Death Run

“I suppose.”

There was a small café opposite. Dad suggested they take a look in the church, then stop for a drink.

She didn’t like to admit it, but Jade found it refreshingly cool inside the church. There were indeed paintings – several small icons and an ornamental screen. The paintings were dark with age, but Rich was fascinated.

“Are we having fun yet?” Dad said quietly to Jade.

“I suppose,” she admitted.

“I’ll take that as a yes then.” He smiled at her and she couldn’t help but smile back.

“It’s fine, Dad. Great. Church, paintings, everything.” Jade’s smile widened into a grin. “Can we go now?”

They were getting towards the end of their stay in Venice and Jade had found herself relaxing into the slow pace of the holiday. Perhaps she was adapting to the ways of the city. Or perhaps it was the heat. But by their last couple of days, Jade was as happy as her brother and father to sit outside the small café and let the day go by.

“I think that woman is following us,” Rich said quietly as he drank his Coke. Jade was on mineral water, while Dad had an espresso that was like syrup.

“Describe her,” Dad said at once, not looking round. Jade glanced where Rich was looking, then away again, pretending to be admiring the small square they were in. It was just like a hundred other small squares they’d been to.

“Tall, slim. Smartly dressed. Long hair that’s a sort of auburn colour. I’m sure the same woman was a couple of tables away from us at dinner last night.”

Dad frowned. “Sounds like a woman I noticed the other day in the casino.”

“So you were in the casino?” Jade said.

“I mean the hotel. At the casino. I told you – I heard the alarms and nipped down to see what was happening.”

“Climbing out the window and down the wall?” Jade pointed out.

Dad shrugged. “Force of habit. Anyway, it was a lot of fuss about nothing. False alarm or something. And it’s probably a completely different woman. Just a coincidence.”

“What if it isn’t?” Rich asked. “What if she’s… I don’t know, an agent or something?”

Jade laughed at that. “More likely she’s a tourist. If we go to the obvious boring touristy places, we’re going to see some of the same obvious boring tourists, aren’t we?”

Dad drained his coffee and pushed a couple of bank notes under the saucer to pay the bill. “Easy enough to find out.”

“So what’s the plan?” Jade asked.

“You’re complaining you’re bored, Jade – what do you want to do for the rest of the afternoon?”

“Not churches,” Jade said at once. “There was that little street of decent shops you wouldn’t let us stop at yesterday.”

“Because we’re here on holiday not to buy new trainers and T-shirts,” Rich reminded them.

“OK,” Dad said. “And you, Rich?”

“I’m happy to wander. Browse the shops a bit. We splitting up?”

Dad nodded. “We’ll see if she follows any of us. I’ll go first and double back round so I can follow her.”

“Sneaky,” Rich said. “But what if she follows you?”

“She won’t. She won’t realise I’m leaving.” As he spoke, Dad stood up. “Meet back here in an hour, OK?”

“OK,” they both agreed.

Dad walked slowly, almost lazily into the café. Jade risked another quick look at the woman. She was reading a book, maybe a guide book – a small paperback. She didn’t seem to have reacted to Dad leaving the table. But then she was probably expecting him to come back and for all three of them to leave together.

“You really think she’s following us?” Jade asked.

Rich shrugged. “We’ll soon know.”

Jade grinned. “If she is, I reckon it’s just because she fancies Dad.”

“That’s so gross.”

They stood up together, then headed off in opposite directions out of the little square. If the woman with the auburn hair noticed, she gave no sign.

After ten minutes, Rich was bored of wandering round on his own. He considered returning to the café, but that might spoil whatever Dad was up to. So instead he went looking for Jade. He remembered the street where she’d wanted to look at the designer clothes and sports stuff.

It was only a few minutes walk. Rich paused on a steep-backed, narrow bridge over a canal and admired the view. He liked the way the water and the streets seemed to exist in harmony. The tall, square buildings emerging from the water made everything seem even more narrow and closed in.

He found her in the second shop he tried. She was trying on running shoes, but hadn’t found any she liked. Jade was picky when it came to running shoes. Actually, Rich thought, she was picky about most things.

“Find any good churches then?” Jade asked as they walked slowly back along the street.

Rich shook his head. “Nothing worth mentioning.”

“There’s some weird stuff here,” Jade said. She paused outside what seemed to be an antiques shop. “I mean, look at all that.”

There were several chess sets in the window, laid out on marble boards. One of them was made of gold, and the tag hanging from the side of the board looked more like a telephone number than a price. On each side of the window display stood a figure, as if they were keeping guard. One was a woman in a brightly-coloured, flowing dress. The mannequin’s face was a smooth, white mask with a peacock painted on it in brilliant blue. Dark holes for the eyes formed part of the feathers of the peacock.

“That’s beautiful,” Jade said in surprise.

“That isn’t,” said Rich, pointing at the other figure. “It’s grotesque.”

The second figure was a man. He wore long, dark robes and held a stick as if it was a magic wand. His face too was a mask – but a plain, grey mask that jutted out like an enormous cruel beak. The only colour in the mask was the black outline of a pair of spectacles over and around the eyes.

“Who are they supposed to be?” Jade wondered.

“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t fancy meeting them outside of a shop display.”

2 (#udc61f0fc-478b-5357-808d-801fc1dda3d8)

Once inside the café, John Chance asked if there was a back way out. There was, out past the waste bins and down a tiny alleyway alongside a canal. He made his way rapidly, ignoring the smell from the bins, and emerged into a side street just off the back of the square.

It took him only a minute to double round and approach the square from a different direction. He hesitated at the edge of the square, looking for the young woman Rich had described. He had taken a moment to case her out from inside the café – and it was definitely the woman he had noticed at the casino. A coincidence? It was possible, but highly unlikely. So who was she and why was she following him?