Eye for an Eye (12 page)

Colwyn put the
phone back in his gym bag. But then instead of resuming his
workout, he headed straight for the door.

‘Thanks, Harry,
that’ll be all for today,’ he called as he left.

Robyn
fumed.

‘I just about
had him,’ she complained to Mike later, banging down her coffee cup
so forcefully that the café manager looked over and frowned. ‘We
were talking about food already, I’m sure I could have got him to
invite me out to dinner if that bloody oaf hadn’t interrupted us.
Damn cell-phones, you just can’t get away from them. Have you
noticed they always ring in the middle of movies, or during the
speeches at weddings? You’d think people could function without
being attached to the blasted things twenty-four hours a day,
wouldn’t you? I wish they could be banned completely.’

‘Oh, I don’t
know. Listening in on cell-phones has given me some important leads
in a couple of cases,’ Mike said mildly. ‘Look, you did well. He’ll
recognise you next time, you’ve already broken the ice, and I bet
he’ll be happy to talk to you again. It’s a good start, don’t be
discouraged.’

‘Yeah, I
suppose so. I just wanted to get on with it, that’s all. I’ve only
got a few days left before my flight home, and my money has just
about run out - if I don’t deal to him right away I’ll either have
to slink on home, or stay here and find a job and a place to
live.’

Mike stared at
her. ‘I didn’t realise your ticket home was already booked. You
didn’t really think you could do this in a matter of days, did you?
It’ll take way longer than that for him to trust you enough to
leave you alone in his apartment. This is a long-term project - it
has to be to get the kind of evidence we need. Can’t you change
your ticket?’

‘Only once.
After that there’s a huge penalty payment that I can’t afford.’ She
looked at him unhappily. ‘How long do you think this could take,
realistically?’

‘I’d say at
least three weeks, probably four. Con-men tend not to be very
trusting themselves, so he’s not going to let you into his life all
that easily.’

She swallowed.
‘OK, suppose I change my ticket to return home in a month. I’ll get
Pete to send me some more money - if I can convince him that this
is going to work. I’ll try for some sort of job too. I’m a
photographer back home, I’ll try to get into one of the photo
studios - they could probably use an assistant.’

Mike seemed to
be undergoing some internal struggle. He got up and paced around,
frowning. Finally he appeared to reach a decision.

‘If it makes
things easier, you can stay at my place instead of a hotel. There’s
a sofa bed. I can clear a drawer or two for your stuff.’

‘Are you sure?’
She looked at him. ‘It doesn’t make you uncomfortable? You don’t
look too keen.’

‘Just out of
practice, I guess. I’ve had the place to myself for so long I’ve
forgotten how to be a gracious host.’ He raised a small smile.
‘You’d be welcome, really.’

‘Well, if
you’re sure you don’t mind. It would make things a lot easier, and
you’ve seen just how unappetizing that grotty hotel is.’

‘Yes, perhaps
I’d better have you showered and de-loused before you come
round.’

‘Oh thanks a
bundle! It’s nice to think you find me so appealing.’ She cocked
her head on one side and looked at him winsomely. ‘Since you’ve
offered, I don’t suppose I could move in today, could I? So that
I’d save another night’s charge at the hotel? I could dash home and
get my stuff and be back here in a jiffy, if it’s OK with you. I’d
shake off all the fleas on the way, of course.’

‘My humble
apartment is at your disposal, my lady.’ He bowed theatrically.
‘Here’s the address.’ He handed her a piece of paper with a
quickly-scrawled map.

‘Sweet! I’ll
see you in a bit, then.’ She popped her head back around the edge
of the café door as she left. ‘I really do appreciate this, Mike.
You’re a hero.’ She blew him a kiss and disappeared.

Mike’s
apartment was just along the street from the coffee shop where
they’d met, on the first floor of a faded but gracious three storey
house. As he welcomed her inside she looked around appreciatively.
Even though the building was elderly brick on the outside, his
apartment was bright and fresh. Cream-painted walls provided a
background for an extensive collection of masks, mostly in African
earth tones, but with occasional Caribbean or South American
examples gleaming like bright jewels with colourful feathers and
spangles. The furnishings were simple but useful, and she nodded
appreciatively at the lack of pretension.

‘Do I take it
you approve?’ he asked dryly, seeing her response.

