Page 15 of Box of Frogs
I sprang back. What the hell? He lunged in my direction and I flung up my hands to shield myself. He didn’t touch me, though; instead he barrelled past me, yanking open the room door and escaping into the corridor. I darted after him, only to hear one high-pitched laugh as he disappeared round the corner.
I was about to go after him when another door opened and a couple emerged. ‘Morning!’ said the woman cheerfully. She took her partner’s hand and they ambled away in the same direction as Timmons. I fumbled a half wave and, cursing under my breath, retreated into the room.
Heart pounding against my chest, I wasted no more time. I hastily pulled off the robe and grabbed some clothes. Real clothes. The crappy superhero costume, which hadn’t helped me at all, could stay crumpled on the bathroom floor. I wriggled into the jeans I’d bought from the charity shop and hauled a Led Zeppelin T-shirt over my head. Without bothering to untie the laces, I thrust my feet into the pair of canvas shoes I’d also purchased and sprang back to the door.
I’d barely turned the handle when the phone rang. I hesitated. It was Timmons. It had to be. Whatever manner of beastie super villain he was, he had decided it was easier to confront me over the airwaves than in person. I debated for a split second and then turned to answer it.
‘Hello!’ trilled a female voice that most definitely wasn’t Timmons. ‘I’m not sure if I have the right room or not. This is Julie Chivers. We met last night?’
My brow furrowed and I almost hung up but something stopped me. ‘Yes,’ I said slowly. ‘This is …’ Joan? Madrona? The Madhatter? ‘Me,’ I finished lamely.
‘Excellent! I’m in the hotel lobby. I was rather hoping I could take you out for breakfast.’
I grimaced. This was hardly the time. I was about to tell her that when a soft rustle outside the door caught my ear. I tiptoed over. This time I didn’t open the door, I did the sensible thing and peeked through the spyhole instead. When I saw who was out there I immediately stiffened. Three men. And I recognised them. It was the assassination-hungry arsebadgers from the golf course: McNasty One, Two and Three. No doubt Timmons had called up the cavalry to bring me down.
I’d succeeded against them once because they’d apparently not coated their bullets with rowan but I doubted I could count on such good fortune the second time around. Well, regardless of how many creepy buddies of indeterminate ethnicity Timmons sent my way, I’d escape them all.
‘Julie,’ I said quickly and quietly into the receiver as I scurried over to the window and hoisted it open. ‘Breakfast sounds fab. Did you bring your car? If you start up the engine right now, I’ll meet you out front.’
She murmured acquiescence. I hung up and hopped out of the window, taking care to close it behind me. I was halfway across the hotel car park when I heard the sound of splintering wood; they’d not wasted much time in breaking into my room. I grimaced at the thought of abandoning yet another potential clue. Risk versus reward, however – and I had to protect myself first. Superhero though I may be, I wasn’t invincible. And I wouldn’t find out anything if I ended up dead in a dreary hotel room.
I scooted round to the front of the hotel just as Julie arrived in her car. She wound down the window but I didn’t wait; I simply hopped into the front seat next to her.
‘Let’s go,’ I said, glancing in the rear-view mirror. As expected, my old golfing buddies hadn’t taken long to establish how I’d escaped from the room. They were already racing across the car park towards us.
‘I’m sure we could get breakfast here,’ Julie began.
I shook my head. ‘Drive.’
The urgency of my tone must have filtered through. She put the car into gear and, wheels squealing, drove out of the car park. I spotted Timmons coming out of the hotel’s front doors with a mobile phone clamped to his ear and his goons running up to join him. All four of them glared nastily after us.
I relaxed into the seat. As vexing as it was that the best option was to run away, I couldn’t have made a better getaway if I’d had months to plan it.
Chapter Seven
I was prepared to dump Julie as soon as we were far enough away from the hotel to be safe but my stomach was grumbling and a decent breakfast seemed prudent. Besides, I figured that the least I could do was to sit with her as she’d requested. Maybe the poor woman had no friends and was looking for a good mate to hang out with and beat up the occasional man. It turned out I was half right.
‘I want you to be my bodyguard,’ she said without preamble, once we’d made our food orders.
I choked on my coffee. ‘Excuse me?’
She smiled. ‘You’ve proved yourself far more competent than Mark. Not to mention that you’re obviously not the slightest bit star-struck.’
I wasn’t star-struck because I still didn’t know who she was. I used a napkin to pat away the coffee dribbles on my chin and pretended to take her job offer seriously. ‘Hmmm.’
‘You’ll be amply compensated,’ Julie assured me.
I’d already been amply compensated by the golf-course goons; I wasn’t short of money. ‘I appreciate the thought,’ I said. ‘But I’m not sure my schedule will allow me to take up a full-time position.’
She tapped her perfectly manicured nails against her cup. ‘It’s not really full time. It’s barely even part time. I’m on set most of the day and the production company have serious security, so I only need you when I’m not working. Three nights a week and maybe the odd weekend or two, tops. Honestly, it’s easy money.’
‘You don’t know anything about me,’ I pointed out. Hell,Ididn’t know anything about me. ‘I could be a psycho killer.’
‘Your name is Joan Smith.’ She smiled at my expression. ‘The hotel receptionist told me. People take one look at me and generally fall over backwards to give me what I want. That’s why I like you. You don’t want anything from me. You’re different.’
Different was certainly a word for it. ‘Look, Julie,’ I said. ‘The thing is, my name isn’t Joan. I think it’s Madrona but I can’t be completely sure. I’ve got amnesia. I woke up in the middle of a golf course two nights ago and I can’t remember who I am or what’s going on.’
Her eyes widened fractionally but she didn’t miss a beat. ‘Amnesia? Wow!That’swhy you don’t know who I am!’
