“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Prison,” said Gullen.
There were six of us and only one of him, plus a small girl and two dogs. It was more than enough. We walked up the stairs with Gullen leading the way and the dogs bringing up the rear.
The dogs didn’t make any sounds or threaten to bite anyone, but still managed to be terrifying. No one wanted to be at the back near them. No one wanted to be at the front near Gullen either. It was a very tightly packed middle.
The Sheaf felt deserted. We were the only people on the staircase and the hallways were empty. Even the reception desk was unmanned.
Biadet seemed to have developed a fascination with Dudley and kept staring at him all the way up the eight flights of stairs, which he understandably found unnerving. He would smile politely, and then manoeuvre himself to the other side of Flossie to get some distance between them. Before he even had a chance to settle into his stride, Biadet would appear next to him.
I thought if I watched closely I’d see how she did it, but it always happened the second I looked away. I know what you’re thinking. If I just focused there’s no way she could avoid revealing her secret, but it was impossible. My attention slid off her like someone had my head on a string and gave it a pull just at the right moment.
What I needed to do was arrange two or three of us to observe her from different angles, but as soon as we exited the Sheaf, she disappeared into the crowd. Then the crowd saw Gullen, and they disappeared.
I felt a tug on my sleeve and turned to find Dudley next to me. The concern on his face was hard to miss.
“The young girl…” he muttered in a low voice.
“You mean Biadet?” I looked around but there was no sign of her. Which meant absolutely nothing. “What about her?”
“She passed me a note.” Dudley had a small piece of paper held between two fingers which he was insistently thrusting at me.
I took it from him. “Do you think she wanted you to give it to me?”
“I can’t say for certain, but by God I hope so.”
Before I could ask him anything else he dropped back level with Flossie and grabbed her hand. She seemed pleased by this sign of affection, although I don’t think you need to hold on quite so tight just to say I love you.
The note had three words written on it:
penis
“Yes,” said Keezy, “definitely worth further investigation.”