Page 90 of Happily Never After
‘I’ll get in a taxi with you,’ I tell him.
‘Great.’ He takes my hand and leads me outside. Most of the other people from our train are long gone now, and the taxi rank is empty. Thankfully, one pulls in as we make our way over and Finn holds the door open for me.
‘My lady,’ he says, bowing deeply. I scoot across the seat automatically, expecting him to follow but, to my surprise, he closes the door. What the hell is he playing at now?
‘Can you take us here?’ he says, showing the driver something on his phone. I lean forward to try to see it, but Finn has angled the screen so it’s impossible.
‘Of course. Hop in, mate.’
The door opens again and I’m relieved when Finn slides in next to me.
‘Where are we going?’ I ask.
‘Wait and see.’
‘I’m not good at cloak and dagger.’
‘You’re a crime writer,’ he counters.
‘Did you say you were a writer?’ the cabbie interjects. ‘Would I have heard of you?’
‘I doubt it,’ I tell him. This is my default response as it just saves awkward questions.
‘I read a lot of crime,’ the cabbie continues. ‘Have you heard of Larry Spalding? I bloody love his books.’
‘Do you?’ Finn asks, a mischievous smile playing on his lips. ‘What would you say if you had Larry Spalding in the back of your cab?’
‘Probably nothing,’ the cabbie says with a laugh. ‘I had Tracey Emin in here once. I knew who she was, obviously, but I was so busy trying to work out if she’d be offended if I said I loved her work that I ended up keeping my trap shut. Missed opportunity or what, eh? Anyway, I don’t know what Larry Spalding looks like, so he might have been in the back of my cab already for all I know.’
‘I don’t think Larry would mind you chatting to him,’ Finn says, clearly loving this now. ‘He’s quite a down-to-earth person on the whole.’
‘Do you know him?’ The cabbie is clearly impressed.
‘I’ve met him a few times,’ Finn tells him. ‘He’s a lot of fun, actually.’
‘Well, if you see him again, tell him that Alan the cabbie from Margate is a super fan. I’ll give you my card if you like. If he’s ever in the area and needs a taxi, you know.’
‘I’m sure he’d love that.’ I can see Finn is struggling not to laugh now, and I’m torn between wanting to punch him in the leg and laugh myself.
‘Right. Here we are,’ the cabbie announces as he pulls up outside a familiar building.
‘The Mermaid?’ I ask.
‘I’ll explain in a minute,’ Finn tells me as he pays the cabbie and makes a show of storing the business card in his wallet.
‘You are a very bad man,’ I say as the taxi pulls away.
‘Nonsense. I probably made his day.’
‘Hm. Are you finally going to tell me what this is all about?’
‘It’s simple. Last time we came here, things didn’t exactly go the way we planned.’
‘That’s one way of putting it.’
‘I fucked it up.’
‘That’s another way of putting it, although I certainly wouldn’t say it was all your fault.’