‘Yes, I do.
It’s masculine, without being, um, what’s the word I’m looking
for?’

‘Without being
a garbage dump of unwashed dishes and dirty laundry?’

‘I wasn’t going
to say that! It looks like a room where someone thinks a lot.
Shelves full of books are always a good sign of character, I
reckon.’ She smiled at him and he acknowledged the compliment
graciously.

He steered her
to a hallway where a collection of smaller eye-masks brightened the
walls.

‘Right, your
room is through here. It’s usually my office so just drop your pack
down beside the desk there. The bottom drawer is ready for you to
use, and I’ve made up the sofa bed as I wasn’t sure if you’d have a
sleeping bag with you. There’s an empty shelf in the bathroom
cabinet, and a couple of places in the kitchen where you can put
any food you’ve acquired.’ He hesitated. ‘I wasn’t sure what you’d
like to eat, but I’ve got the basics here, and a couple of
kiwi-fruit. They might make you feel at home.’

She burst out
laughing. ‘Relax, will you? You don’t have to try so hard! Just go
about your usual day and pretend I’m not even here - I’ll keep out
of your way as much as I can. I may even cook you a meal now and
again if the spirit moves me. At the very least I’ll make you a
cuppa and a Vegemite sandwich when you come home from work tired
and hungry.’

He looked
relieved, then worried. ‘No, I’ve heard about Vegemite. Peanut
butter will do fine, thanks.’

‘Oh be
adventurous, Mike! I’ll introduce you to it properly later,’ she
promised as she tugged open the top of her back-pack. ‘Right now,
if it’s all right with you, I’m going to have a shower in a proper
bathroom where the floor isn’t slimy, and there aren’t little gobs
of matted hair stuck to the wall.’

She grinned and
closed the bathroom door on his look of horror.

CHAPTER 5

Next day Robyn
went back to the gym to try for another meeting with Colwyn. She
sidled in as before and was doing a few warm-up stretches when she
noticed the swarthy man watching her. She gave him a bright smile
before sitting down to do some leg lifts. Her heart beat faster as
he came over to her, a doubtful look on his face.

‘Hi there,’ she
said, before he could ask any awkward questions. ‘I saw you here
yesterday, didn’t I? Oh yes, you were with that nice Mr. Symons. Is
he here today, do you know?’ She leaned towards him. ‘He’s rather
dishy, isn’t he? I’d quite like to get to know him a little
better.’

Harry leered
knowingly. ‘I’ll bet you would. He’s not here right now, but he may
be down later, you could luck out. Can you tell me which apartment
you’re in, miss…?’

‘I’m staying
with my cousin,’ she invented hurriedly. ‘She’s in, um, now what
flat was it? Oh I’m just hopeless with numbers, they go straight
out of my head. That’s why I’m over here, really. Daddy said I
should come and see where all our money is invested so that I
appreciate it when I get my inheritance. He knows that figures
don’t mean a thing to me.’ She paused in the embroidery of her
story to see if it was working. Harry appeared to be following with
interest.

‘I can call her
and find out the number, if you need to know right this minute?’
She prayed he wouldn’t call her bluff.

‘Nah, don’t
worry about it. I’m sure we’ll meet again if you’re living
here.’

She tried not
to recoil as he angled his greasy head towards her and tapped his
pock-marked nose.

‘I’ll tell Mr.
Symons you were asking about him. Maybe he’ll take you out on his
boat one day.’

She tried to
look impressed. ‘Gosh, that would be super! I‘ve missed the
yachting ever so much since I’ve been away. Daddy was going to take
me to Cowes this summer, but I had to come here instead. Oh well!’
She got up from the machine and walked bouncily away with a cheery
little wave. ‘Bye bye! Be sure to give Mr Symons my message, won’t
you?’

She could feel
Harry watching her all the way out of the room. Hopefully he would
pass on to Colwyn that a rich girl was keen to see him, and the
trap would have been well baited.

When she got
back to Mike’s place, he greeted her with a small package.

‘Here, I know
you hate these, but it’s going to be very useful for you.’

Robyn blinked
in surprise and unwrapped it cautiously.

‘Oh, a bloody
cell-phone! You’re right, I hate it. How’s that thing going to be
useful?’

