Quick reminder that my personal finance book, Hard Money, is still free till the 4th of May. On all platforms except Amazon (different promotional rules, but you can still get a Kindle version from other retailers).
It might help people and businesses start to recover from the economic devastation caused by worldwide lockdowns. And help prepare for the next one.
Till next time, stay safe.
Cheers.
For obvious reasons, I will no longer be contactable telephonically. Or via email. Or social media.
I think I managed to move enough cash around to survive for a while, until I can set up a new identity. Had to drive around all night, access online banking from different locations, draw cash from various ATMs. Stocked up on canned food and bottled water before I destroyed my credit cards.
If you’re reading this, I’m sorry about the car. I had to get rid of mine. Yours was unlocked, keys in the ignition. Looked like you’d just popped out to grab a sandwich from the garage shop. You should be more careful.
Like me. These posts weren’t made through my real Facebook account. People have to be warned. But I couldn’t take the chance of doing it under my own name.
Please take care online. No matter who you are. All it takes is the wrong post on social media. A moment of anger. Then they’re onto you.
They know who you are. They know where you live. They know what you do.
And they are everywhere.
Don’t worry. This was just the end of a short story called Book of Faces. I’m fine.
I hope this little series helped to relieve some of the boredom associated with the Corona lockdowns. If you want to read the whole short story, it will be released across all online retailers (including Amazon) on the 1st of May. Available on preorder now, for only 99c.
Or you can get a sneak pre-sale copy from Smashwords.
My personal finance book, Hard Money, is free till the 4th of May. On all platforms except Amazon (different promotional rules, but you can still get a Kindle version from other retailers). It might help people and businesses start to recover from the economic devastation caused by worldwide lockdowns. And help prepare for the next one.
Till next time, stay safe.
Cheers.
Monkeys in a cage. Rats in a maze.
We were being taken out one by one. Removed from the chain.
But why? And by who?
What was the ultimate goal? The final target?
If Jenny killed the Hoodie because someone in her life had been killed… And he’d contacted me because someone in his life had been killed… And I was supposed to kill Jenny because Garth had been pushed in front of a train… Who else was involved? How big was the chain? How many deaths had been written off as accidents over the years?
More urgently – who was coming after me?
These thoughts consumed me as I wrestled to keep my car on the steep winding road from the water tower to normality. Other cars passed me on their way up. Where were they going? To Jenny’s place? To the water tower? Why? Were they looking for me?
I slowed down when I realized I had no destination. I couldn’t go home. Not yet. Not until the police had…
Right. The police. Were they in on it? Was there a policeman in my local station with a piece of paper folded in his pocket? Could they – the omniscient “they” – reach that far?
What would I say? “Yes, officer, I publicly threatened to harm Garth. But I didn’t kill him. Not really. Jenny? Yes, I was there. And yes, she was crawling away from me when she fell off the cliff. Why? Well, because I’d been sent there to ensure she had an unfortunate accident. Who sent me? Sorry officer, I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
Normal traffic absorbed me as rush hour drained another 60 minutes from everyone’s life. At least here I was faceless. Unknown. Lost in a crowd.
Or was I? Panic-stricken, I clawed my cellphone from the trouser pocket where it lurked. The GPS app was still running. Keeping one eye on the car ahead of me, inching forward every time it moved, I struggled to shut things down. GPS – off. Location – off. Should I switch off the phone? Would that help? Hadn’t I read once that cellphones can be tracked even when they’re off?
What about my laptop, stowed safely in the boot? Was it broadcasting my whereabouts to the anonymous puppet master in the UK? Was that even where he was? She? They? Them?
A knock on the window snapped me back to reality. A beggar, looking for a handout.
Or was he?
Was that a scrap of paper clutched in his filthy hand? Why was he staring at me so intently? He moved away from the side window to stand near the front of the car. Wrinkled eyes screwed against the last rays of the setting sun peered through the windscreen. He muttered something. Reached in his pocket.
The car in front jerked forward and I stood on the accelerator, wrenching the steering wheel sharply to the side. My car barely registered the impact as the beggar vanished and I shot across oncoming traffic to roar up a side street.
I hope this little series helped to relieve some of the boredom associated with the Corona lockdowns. If you want to read the whole short story, it will be released across all online retailers (including Amazon) on the 1st of May. Available on preorder now, for only 99c.
It’s called Book of Faces.
