shirt and jeans with the knees missing. The boots were study and expensive.
“The garden comes with the caravan. Ah…the last resident…Ms….well you wouldn’t know her…liked to grow her own vegetables. Very…organic.”
“Well it looks like she’s left me enough for dinner at least.” She was friendly anyway. Whatever problems she had he was pleased to see they weren’t with him. “Can we get inside? The weather’s a bit….”
“The weather’s a lot and always is here.” Ross said, “It’s always like this.” He unlocked the caravan door. Stepped back to let her inside.
“At least you know what to expect.” She went inside. “Oh very nice.” She looked around while Ross pointed out the various points of interest. Kitchen area. Seating which converted to a bed. The toilet at the back. “It’s not plumbed in to anything of course, but waste removal is part of the service.” He employed people to do the menial tasks. “What do you think?”
“I think it’s very nice.” She said. “I’m likely to be in town for about a month. So if I pay you for that we can sort out any more rent if I decide to stay on.”
“You don’t need to do that.” He said, “You can stay here.”
“This place costs money to run.” She broke out a bundle of euro notes. “Here. Take it, please. It’ll make me feel better.”
Ross accepted the money, He said, “It’s good to have you home.”
The blonde snorted slightly, but smiled and said gently, “This isn’t my home. I don’t think it ever was.”
Chapter Four
Maxine Graff stepped out of the shower and watched most of her fake tan drain away down the plug hole. The clothing she had worn, along with the wig, all fitted neatly into the large shoulder bag. The entire deal now rested at the bottom of the river.
She toweled herself down and thought about the event. The policewoman, a detective of some sort, appearing as she did was unexpected, but nothing to be vastly concerned about. Fuller evidently suspected something. Maybe Grant hadn’t been as careful as he should have been when gathering information.
Maxine shook her head. No, that wasn’t like Grant, besides, with his background he wouldn’t have been seen.
However, if Fuller was the nervous kind and was always on his guard….
It doesn’t matter, she told herself forcefully. The job was done. It had been smooth and simple. A knock at the door. Fuller opens it. He likes what he sees. From then on a simple matter to take him to the bathroom and finish him.
The policewoman had been quick on the scene. The thought continued in her head. A few minutes earlier and it would have become messy.
Maxine stepped out of the bathroom. The Caliburn Hotel was one of the best in town, and, she suspected, was today what The Orient Park had been to the 1930s.
Except this hadn’t been a hotel back then. It had been a privately owned house. According to the tourist information The Caliburn Hotel, before the property developers had got their greasy little mitts on it, had been the stronghold of Giles de Bracineaux, Grand Master of the Knights Templar.
Maxine stood, totally naked, by the window and looked down onto the hotel grounds. The whole damn town just reeked of age and tradition and history. She should, she thought, be somehow reassured by that, but instead it just made her feel….old.
She leaned on the window sill. Beneath her she watched a car draw up and a family get out. Harassed looking parents. Mother and father on the first day of their holiday, having just got here. A couple of children, awake and enthusiastic. Neither of them above twelve. The girl looked the eldest. How did they put up with this town? How did the people who lived in this bloody museum of a town manage to get by without going mad?
So many churches, empty but for the tourists. Museums packed with camera toting Americans. Art galleries devoted to the treasures of the past. It was like a time warp.
Below her the mother and father were unloading the luggage. Their car was a fairly standard Eurobox. They all looked the same to Maxine. A nondescript silver grey. No doubt the father worked in IT or sales management or something equally dull. Mother looked to be doing her best despite having two children to deal with.
She noted the son wore an MP3 player, his head nodding away to whatever passed for music these days.
Maxine allowed herself a smile. She was getting old. When the current popular music began to sound like noise you knew you were getting old.
The son and daughter were dressed in a similar fashion. Trainers, which were, probably, overpriced. Jeans. T-shirts, both with some motif Maxine couldn’t clearly make out, but which looked colourful. They each wore blue puffy jackets, open, but with hoods, which was sensible, given the kind of weather Templecaneston “enjoyed.”
The girl was the one to look up first, her brother too engrossed in his music. Her mouth opened in surprise. Maxine smiled and waved back. The girl giggled and nudged her brother. She said something to him and his head immediately shot up.
Maxine gave him the same friendly smile and wave, enjoying the look of surprise and shock on his face.
Then their parents hauled up behind them and the father patted his daughter’s shoulder.
Maxine shuddered automatically and shrank back from the window. She shook her head to clear away the long ago memories.
Not every little girl had a father like hers.
Thankfully.
She let out her breath. All of that was long ago, well in the past. Her father was long dead. As for now, as for today….
Clothes. As for now she would have to get dressed.
She pulled open the dressing table drawers. The furniture here wasn’t of the highest quality, but then it wasn’t the rubbish she’d encountered in lesser hotels either. She pulled on a pair of everyday black briefs and a plain nude coloured bra. Nothing exotic. She wasn’t looking to stand out. A pair of jeans and a plain white T-shirt were good choices. She strapped on a pair of blue and white Dusty trainers. The Dusties were a bit expensive as trainers went, but they were good quality footwear too.
Maxine put on a denim jacket to keep out the chill.
Her mind continued to wander back to Fuller and the policewoman. Foolish, pointless speculation. Yes, the woman had been taller than Maxine, and she looked capable too. But they had passed each other without word or incident, the policewoman suspecting nothing. Except perhaps that a tralk had been visiting someone, which was Maxine had wanted people to think.
She smiled at the raised eyebrows when she had pushed out her augmented chest. Had there been something else too?
Perhaps.
She grinned, immediately feeling better. If nothing else she’d given a dyke policewoman a pleasant surprise before outwitting her.
Maxine stepped out of her hotel room.
