‘Why wait so long?’ Louisa said. ‘They’ve been going out for months. If I was Roddy Ho’s girlfriend, I’d have killed him long before now.’
‘Maybe she’s been using him for something.’
Shirley gave a low, unhappy moan.
‘Christ,’ said River. ‘Not
‘Hacking,’ said Louisa.
‘So it is a scam,’ Shirley said, brightening.
‘Makes more sense than the alternative,’ said River. ‘Which is that Ho does, in actual fact, have a girlfriend who looks like that.’
‘Well if he does, I wish I hadn’t saved his life.’
‘Nearly there,’ said Louisa. ‘Taxi’s slowing down.’
‘Here we go, babes,’ said Ho, paying the fare.
‘Actually, Roddy, could you bung an extra twenty on?’
‘… I … Twenty? A tip’s a tip, but—’
‘No, I need him to take me home, that’s all.’ Kim smiled. ‘Tomorrow’s a big day for me. Huge. I need a night’s sleep. Twenty should cover it. But make it twenty-five, yeah?’
‘… I … Yeah, babes. Sure. But I thought …’
‘What did you think, Roddy?’
‘… Nothing, babes.’
He fumbled for more notes while Kim told the driver where she needed to go. When she’d finished, she put a hand under Ho’s chin and drew his face close to hers. ‘You were so damn …
‘…
She kissed him long and hard, then gave him a little push. ‘Go on. Meter’s running.’
He stepped out of the taxi like a man emerging from a train wreck, then looked back when she called his name:
‘Roddy?’
‘Yeah, babes?’
‘Goodbye.’
‘… G’night, Kim.’
The taxi stayed where it was while Roddy, after a brief struggle, removed his keys from his trouser pocket, and Kim waved at him until he was through his front door.
Then it pulled away.
‘There is a God,’ said Shirley, watching this from Louisa’s car, a little way up the street.
In the taxi, Kim tapped on the dividing glass and said to the driver, ‘Actually, I need to go somewhere else,’ and gave him a new address. Then she took her phone out again, and instead of texting made a call.
‘He’s home,’ she said. ‘Alone, yes.’
She seemed about to end it there, but changed her mind.
‘And listen … make it quick? He’s harmless.’
She put her phone in her bag, and let the taxi carry her off.
‘So now what?’ said Louisa.
‘He’s home. Nobody tried to kill him. I vote we call it a night,’ said River, stifling a yawn.
‘Lightweight,’ said Shirley.
‘No, he’s right,’ said Louisa. ‘What else do we do? Sit and watch Ho’s front door?’
‘Just because he’s back doesn’t mean he’s safe,’ Shirley said, with a taut note in her voice that hadn’t been there earlier.
‘But nothing we’ve seen suggests he’s in any danger, either.’
‘Someone tried to whack him this morning.’
‘We remember.’
‘If I hadn’t been there, he’d be dead.’
‘That doesn’t mean you’re responsible for him from now on,’ River said. ‘That only happens in films.’
‘Besides,’ said Louisa, ‘he pretty clearly didn’t notice it himself.’
‘It fucking happened.’
‘Yeah, okay, but—’
‘No, not fucking
‘Shirley—’
‘—then it could still happen again. And if it happens to him, it could happen to any one of us.’
‘That’s not strictly—’
‘Fuck off, Cartwright.’
‘Okay.’
Louisa said, ‘Shirley, you have a point. Sure. But three of us, in one car? Is that any way to run a surveillance?’
‘You’re trying to get me out of your car?’
‘I’m saying we can’t take shifts if we’re all crammed in here. There’s no chance of any of us getting any sleep. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t intend to be awake all night.’
‘So … So what are you suggesting?’
‘That we need a plan,’ Louisa said. ‘And here it is. We take shifts. The best surveillance point’s that bus stop on the corner. Bound to be night buses on this route, so waiting won’t look suspicious. First relief’s at two, then five. The others kip in the car. Okay?’
‘Here in the road?’
‘No. I’ll park further down, past the shops. Won’t be so conspicuous.’
Shirley said, ‘We gonna draw straws or what?’
‘I’m moving the car. No offence, but nobody else drives this baby. And River’s had two beers, so he’ll be useless until he’s had some kip. So …’
‘So I’m first up.’
‘Well, this whole thing was your idea.’
Shirley scowled. ‘You’d better not be late.’
Contrary to most approved covert surveillance techniques, she allowed the door to slam behind her when she got out.
Louisa said, ‘No, really. Happy to help,’ and waited until Shirley was halfway to the bus stop before starting the engine.
‘You were trying to get her out of your car, weren’t you?’ River said.
‘Yeah. Fuck her. I’m going to bed. Want a lift?’
‘Please.’
They left.
Roderick Ho let himself into his house, turned the hall lamp on, then leaned against the wall. ‘Yeah, course, babes,’ he murmured. Big day tomorrow. Need your beauty sleep. Best not come in, because you’d not get much of that in the Rodster’s bed.
