Before they’d entered The Four Legs, they had finalised a plan of attack. If the place was crowded it would work in their favour, as Sandra was fairly confident that Stephen would be around somewhere and they didn’t want him to know what they were up to until it was necessary. Daniel was convinced he was exceptionally dangerous after they’d fought over Stephen’s plans for the place.
“He stormed in, told me he was about to take it back and he was going to tear down my hated design”, he said as his Renault choked through the city streets in the rain. “I told him I didn’t give two shits, it wasn’t my design anymore and I’d been paid.”
“I looked like a whole lot more than that” Sandra said.
“It shouldn’t have been, but he went off his noodle.”
“Off his noodle.”
“Completely. How much did you see?”
“From when you came in.”
“There you go. I came home, he was outside Sebastian’s place, bailed me up and started yammering at me about the place, and got really shitty that I didn’t care. Starts throwing stuff around, going off his nut. I thought he was going to kill me. So I wacked him over the head with the first thing I found. I was going to call the cops after that.”
The rain was exceptionally loud on the roof of the car in the silence after his explanation. But Sandra considered that when you factored in what was happening in the next room, it started to make sense. If Stephen had something to do with the guy on the bonnet, then of course he’d be there.
“What if he was there with Richard?” Liz said. It shattered Sandra’s theory. “I know what you’re thinking, you’re thinking Stephen’s all down and dirty with the bonnet guy, but what about the guy he bashed in the restaurant? Why would he do that if he’s in on it with them? What if him and Richard had been plotting something, and”, and here she got really excited, “OH, and then, then, they’re working together but in secret cause those guys, those bad guys, were holding them to ransom and… and…”
And nothing.
“…and what?” Sandra asked.
“I don’t know”, she said. “Every time I run this whole thing through my head I end up going nowhere. I think I have it, but then something doesn’t add up.”
“We don’t know what it is they’re after”, Sandra said. “And until we do know that, we’re always going to be bloundering.”
“Floundering”, Daniel corrected.
“Whatever. Point is, I don’t know what it is. But – I do know where it is.”
There was a sharp intake of breath. Even from the driver.
“Where?” Daniel asked, but before she could answer Liz interrupted.
“What the fuck kind of statement is that? What do you know, what piece of special secret information have you got that I don’t Velma?”
Daniel giggled at the memory of this conversation as he passed the men’s room in the Four Legs and went through to the staff break area. It was a legal requirement that the venue have a break room for staff; in this case it was referred to by the staff as ‘the closet’, and as it left little room for more than two people, you technically couldn’t smoke in there and it smelt like mould so it was rarely used. The staff hated it. Daniel knew all of this, because he was required to design the outer space, and the realm of the staff was left to how much money remained. Didn’t make him lessen his fee, of course.
He opened the door and slipped into the closet. There were a few lockers, a couple of bags lying around. Daniel stood on a chair, reached up to the street level window, and realised it didn’t open. He jumped down again, and looked around for something to break it with. There was nothing. He paused, looked around, then picked up the small chair and bashed the window until one leg finally broke through the tiny window. It was enough to let water gush through from the street level above, and pour down the leg, over the chair, and cascade onto the floor.
Satisfied, Daniel turned to leave, then with a pang of guilt turned back and picked up all the staff belongings that were on the floor and stuffed them on the top of the lockers.
Feeling a little better, he went to stuff loads and loads of paper down the toilets. He was liking his role in this plan.
Sandra, meanwhile, had gone with Liz to the bar, bought two huge drinks, gave a large tip and then shouted to the barman over the crowd:
“Do you guys have a lost and found? I think I left something here the other night”.
He shrugged, went to leave, and she handed him a fifty.
“It’s really important”, she said. He’d gestured for them to follow him to the edge of the bar. It took a while to navigate through everyone, but they eventually reached the end. He waved the fifty at them.
“What the hell is this?” he asked. “What do you want?”
“To get you here”, Sandra said, being charming. It didn’t really work that well. Her attempts at charming usually came across as patronising and sociopathic. He looked at her like she was a patronising sociopath. Then Liz stepped in, all boobs and Julia Roberts teeth.
“We’ve lost a bag”, she said. “white thing, long handles – Monday night?”
He looked at her as if to say ‘that’s all you were after? Then why didn’t you say so?’
“Anything that gets left behind ends up in the office.”
“Where’s that?” Sandra asked. He pretended Liz had asked.
