought about what might have happened to them.

Ten minutes searching, in the office, and outside, yielded a “found it” cry from Corinne.

She brought the pad back into the office and cleared a spot on the desk.,  Felicity had the pencil ready.  After looking at the page in the light, the indentations were just discernible.  She lightly shaded the area and words began to appear.

Corrine could see it was a scrawled address in her bothers handwriting, and it looked like it had been written in a hurry.  A familiar address though she could not say then why it seemed familiar to her.  Had it been mentioned in passing at home? 

“You recognise it?”  Felicity had noticed the expression change on Corinne’s face.

“It seems familiar, but no.”

Felicity wrote it out again and gave the copy to Corinne.  “Keep this safe.  If the people who did this wanted that address so badly, then we need to be very careful what we do with it.”

“We tell the police, that’s what we do.  Clearly, it means something.  It might be where they took Harry.”

“It might.  But I want to check it out first before we do anything hasty.  If we give it straight to the police we may never find out what the significance of it is.”

Clearly, Corinne didn’t want to agree.

“For Harry’s sake Corinne.  Just a couple of days.”

“Two days then.”  She carefully folded it and put the sheet in her inner pocket.

Corinne looked at her watch.  Another half hour before Sykes arrived.  She had intended to go through Harry's case notes before the Detective arrived but not knowing what she was looking for, and the possibility the files could be scattered anywhere on the floor made her think it was not a good idea.

Lunch might be a better option.  There was a Starbucks just up the street.


“Sykes won’t be here for another half hour.  I suggest we get some coffee, and you can tell me how it is you know my brother.”

 © Charles Heath 2016-2019


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