Postage Due -Long Listed ONC2022

Chapter 3

"Her name's Lynne Kirk. She drives hack number seven-five-seven, but she never showed up for work. Just that one phone call."

"And that dunce in the office told her someone asked after her. Did you get an address?"

"No. Company policy. I could get it, if you want."

"Forget it. They don't want any more ripples on the water. Have you made any progress on the body?"

"That's a done deal. Nobody will see him again."

"And his identity?"

"Got Clara running that down for you. So what about this Kirk broad?"

"We'll find out about her another way, the internet is the best informer since Judas,"

"Who?"

"Never mind." Sabbi Tiryaki opened his tablet and began a search.

****

Warren opened his apartment door and led the way in, moving a few items he'd left lying about. "I eat a lot of take-out," he said, apologetically. "Life of a lazy bachelor."

"I'm not here for a house and garden seminar. Where's the envelope?"

"Do you think you might lose the attitude. I'm in this as much as you."

"You still have a job, Warren, and a place to stay – such as it is."

"You think they know where you live?"

"They have my name and they know I drive a cab. It wouldn't take much to search the DMV files to find my license application."

He listened to her, but his thoughts ran to how centred a person she was, how she analyzed situations so succinctly, and the fact that in a sweater and skirt, she looked anything but a cab driver.

"Did you hear me? Where is the envelope?"

Warren went into the kitchen just as the phone rang. He stopped and turned around then stopped again. Who would be calling him at home during working hours? The answering machine came on and he saw Lynne standing over it, listening to the silence and then a dial tone.

"Do you get many calls like that?"

He shook his head, as he fetched the envelope and handed it to her.

"It was probably a robo-call though."

"You think so – with a dial tone." She turned the envelope in her hands, feeling the contents.

"Well?"

"Have you got some scissors or a knife?"

He went back to the kitchen and returned with a paring knife.

"Really?"

"I don't want you to cut yourself." His physical expression said 'What?'

Lynne sawed the end off the envelope and slipped the contents out onto the coffee table. There was a small stack of photographs and a cassette. She picked up the photos and began sorting through them. "See, no poison powder. But some pretty weird stuff all the same."

"Hilarious. Check this out, a cassette! How long was the envelope under your seat in the cab?" Warren turned it over, looking for a title but it was blank.

She handed him the pictures and sat on the nearest chair, with a sigh. "We should have called the police."

He took the pictures and studied them. "Holy crap!"

"What?"

"That's the dead guy! Look!" he handed her the photo and got out his phone, scrolling through to the picture he took at the Shropshire. "That's him."