The Ultimate Community by J Meverington

Author:J Meverington [Meverington, J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780473470777
Published: 2019-03-15T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

Doofy arrived a week later. He’d flown into London and had spent the last few days visiting his parents in Oxford, so he was fresh and ready to start his investigation.

‘Beer?’ Damion asked.

‘Yes please,’ Doofy replied.

‘Allie?’

‘You know I don’t drink anymore so stop asking me!’

‘Oh yeah, sorry. Cup of tea?’

‘Yes, that will be great, thanks.’

Damion grabbed two beers from the fridge for him and Doofy and put the jug on to boil for Alice.

After a brief catchup, Alice told him about the text-messages she’d been receiving, then handed him her phone.

‘Can I keep your phone for a few days?’

‘Sure. I’ve given up drinking so I’m not in contact with my friends at the moment. I only use it to listen to music, I can get a cheap phone which will do the same thing.’

‘Hey, do you guys mind if I give Chas a call, I’ve not been able to get hold of him for the last couple of days.’

‘Sure, you need to keep your husband under control while you’re away,’ Damion joked. Doofy didn’t look so amused.

As Doofy dialled, Alice heard the American dial tone going through, a single long beep, rather than the two short rings they got here. Nostalgia shuddered through her bones, and she was glad she no longer lived there.

‘Um... who’s this?’ Doofy said, into the phone.

A loud voice on the other end mumbled something Alice couldn’t make out, but by the look on Doofy’s face, it wasn’t good news. He took the phone into the spare room for privacy.

After a while, Doofy came out shaking his head.

‘Everything okay, mate?’

‘It sounds like Chas has taken in a homeless guy.’

‘What! Why?’

‘He’s been acting weird, I’m not sure what’s going on with him.’

‘Like what?’

‘For example, the other day we went shopping. Chas drove, and we ended up at Walmart.’

‘What’s wrong with Walmart?’ Alice asked.

‘Absolutely nothing. But it’s out of character for Chas to shop there. He’s always been a designer clothes kinda guy. I’ve teased him about it for years, telling him to stop wasting his money, that he could buy the same stuff at Walmart for a fraction of the cost. But he never listened, always liking the finer things in life. According to him, the more you paid for something, the better it was.’

‘Haha, sounds like you, Damion,’ Alice said.

‘Hey, I’m not as bad as I used to be!’

‘You should have seen the way his eyes lit up in Walmart. He ran around like a child let loose in a sweet shop and even bought a shirt and tie combo.’

‘Nooooo,’ Damion exclaimed. ‘That’s sacrilege.’

‘To Chas it would have been once. Then he bought shoes. Cheap ones, not his traditional Italian leather. At the checkout, the cost came to less than the price of one shirt at his normal shops. I tell you, he had me worried.’

‘Do you think he has money problems? A secret gambling addiction perhaps?’

‘Not that I know of. I quite liked the change in him though, so I never worried about it too much.

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