It's All About Teddy by Lee Darkin-Miller

Author:Lee Darkin-Miller [Darkin-Miller, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller > suspense
Publisher: Troubador Publishing
Published: 2022-03-11T00:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

We’d found a half-empty bar which served food. Veronica chased her pasta round her plate while I tucked into my chips.

Mike was in the toilet.

The radio murmured familiar songs, while the homely touches, such as the hanging chintzy light-shades and a superfluous amount of pillows, engulfed me in a fictitious feeling of safety. I studied Veronica. Her mind was somewhere else, presumably with Dexter. I’d not seen her this worried before. ‘Do you think we’ll get them back?’ I said.

She looked off to the side a little, as if she didn’t want to speak. ‘We’ll get them back.’ A twist of pasta finally found her mouth. A waitress tumbled out the kitchen with a dish of food. It sizzled loudly and smoked profusely, and the whole place watched as it travelled to its destination somewhere at the back of the bar.

‘I’ve not seen you this worried,’ I said. ‘Why are you so afraid of Dexter?’

Veronica looked bemused. ‘Your daughter and your girlfriend have been kidnapped by this man, and you ask why I’m afraid of him?’

‘But you’ve gone up against these types before. I mean, those two we left back at the dojo – they weren’t exactly kittens.’ I plucked a chip from my bowl.

‘I know, I know – it was just something he said.’

‘What did he say?’ She shook her head, her eyes following a passing waitress.

I popped the chip in my mouth.

She leaned forwards. ‘He did the usual bull, saying how pretty I was.’

‘Despite the teeth.’

Veronica rolled her eyes. ‘He asked if I wanted to go for a drink, gave me his card and that’s when he said…’

I stopped chewing. ‘What did he say?’

Veronica picked up her napkin and fiddled with it. ‘He said that if I refused to go out with him, then he would—’

Mike returned to the table, rubbing his hands. ‘That smells nice, I’m famished.’

‘It’s okay, TC – don’t worry,’ said Veronica, hurriedly.

Mike titivated his cutlery. ‘You two okay?’

‘As well as can be expected,’ said Veronica, and threw her napkin onto the table. Mike shrugged and tucked into his food. I chewed and swallowed the chippy mush.

‘Mm – this is good food,’ said Mike, his cheeks full of it.

I studied Veronica’s face and wondered what Dexter could have said to rattle the Human Squirrel so badly. I shifted my bum. ‘So how did you come up with the name, the Human Squirrel?’

She looked up. ‘Oh, I don’t know. I don’t even think it was me. It was probably one of the newspapers.’

‘You’d think they’d come up with something better,’ I said. Mike laughed through his nose.

Veronica blinked slowly at me. ‘And what would you suggest?’

I swallowed and thought for a second. ‘I don’t know. The Panther?’

Mike winced and shoved more food in his mouth.

‘Or maybe the Purple Panther?’

‘Why purple?’ she said.

I shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Alliteration?’

‘Panther’s been done to death if you ask me,’ said Mike.

‘How about the Purple Mole then?’

‘The Purple Mole?’ said Veronica, cracking a smile.

‘Well, it’s better than the Human Squirrel.’ Mike paused and frowned at me.

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