Page 53 of The Shadow Friends

“I want to get out and take a look around.”

“Now?”

He climbed out of the taxi. Glanced back at Maggie. “Why don’t you go to the hotel and check in?”

“Why don’t we both go to the hotel? We’ll come back when we’re rested and more alert. This street isn’t going anywhere.”

“I don’t need to rest. I’m all revved up.”

“We have to drop off our suitcases.”

“You bring mine to the hotel. I’ll see you there later.”

“Lloyd, you can’t just take off on your own.”

But that’s exactly what he was doing, already lumbering across the street, heedless of the bicycles swerving to avoid him.

With a sigh, she climbed out too. “Can you wait here?” she said to the driver.

“Stopping here is not allowed.”

“Then how about waiting around the corner?”

“For how long?”

“I don’t know.”

“First, you need to pay.”

She glanced across the street and saw Lloyd was already halfway down the block, moving toward the nearest building. “Here,” she said, pulling a bundle of euros out of her wallet.

“I can’t wait here long. You should take your suitcases,” he said, and popped open the trunk.

Just a babysitting job. An easy mission, she thought as she hauled their two wheeled suitcases out of the taxi trunk. Dragging them behind her, she made her way across the street, dodging cars and bicycles. “Lloyd!” she yelled. Either he didn’t hear her, or he was deliberately ignoring her, because he kept walking toward the apartment building. She pursued him, pulling the luggage across the brick sidewalk, the wheels bumping and shimmying over the cracks. “Lloyd!”

At last, he stopped and looked back at her. “You don’t need to come, Maggie.”

“I absolutely need to come.”

“Why?”

“Because you might need some help.”

“Help with what?”

“Look, Lloyd. You’re tired and you’re upset about Ingrid. That could lead you to make mistakes.”

“Mistakes? I’m just going to see if anyone recognizes the man in the photo.”

“By asking random people?”

“By going in that building and knocking on doors. Because it’s clear this is the street he was standing on. And that tree there, it’s the one in the photo. And that bus stop there, that’s from the photo too.” He paused as a blue-and-white bus rolled by with the GVB logo painted on the side. “And there. That’s the number 21 bus.”

“Okay, we’ve established this is the right location.”

“And that’s the closest apartment building.” He pointed to the four-story brick building. “If this is his regular bus stop, that building could be where he lives. Let’s find out.”

“Hold on.”