Page 51 of Ticket Out

Maybe Mr. Nelson was looking forward to finding something to help DS Archer. Getting back in the game for a bit.

Gabriella was happy to leave him to it.

She had plans to visit Mr. Rodney in hospital later, and she wanted nothing more to do with the whole affair.

She moved through her assigned streets with relief, and was even amused when she found an abandoned car on the edge of a park with slashed tires.

She rounded the front, looking for any sign of a license registration on the dashboard, and a head popped up from the back.

It gave her a start.

“Where’s Mr. Nelson?” the figure asked, voice gritty as a gravel road.

“Mr. Nelson is on a different round, now.” Gabriella stepped closer, saw the person on the back seat had created a nest for themselves.

“Who’re you?” The demand would have been rude, but Gabriella could hear a slight tremor in the rough voice.

It was a man, she finally worked out. A small, wizened man, wrapped up as if it was the depths of winter, although in fact it was a particularly nice late summer day.

As a nod to the weather, the windows of the car had been wound down, presumably to let a cross breeze through.

“Mr. Nelson lets me stay here.”

Gabriella wondered if that was true.

As if seeing the skepticism on her face, he wriggled a bit closer to the window.

“’Til they come tow the car,” he amended.

What harm was it doing? Gabriella gave a nod. “I’m Miss Farnsworth.”

“Teddy Roe.” Teddy extended a hand covered in a filthy mitten through the window.

Gabriella shook it gently, and she suddenly felt a lot more friendly toward Mr. Nelson. Not that she’d disliked him before, but he had seemed very stern and rigid to her.

That was obviously a front.

Mr. Nelson was marshmallow inside.

“Long as I don’t cause no trouble, Mr. Nelson lets me stay,” Teddy said, as if to make sure she understood.

“I’m happy to keep to that arrangement, Mr. Roe.”

It seemed to take him a moment to get her meaning, and then he relaxed back on the seat in a way that almost broke Gabriella’s heart.

“Well, good day to you, Mr. Roe.” Gabriella moved on, noticing a curtain twitching in the house closest to the park.

Friend or foe, she wondered?

Probably a friend, as Mr. Roe wouldn’t have lasted long if someone had made a formal complaint.

Given the car wasn’t recently abandoned, and Teddy Roe’s nest looked well established, she wondered if there wasn’t a conspiracy of silence in reporting the vehicle.

She was surprised Mr. Nelson hadn’t said anything to her, but then, given it was his duty to report the matter, what could he say without compromising himself, and probably her into the bargain?

By saying nothing, they could both claim to have thought the matter already reported.

Nelson had taken the chance she would make the same choice as he had. She found her liking for him increased yet again.

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