The Book of Death (Bourbon Kid 4)

the
proposition.
    ‘Just head right down that
corridor,’ said James pointing the way. At the end of it you’ll see Simmonds’s
office. You can’t miss it. It’s got his name on the door.’
    ‘Thanks. I’ll see you there
shortly.’
    Silvinho released his grip on the
other man’s shoulder and made his way down to Elijah Simmonds’s office. Sure
enough it was exactly where James had indicated it would be. He knocked twice
on the door and then turned the doorknob to open it without waiting for
Simmonds to answer. The door opened inwards and he was greeted by the sight of
Elijah Simmonds sitting behind a desk with a laptop computer in front of him.
He looked startled at the sight of a giant soldier with a pink mohawk striding
in.
    ‘Can I help you?’ he asked.
    ‘You Simmonds?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘I’m Silvinho. I work for Special
Forces. Come about the Bourbon Kid. Mind if I ask you a few questions?’
    Simmonds spun his laptop around.
‘The Bourbon Kid,’ he said pointing at a face on the computer screen. ‘You mean
this guy?’
    Silvinho stared at the screen. ‘Is
that him?’ he asked.
    ‘Yep,’ said Simmonds.
    ‘The picture’s not very good is
it?’
    ‘No. But it’s good enough that I
recognize him as a man who was in this office just a few minutes ago.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘I just fired his girlfriend and
he came down here to berate me for it. He tried to cause a scene and ended up
embarrassing himself.’
    ‘The Bourbon Kid has a
girlfriend?’
    ‘Yes. And in exchange for the
reward they’re offering on the television for information that leads to the
arrest of the Bourbon Kid, I’ll gladly give you her home address.’
    Silvinho pulled bone-handled knife
from inside his jacket. The blade was almost a foot long and had serrated
edges. He ran his index finger along the smooth part of the blade and eyeballed
Simmonds.
    The museum’s manager looked deeply
concerned. ‘There’s no need for any violence,’ he said nervously. ‘I just want
the reward that’s advertised.’
    ‘Forget the reward,’ Silvinho
snarled. ‘Just give me the address, or I’ll cut your fucking balls off.’

Fourteen

 
    Beth stared out of the car
window at the sleet and snow shooting down from the sky outside. Since the
thunderstorm from the night before had ended, the snowfall had been relentless
and had settled two inches thick on the ground. The clouds that had formed
overhead were the darkest she had ever seen and they seemed to cover the whole
sky. Occasional intermittent shafts of sunlight slipped through between clouds
here and there, but generally Santa Mondega had become a city bathed in
darkness overnight.
    Being driven slowly through the
icy streets in JD’s super cool black V8 Interceptor made her feel like a
teenager again. This is what the pair of them should have been doing in their
high school years. Going for drives in his car, taking walks along the pier and
just generally hanging out and having fun.
    Nothing in her life ever worked
out as she planned though, and now that she found herself without a job, she
worried that she wouldn’t be able to pay the rent on her apartment. She could
probably survive for a few weeks, but then what? Ask JD to help out with the
rent? Or ask him to move in? Or move in with him? Where did he live anyway? He
wasn’t very clear on where he’d been and what he’d been doing for the last
eighteen years. Travelling mostly, he’d claimed, and left it pretty much at
that.
    The car radio had been playing
Christmas songs for the whole journey, inter-spliced with news updates, one of
which announced that the Bourbon Kid was still alive. It seemed that to
alleviate all the bad news, the local radio station had jumped into an early
festive mood brought on by the sight of the snow, even though it was only one
day after Halloween.
    JD hadn’t spoken since the song Have
Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Judy Garland began playing. As the
song was coming to an end, the deejay’s voice spoke over it. Beth recognised
him as Mad Harry Hunter, a local radio star with an annoying knack of dragging
out every word. He interrupted the end of the song with an announcement that
the police were hiring new recruits and paying them a handsome daily rate until
new cops could be drafted in from out of town.
    Beth considered the
possibilities of becoming a cop. ‘Maybe I should try out for the police force?’
she suggested, hoping to gauge JD’s thoughts on the matter before