Smashwords has extended its Authors Give Back Sale to the end of May. So you can still get Shorty’s Poems for the discounted price of only $1.20. Or grab my Tales From The Crying Room for free.
Till next time.
Cheers.
It’s never pleasant watching someone throw up. Even an attractive woman.
I understood how she felt. Between the sickening crunch of impact and the way the guy had crumpled before toppling over the sheer edge of the cliff, my McDonalds breakfast was only moments away from its own daring escape attempt.
I took the folded paper from my pocket. I don’t know why. Looking for a reason, an explanation. Trying to cling to a last shred of sanity.
There it was, in black and white. Jenny’s address. And the time – 7pm.
It couldn’t be any later than 6. What did that mean? I wasn’t supposed to be here yet. So I wasn’t supposed to see this? It wasn’t for my benefit?
All thoughts of coincidences, of office jokes, left my mind. This was real. As real as it gets.
Had Jenny planned the whole thing? I couldn’t believe that. Not at first. Until I realized that she had killed someone in front of me. Had she snapped? Was I next? Did she have a schedule of victims lined up, one after the other? Hoodies at 6, me at 7?
Then Jenny looked up and saw me for the first time. I took a step back, crumpling the paper as my hands knotted into fists.
She saw it. She saw the paper and she saw the look on my face.
As she dropped to her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks, I knew she wasn’t behind it. We faced one another in silence for a long moment, her eyes pleading, mine flickering between sympathy, horror, and disbelief.
Then she shook her head and broke the silence.
“No!”
She kept repeating the word, screaming it. Not at me. At the situation. At the world.
I took a step towards her, and now she was screaming at me, crawling backwards, shaking her head. “No!”
I reached out a hand. “Jenny.”
She crawled faster, desperate to get away. From me. From herself. Then she slipped on her own vomit, and before I could take another step towards her she was gone over the edge of Northcliff hill.
I hope this little series helped to relieve some of the boredom associated with the Corona lockdowns. If you want to read the whole short story, it will be released across all online retailers (including Amazon) on the 1st of May. Available on preorder now, for only 99c.
It’s called Book of Faces.
Till next time.
Cheers.
An office joke.
That’s what it was.
They thought I’d been working too hard. And I had been. This was their way of breaking the monotony, getting me out of the office.
Ha ha.
Jenny was too busy with her seatbelt to notice me staring at her. She turned into the road and accelerated smoothly, heading back the way I had come.
OK. I’d come this far. I started the car and nosed out from under the tree, turning slowly to follow Jenny’s BMW.
As it turned out, she wasn’t going far. Up on the rise, a side-road shot off to the left. Through a boom gate, then her car turned right and climbed to the foot of the water tower that watched over the bustling metropolis.
There were only a few other cars in the vicinity. I hung back till she got out and hiked towards the tower, a backpack slung over her shoulder. Then I parked as far away as possible and hurried after her.
The water tower was a popular landmark and tourist attraction. Some of the best views in the city. But not at this time of day, in the middle of the week. The views were still there. But not the tourists.
It seemed a strange reason to take time off work. Until I remembered my own reason for not being in the office.
Maybe it was some kind of surprise party organized by the firm’s partners. An elaborate hoax to inject a shot of adventure into our dull routines. Although “elaborate” wasn’t the word. This had been planned, and staged, better than most projects our firm had managed over the years.
There was Jenny up ahead, meeting one of her co-conspirators on a flat rock close to the edge of the cliff. I wondered who it might be. Helen, from bookkeeping? One of the partners?
Jenny stepped aside and I saw the familiar grey hoodie. Of course. No wonder he knew where I worked, where I hung out after work. The details of my ex. It all made sense. The brilliance of the scheme even made up for all the stress they’d put me through.
Jenny was taking something from her backpack. Two things. The first was a slip of paper she handed to my friend in the hoodie. He looked surprised. Even before he looked at the actual paper. He stared at Jenny for a long moment before he unfolded it. Then he glanced at the paper. Took a step back. Held it closer to his face, as if trying to see it better.
When he looked up again at Jenny, that’s when she hit him with the baseball bat.
I hope this little series helped to relieve some of the boredom associated with the Corona lockdowns. If you want to read the whole short story, it will be released across all online retailers (including Amazon) on the 1st of May. Available on preorder now, for only 99c.
It’s called Book of Faces.
Till next time.
Cheers.
