It was so late now, even by my unreliable watch. I towelled myself dry, then pulled on the flannelette robe the hotel supplied. I loved the feeling of luxury from the sumptuously soft robe, knowing the one-star pension located by the bus depot would not have such a thing.

I opened my laptop, connected it to the hotel wifi. This time I did not have to accept the Terms and Conditions, but a panel came on to warn of Broadband Mutability. During the evening it appeared that the risk level had risen from 6 per cent to 47 per cent. I logged on anyway. I was missing Jo.

I started typing a brief email to her. All I wanted to say was that I was at last about to go to bed, and that because the return train journey was affected by strikes I had accepted an offer of a car ride to the airport. I should be home as planned.

But the keyboard, or the software, or the email provider, was playing up again. The letter ‘h’ was still not registering normally, nor was the letter ‘s’. I pressed on, trying to find a workaround, other ways of saying what I meant. Soon the letter ‘c’ became unusable, and almost immediately after that the ‘J’. I could not even type her name. When I looked up at the email address I had used, that too was incorrect. The letter ‘t’ disappeared while I was trying.

I gave up. I glanced at the emails in the inbox, skimmed recent social posts, then turned off the computer and put it and my phone on to charge overnight.

I returned to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I drank some cold water, climbed into bed, lay down, did not even try to read for a while. I turned out all the lights.

The Money Trap

5

The Money Trap

Breakfast was a tentative matter. I chose carefully, took small portions, drank plenty of tea. I swallowed a paracetamol tablet. My head started to clear, but slowly. For a few more hours I would be suffering physical stiffness, mental sloth. This I knew. I did not see Frejah Harsent in the restaurant.

I returned to Room 627. Remembering what Frejah had said I packed my outdoor clothes into the larger case, put everything else into the smaller one. I exited the room, first scrupulously checking the lights to be sure everything was off. I threw the master switch as I left.

There were two short lines of guests queuing by the reception desk, so I waited my turn before requesting the account. The young woman at the desk ordered the bill from the computer and presented it to me without expression. I looked at it in horror and disbelief: it was immense, and ran to two pages. The total amount at the end was unbelievable.

I said: ‘What currency is this?’

‘Muriseayan thaler. Would you prefer it converted, citizen sir?’