‘If you want
Colwyn to get in touch to ask you out, how’s he going to do it? If
he rings here, chances are that I’ll answer the phone, and that’ll
give him the wrong idea. If you have a cell-phone, you can be
anywhere when he rings. He won’t know whether you’re in the same
building or across town somewhere. Don’t you think that will give
you a strategic advantage?’

‘Yeah, I
suppose so,’ she said grudgingly. ‘Is it going to cost much?’

‘Don’t worry
about it - got it covered,’ he said enigmatically. ‘This is your
new number, now what name are you going to use?’

‘What, you mean
like a call sign? “Come in Rubber Duck, there’s a convoy going
down” kind of thing?’

‘No, I mean
what are you going to tell Colwyn your name is? Using Robyn Taylor
is a bit risky if he’s likely to recognise it.’

‘Oh come on,
it’s a common enough name, and besides I’m being English, not Kiwi.
There are thousands of Taylors in both countries, anyway.’ She had
a sudden thought. ‘I know, I’ll be Robbi, shall I? With a little
heart-shape dot over the i. That would fit the cutesy bimbo
character to a T.’

‘Can you live
with that? Robbi Taylor?’

She grimaced.
‘Frankly, no. How about using my mother’s maiden name? I should be
able to remember that all right. I can be Robyn Heverill - is that
better?’

‘Yes, that
could work. You haven’t got any initials on any of your things have
you? Cases, clothing, pens?’

‘No, pretty
sure I haven’t.’

‘Fine, I’ll
print you a few cards then, so you can give them out when you want
to pass on your phone number to people. “Robyn Heverill” it is.

After a few
moments work on the computer, he handed her a page of cards with
her new name and phone number, and a small picture of her in the
corner of each one.

‘Wow! How did
you do that? I haven’t had any photos taken since I had my hair
cut!’

‘Just scanned
it from your passport photo,’ he said modestly. ‘Did a bit of
retouching to fix the hair, added a smidgeon of make-up, nothing
too difficult.’

She peered
closely at the picture.

‘Not bad! I
could almost believe it myself. Can I get an enlargement of this
some time?’

He pressed a
few buttons, and the printer whirred again. A sheet of paper
emerged with the new sophisticated Robyn Heverill printed across
it. Robyn grabbed it happily.

‘Cool! I’ll be
able to send this to…’ She stopped suddenly. ‘Oh. I forgot for a
minute.’ Her face was bleak. ‘I’ve got no parents left to send it
to. You know, being orphaned sucks, even when you’re grown up. Oh
well, maybe it’ll give Pete a laugh. Thanks anyway, Mike.’

The next time
she went to the gym, she peeped round the door first to see if
Colwyn was there. She didn’t want another close encounter with
Harry if she could possibly help it. Something about him gave her
the creeps.

Colwyn was
standing quite close to the door, lifting dumbbells in front of the
mirror. She walked past him, squeezing his upper arm as she
went.

‘I say, that’s
coming along very nicely!’ she purred. ‘Keep it up.’

She positioned
herself on a thigh machine nearby and began to work, keeping him in
view in the mirror. This acting lark wasn’t too hard, once you got
over being self-conscious. If you could keep pretending you were
someone else, it seemed to be quite easy.

She caught his
eye in the mirror and smiled, then squeezed her legs together while
holding his gaze. He looked away, but his eyes slid slowly back
again. Robyn pretended not to notice, and continued the flexing and
squeezing routine with her thigh muscles, spreading her legs wide
apart then slowly bringing them together. From the corner of her
eye she saw him mop his face with a towel.

After a few
minutes, she got up and moved away. No point in making it too easy
for him. Some guys preferred to give chase, and she suspected
Colwyn would be one of the predatory types.

She ignored him
for the next half hour, then headed for the changing room. He
caught her just as her hand was on the door handle.

‘If we’re going
to go on meeting like this, I need to know your name.’ He paused,
giving her a meaningful look. ‘It’ll give me something to call out
in my sleep.’

At such close
quarters, the full power of his charm was impressive. Despite
herself, Robyn felt her heart flutter. She smiled back at him with
very little effort.

‘My name’s
Robyn. I’m over here from England, staying in the city with my
cousin. I’m finding that Toronto has a lot of unexpected
attractions.’

He laughed,
showing off perfect teeth.