Silvertroll

Thai Fidelity

I pull over in a parking lot located in a laneway behind a row of shops, right next to a pile of dumped garbage. Pulling the hand brake, I climb out, walk around and open the passenger door. Zansk doesn't resist as I push his backrest all the way down. I grab a bag of extra-long cable ties and strap him by the neck to the chair.

"Nice work," says Zansk. "Looks like I won't be going anywhere."

"When I get back, you better be a lot less smug, and a whole lotta cooperative."

"Or else what? You're no killer, Nathan."

I gag him and lean closer, "I once had a lizard as a pet. I forgot to feed it for a few days. It died."

I shut the door and walk towards the main street, accessible via a narrow alley. The rendezvous is a few shopfronts away. I get there and step inside the Thai Fidelity shop. The décor of the place is old school, bentwood chairs, laminate table tops, just like the restaurants I remember as a kid.

Even the savoury smell takes me back.

I locate Libby sitting at a table, so I walk over and sit down opposite her. "I hope you're in a talkative mood because I'm all out of tolerance."

"You need to promise you won't get unhinged," she says.

"I'm not unhinged."

"That's how Julian described you. Unhinged, crazy, volatile."

The words stab me in the heart. "You knew Julian?"

Libby stutters a little at first. "I did. We dated. I broke it off because he became obsessed with this project of his. I wanted a... I don't know, some kind of commitment. We argued. He called me a walking cliché. So I left him."

This doesn't sound like the Julian I know. I'm tempted to believe we both are referring to two different people. "And that was that?"

"Nope," she replies, "He showed up months later and begged to get back together. He had changed. He seemed happier. He was wealthier. Whatever project he was working on, it must have paid off."

"What's this project?"

Libby snaps, "How about you let me finish?"

I sit back and gesture for her to continue.

She does, "For a while we had everything. We had money, cars, designer clothes, shoes, and we stayed at the best resorts. We had an amazing social life."

"How the fuck did I miss all that?"

"Oh, you and your wife missed quite a lot. We were the perfect couple. We were the dream cliché."

"Until...?" I ask. I can sense by the way she speaks that there's an unfortunate turn of events coming.

Libby looks towards the back of the shop, at a door. "Until everything went to shit."

I follow her gaze. A doorway that leads to the back of the restaurant. I get her drift, so I stand up, walk past the busy counter, and enter the door. Inside, a young man sits on a stool in front of a computer rig, not dissimilar to the setup Julian used.

The guy looks at me and says, "I'd get up and join you but both my knees are fucked."

I notice the walking stick and the security jacket hanging on a rail.

Who the fuck is this guy?