Relatively Dangerous Read Online Free Page A

either you or the driver was.’
    ‘I don’t follow. I mean, I wasn’t sparking on all four cylinders, I know, but you’ve got my passport. And Steve must have had papers on him.’
    ‘There were no papers of any sort on either of you.’
    ‘But there must have been.’
    ‘I’m afraid not. Where was your passport?’
    ‘Everything like that was in my backpack. It was far too hot to wear a coat and papers and money aren’t safe in a trouser pocket . . . You’re not saying my money’s gone as well?’
    ‘We didn’t find any.’
    ‘You looked in the backpack?’
    ‘It was thoroughly searched.’
    ‘Christ! That just caps everything.’
    ‘Was your money in cash?’
    ‘Not very much. Most of it was in travellers’ cheques . . . Then I did hear someone and it wasn’t imagination!’
    ‘How d’you mean?’
    Higham shook his head, as if to clear it; he spoke quickly. ‘The worst part was seeing what was going to happen and not being able to stop it. I tried to grab the wheel and steer us away, but it was no good. As we went over, I can remember thinking: So this is what it’s like to crash. And then things got painful. And now they’re still confused even though everything else is back to normal. I’m pretty certain I shouted for help for a while; nothing happened, so I picked myself up and stumbled around, but I kept falling over things . . . And it was when I was lying on the ground, too weak to move any more, that I thought I heard voices. I called out, but they didn’t seem to hear me and in the end I kind of decided that the voices had only been in my mind. But if the money’s gone, there probably was someone, wasn’t there?’
    ‘It certainly seems so,’ he agreed, angered that there could be men who’d rob the dead and the injured and leave the injured to his fate. ‘Do you have any idea whether Señor Thompson had much money on him?’
    ‘He must have had a fair bit. After all, he gave me lunch at a restaurant that certainly wasn’t cheap and there was still plenty left in his wallet when he’d finished paying.’
    ‘Would you like to guess how much?’
    ‘I wouldn’t. I mean, I took care not to take too much interest.’
    ‘Of course . . . You heard talking, which means two or more men. Did you understand anything they said or did the rhythm of their speech suggest what language they were talking?’
    ‘No to both. Like I said, it was all so hazy I wasn’t even certain I really was hearing ‘em.’
    ‘Señor, have you been long on the island?’
    ‘Hardly any time at all. You see, I didn’t leave England until . . .’
    His job in England, a wages clerk, had been boring but safe. He’d married a little later than his pals, after he’d saved quite a bit of money—he’d always led a steady life although ever since he’d been a youngster he’d dreamed of adventure. Debbie had been considerably younger than he. At first, that hadn’t mattered. Probably it never would have done if her sister hadn’t married a man who knew all the dodges, especially how to work the more profitable VAI fiddles. Spent money like water. Debbie’s sister had flaunted new clothes, jewellery, cars . . . Debbie had become as sour as hell and had nagged and nagged him to find another job where he’d make better money. Against his will, he’d moved. Things had worked out OK for a while, even though his income still fell far short of his brother-in-law’s—but then cheap imports from the Far East had hit his new firm so hard that it had very nearly been bankrupted. Inevitably, there’d been redundancies and these had been based on the usual last in, first out. His redundancy money hadn’t strained its brown envelope . . .
    He’d hoped Debbie would understand; after all, if he hadn’t moved, he’d still have a job. But she hadn’t been willing to understand anything or to stand by him and she’d cleared out. Soon afterwards, he’d heard that she’d moved in with a friend of her