Rob Johnson - Lifting the Lid by Rob Johnson

Author:Rob Johnson [Johnson, Rob]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Mystery: Comedy Thriller - England
Publisher: Xerika Publishing
Published: 2013-12-12T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

From the moment they’d left the hotel room, Sandra had considered every possible means of escape that presented itself but dismissed each one almost as soon as it occurred to her. MacFarland and his gun were always just too close behind her, and now and then she even felt the hard point of the muzzle in the small of her back. At first, she had thought her best opportunity would be in the hotel foyer or the street outside, where there should be enough people around to deter the guy from actually pulling the trigger. But she wasn’t at all sure this would be the case. His undisguised lust for revenge might well be acute enough to blind him to the presence of witnesses, however many there might be. Come to think of it, he was very probably the type who wouldn’t much care if the odd bystander stopped a bullet or two in the process. She couldn’t even rely on his sense of logic telling him he had to keep her alive at least until she’d shown him where her car was parked.

As it turned out, the hotel foyer was almost deserted, and the Sunday lunchtime street was only sparsely populated with pedestrians. For want of any better ideas, Sandra made a vague attempt at playing for time. When they reached the pavement at the bottom of the hotel steps, she stopped and looked back and forth along the road.

‘Now where the hell did I leave it?’ she said, scratching her head for good measure and with almost as much exaggerated theatricality as a Stan Laurel impersonator.

She was enjoying winding the guy up but wondered if this might not be her best strategy when she felt the heat of his breath in her ear and caught a whiff of stale beer as he said, ‘Listen, hen, I’m nae even gonna count tae three.’

‘Maths not your strong point, eh?’ The beginnings of a smile were short lived as the gun barrel caught her somewhere in the region of her right kidney.

The flash of pain persuaded her there was little to be gained from the smartarse approach, and she was about to set off down the pavement when an elderly man with a thin grey moustache and a checked cap stopped in front of her and said, ‘You’re looking a bit lost, love. Can I help at all?’

The smile reappeared and now spread unhindered across her face. ‘That’s very kind of you. I’m actually trying to get to er… the er… bus station.’

‘Happens I’m going that way meself,’ said the man, beaming back at her. ‘Come on and I’ll show you the way.’

As he began to turn, Sandra felt a firm hand on her shoulder.

‘Ye know, darlin’,’ said MacFarland. ‘I think I must have left ma wallet back in the hotel.’

Sandra was momentarily struck by how much venom someone could inject into the word “darling”. ‘Oh dear,’ she said. ‘Well never mind, darling. Perhaps you could catch us up.’

She felt

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