BooksBarbecue
Back A Change of Circumstance
Chapters (67)
  1. Cover
  2. One
  3. Two
  4. Three
  5. Four
  6. Five
  7. Six
  8. Seven
  9. Eight
  10. Nine
  11. Ten
  12. Eleven
  13. Twelve
  14. Thirteen
  15. Fourteen
  16. Fifteen
  17. Sixteen
  18. Seventeen
  19. Eighteen
  20. Nineteen
  21. Twenty
  22. Twenty-One
  23. Twenty-Two
  24. Twenty-Three
  25. Twenty-Four
  26. Twenty-Five
  27. Twenty-Six
  28. Twenty-Seven
  29. Twenty-Eight
  30. Twenty-Nine
  31. Thirty
  32. Thirty-One
  33. Thirty-Two
  34. Thirty-Three
  35. Thirty-Four
  36. Thirty-Five
  37. Thirty-Six
  38. Thirty-Seven
  39. Thirty-Eight
  40. Thirty-Nine
  41. Forty
  42. Forty-One
  43. Forty-Two
  44. Forty-Three
  45. Forty-Four
  46. Forty-Five
  47. Forty-Six
  48. Forty-Seven
  49. Forty-Eight
  50. Forty-Nine
  51. Fifty
  52. Fifty-One
  53. Fifty-Two
  54. Fifty-Three
  55. Fifty-Four
  56. Fifty-Five
  57. Fifty-Six
  58. Fifty-Seven
  59. Fifty-Eight
  60. Fifty-Nine
  61. Sixty
  62. Sixty-One
  63. Sixty-Two
  64. Sixty-Three
  65. Sixty-Four
  66. Sixty-Five
  67. Sixty-Six

He sauntered across the road, and along the row of shops. He bought a copy of the Bevham Gazette and a bottle of water from the all-purpose shop, and as he came out again, glanced along to the corner and the Chinese herbalist’s premises. He walked purposefully towards and straight past it, looking sideways as he reached the door and noting that the shop had one customer.

His car was parked at an angle in the short row of spaces on the other side of the square, from which he would have a good view of people going in and out, and he had barely settled in his seat when the customer left the pharmacy and turned the first corner out of sight. For forty minutes, no one else went in. Simon drank his water, read his paper while glancing up every so often, missing nothing. Shop and street lights were on now. The sky was heavy with rain as the evening closed in, though it was not yet five, but he would wait until closing time.

At five to five a car stopped on the corner. One person stayed at the wheel, one person got out and went quickly into the herbalist’s, head down, jacket collar turned up. Serrailler was across the street in seconds, just out of sight of both the occupant of the car and the shop, phone in hand, switched to camera. With luck, there might be just enough light, but he was ready to memorise the man’s features too. Might be nothing, might be something. His strong instinct was that it was something. He edged forward, close to the wall, to try and glimpse inside the shop, but from this angle it seemed to be empty. He was debating whether to move any further, and then the man came out, head down again, dived into the car and they were gone but not before Simon had taken a dozen quick shots. They might have noticed the phone light if they had not been focused entirely on getting away. It had looked like a robbery but it was all too quick.

He had his hand on the door handle as the chemist locked it from the other side and turned the notice to Closed. Serrailler rapped on the glass but the man waved his arms, shouting that he was shut, pointing to the sign. The next minute he had switched off the lights.