“Just head through the chaise, left at the bubble room and there’s velvet stairs that go down to the private rooms. Just head down there, someone should be there to help you out.”
She smiled a thankyou, he pocketed the fifty looking smug and they went on their way. Sandra gave Liz that look.
“What?”, Liz said. “It worked.”
They passed through the crowded rooms and found the stairs. They stopped at the top before going down.
“He said someone will be there. Who do you think runs this place?” Sandra asked.
“I don’t know”, Liz said.
“As long as Daniel has done what he was supposed to do, we should be ok. For a little bit.”
They descended. The noise from upstairs faded rapidly away as they dropped well below street level. It was an odd place to have function rooms, Sandra thought. Surely there must be some kind of fire code issue. They found themselves in a nicely carpeted corridor, with two doors on the left and one on the end. She assumed the cellar was on the other side of the right wall.
She tried the first door, and it opened. They entered the private party room. There was a bar in the corner, a variety of ergonomic chairs, some oddly shaped tables, and pictures deliberately hung on odd angles. It was all a bit strange, and then she looked up. The roof reflected every chair on the floor. So for each type of chair on the floor, there was an exact replica on the roof. Sandra was glad that Daniel was not with them. She didn’t want to have to provide feedback.
Clearly it wasn’t the lost and found, but it had something she was looking for. She walked over to the street level windows that rested just below the ceiling, picked up a chair and smashed the legs through each one. Water rapidly flowed in. She put the chair down and backed away.
“Come on”, Liz said, and pulled her away. They left the room and clipped the lock on the way out, shutting out the sound of the fountain behind. “Don’t check the next one, let’s just get this over with.”
They walked to the door, and knocked. It wasn’t shut properly, and then it swung open. They saw an office space of reasonable size, only there wasn’t much of it left. The office had been turned over, similar to Sandra’s house and Sebastian’s apartment. There were papers, folders, the computer had been hurled off the desk and smashed onto the wall. Sandra stepped into the room, and looked at the mess on the floor. Somewhere in here was her handbag.
“I don’t get it”, Liz said. “He said someone would be here waiting for us.”
Sandra kicked something with her foot, and got a sudden rush of déjà vu. She looked down, and saw a foot. Liz took a sharp intake of breath, and Sandra dropped to the ground to get a better look. The body wasn’t deliberately covered, just the floor to pieces of debris. He was on his face, and Sandra reached underneath to roll him over.
She didn’t recognise the face at all. There was blood pooled on his chest, and underneath where he had lay.
“Do I know this person?” Sandra asked. She was finding it difficult to breath.
“I have no idea who that person is”, Liz replied. Liz had recovered, and was a little more fascinated than scared. Sandra, on the other hand, was finding it difficult. She looked at the nameless face, devoid of life, eyes open. She felt nothing. She actually felt nothing. But she wondered who he was, where he had come from, what life he had led. How did it all end up like this?
“Don’t worry, he’s perfectly dead”, said a more familiar voice, and they stood up to see Stephen Pohler standing in the doorway. He had dried blood on his head, and was drying his hands. They took a step away from him. There was no other way out of the room. He pulled the door shut, and locked it with a key. He then placed that key in his pocket.
He said nothing as he walked across the room, and sat down on the chair behind the desk.
“Poor guy. Really shouldn’t have been here, but wouldn’t listen to me when I tried to explain my daughter had lost a handbag. How was it again, Sandra? White? Long handles?”
She said nothing, just stared at him. He stared back. Eventually she spoke through her anger.
“Why did you say your name was Daniel Cameron?”
He smiled.
“Sebastian told me what you’d told him, about what you remembered”, he said. “He said you remembered Clark, but that was about it. You didn’t remember Richard. So you wouldn’t remember Daniel, but I bet the name would ring a few bells. The second you two showed up on my doorstep I knew things were going to work out. I sent my wife a message, and told her to come home immediately and use that name. Like I had a new life.”
“She didn’t ask for an explanation?” Sandra asked.
“She’s waiting in the car for me right now. The kids are with her parents, she knows what’s going on. I keep her in the loop.”
“So you killed Richard?”
He held up his hand, to stop her.
“There’s a problem with all of this Sandra”, he said. “I want something, and you know where it is.”
She smiled this time.
“Really. And what if I don’t know where it is?”
“Tell you what”, he said. “I’ll kill your friend. And then, maybe you might remember.”
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