Water's Edge

Chapter XLI

It Must Be Lonely

I met Becky at The Marsh & Bottle, and she looked at the place as if I had taken her into a sewage works. It baffled her how other people drank.

Before I could say anything to her though, Cola cornered me, "You seen Babbitt?"

"No, I am sorry Bux, not seen him."

Lucy chimed up, "Cola, stop bothering everyone. He went to that archaeological conference or whatever."

"See." I said to Cola and brushed past him, Becky staring at him with derision as I got us settled, "What ya want?"

"To go to a real pub."

"Oi." Lucy came over, "Half a Stella and a clip 'round the ear is it?"

"Sorry." Becky pouted, "G&T?"

"Sure..." Lucy shook her head.

Becky had come in the pencil skirt and blouse I had originally met her in, and although she was dressed as costume for our breaking into Soames Construction, I pretended, deep down, it was all for me. She noticed and crossed her legs, apologising again to Lucy before I explained the plan.

"You have your own car?"

"Yeah, a little yellow Beetle. It was my Mums." She cooed, smiling nostalgically.

"Perfect. If you get spotted, just get in ya car and go home. I can handle myself."

"And what am I looking for again?"

I pointed out that anything from email correspondences to records of material purchases would be ideal. I gave her a gmail account I had set up just for the occasion that she could forward everything to, something I could say wasn't mine if push came to shove.

"This is exciting!" She took my arm and pulled me closer, "Like I'm Moneypenny to your Bond."

"No." I said, emphatically, shaking off her arm for my half. I had already compared myself to Sherlock Holmes recently, I didn't need another cliché attached to me.

"You must get something out of what you do." She said, almost bitter, "You don't just quit the police."

"I did."

"Why?"

"Long story."

"We have time..." She looked to the clock behind the bar, "Hour or so before I need to turn up for 'my shift'." She did bunny ears with her fingers and sipped her G&T from the glass.

We moved to a quieter corner, underneath the flatscreen and the perpetual games of football. I told her a little about my time: how I was a homicide detective after working up through the ranks; my vocal disagreement with new policy; the #SpyCops Bill being my final straw. She thankfully had not read the article that Elle had up on her wall.

"It must be lonely." She said finally, holding my hand a little. I moved it away.

"The whole countries lonely. Nothing new there."

"It's never as bad as people think." She said, seriously, and she visibly shuddered as if to cast off such seriousness. When she beamed back at me the next time, all I could consider was how dangerous the next steps may be.

I followed behind her bright yellow Beetle, turning off my lights as we approached the newly constructed roads towards Soames Construction. The road had led to the carpark, down the short track to the buggies, all the way to the throne of the dead. Even from all the way out here, this felt like journey as dirge.

I parked up with the lights out. I watched as the Beetle approached the security guard. They spoke for a short while. And then she was waved through, that bright yellow bug vanishing into the gloom of the carpark. Now I could move.

Locking down the Zee, and taking the Glock from the glove compartment, I slid down the embankment down the road into the mud. Squelching towards HQ I kept low and behind the signposts, using the ditch for cover. It led me directly towards the complex, the chain link rattling against my thigh, or in the wind. Either way I was still obscured.

Becky would be inside and 'working on her shift' by now, and I was still delicately finding my way through the mud and the darkness to that back door where I had found Josep. If I could get in, find any secrets—I had to move quickly, for Becky's sake.

I slid along the wall and pushed the back door. Locked. I had expected this, reaching into my jacket to retrieve my lock picking kit. I knelt to unlock the door, keeping my peripheral vision alert for any bursts of torchlight. Nothing. Just the dark. Rushing water somewhere.

Click.

I was in.