Mr. Pinkerton & Other Tales by Gillian Jackson

Author:Gillian Jackson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Primedia eLaunch

The smell of recycled garlic from the pin striped suit was getting to me, so I moved on again to a spot between mobile man and the pony tail; I had almost completed a full circle. After five minutes, which took several hours to pass, the grinding mechanical noise was to be heard again, coupled with a few more jerking movements and then the lift was back on track, arriving at the ground floor much to the relief of all the occupants.

When the doors opened, the American lady steered her husband towards reception to lodge her growing list of complaints. The other three of my travelling companions headed towards the dining room, no doubt to sample the full English breakfast on offer. And me? I turned to go in the direction of the concierge’s office. Well, I say office, although it’s more of a cupboard really, behind reception, but it gives him the status he thinks he deserves. I was just thinking that my working day was coming quickly to an end when my progress was halted by a little old lady in the reception area. She had the look of a sweet Miss Marple type, (but hopefully without the perceptive mind,) and was obviously struggling with an assortment of bags and a lumpy old suitcase. She reminded me of my Granny, silver grey hair in a plaited bun and knitting needles poking out of her oversized handbag.

“Excuse me dear.” Her dulcet, southern counties accent was barely audible. “Do you think you could help me into the lift, the porters are all so busy?”

How could I refuse?

“Thank you my dear, you’re so kind, I can always tell from the face and yours is such a pretty, honest face. I pride myself on being a good judge of character.” She held onto my arm for support.

As I placed her bags inside the lift, I smiled and pressed the floor number for her and as the doors closed her periwinkle blue eyes held mine for an instant, then she was gone and I was left, still smiling. I turned back towards the concierge’s office with a sigh and tapped lightly on the door.

“Hi Tony!” I beam at him. “Great timing today, spot on. I managed to get round all the occupants in the five minutes you gave me. Three wallets, nice fat ones too, a Rolex, a couple of credit cards and a crocodile purse, no doubt stuffed full of lovely dollars. Not a bad day’s work eh? Pretty good hourly rate there don’t you think?”

He began to sort through my day’s ‘takings’ nodding his approval, while telling me,

“Good girl, but you’ll have to leave this hotel off your list for a while, the maintenance men are getting suspicious. My old pal Jimmy, the concierge at The Maple Leaf says you could go back there again and I’ve a couple of new hotels you could add to your list...”

Tony’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as I pulled out the last thing I had procured that day, a magnificent Cartier diamond bracelet courtesy of Miss Marple.

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