The Shattered Frame

Road Trip

           

There was a brief argument between Kipps and Lockwood over whether the oldest or the tallest got to sit in the front seat. Kipps won out in the end, after pointing out that, if Lockwood sat in the front, he wouldn't get to sit next to me. He flushed at that but made no further objections. No one pointed out that Skully was, in fact, both the oldest (if you counted his years spent as a ghost) and the same height as Lockwood, though that was easy to forget because he slouched so much. He didn't seem to care, though, and slid into the back seat with me and Lockwood, leaving the third row for George – his own fault for being the last ready. I got stuck in the middle – a disadvantage of being the shortest out of the three of us. It was either that or sit next to George in the back, and he had a tendency to fall asleep on whoever was sitting next to him and drool, something I'd discovered on many a taxi ride home after a case.

Skully kicked the back of Kipps's seat repeatedly while we waited for Holly to say her goodbyes to Rani, either to be annoying or because he was already feeling restless; he got tetchy in small spaces, something I put down to his many years stuck in a jar.

"If I have to put up with this for the whole ride, Lockwood can have the front," Kipps huffed.

"Oh, hold on," said Lockwood, suddenly. "George, pass my bag from the boot."

George handed over Lockwood's bag and he proceeded to fish something out of the front pocket and pass it to Skully. "I used to have trouble focusing when I was younger, and my sister bought me a bunch of stuff like this. Now I just practice with my rapier instead, so you can have them if you like."

Skully inspected the object – a line of interlocking pyramids that could be twisted to contort the toy into different shapes. Skully eyed Lockwood contemplatively for a moment. "Thanks, A.J," he said at last.

"Call it an early birthday present," said Lockwood, giving Skully a warm smile. He said nothing about the new nickname; I guess it wasn't as bad as 'big A'.

Skully seemed content fiddling with the toy for now; he relaxed back into his seat and stopped kicking Kipps's chair. I shot Lockwood a grateful smile.

We watched Holly hug Rani one last time.

"Stay safe, okay?" Rani was saying. "Call me when you arrive."

"Come on, Hol!" George called. "We've gotta get there before it gets dark."

A little reluctantly, Holly pulled away from Rani's embrace and climbed into the driver's seat. Rani waved us off as the car pulled out into the road. I watched her go.

"George," I said, "why did so many agencies fail at clearing this place?"

George cleared his throat. "Oh, you know, ran into some trouble, that's all. Not as competent as we are."

"So, they gave up and left?"

"Something like that."

I had a feeling that meant they gave up living, but I said no more about it; I hated the thought of this case enough already.

"How long until we get there?" Lockwood asked.

"Four, maybe five hours," Holly replied. "Give or take."

Skully let out a long groan.

"Don't be like that," said Kipps, "now you get to experience the joy of car games."

"For example," I said, and punched Skully in the arm.

"Owww! What was that for?" Skully whined.

"Yellow car," I said, pointing it out.

"You're just supposed to say yellow car," said Holly