Tourist Trap

Chapter 18

Max and Sarah had located Bobby waiting patiently outside the hotel with his rickshaw and commenced their journey to the northern end of the city. The trip was uneventful for the first thirty minutes or so before Max insisted they pause at a bar so he could get his morning alcohol fix. Sarah wasn't wild about this idea, but caved in after he began to rant about the evils of Puritanism and sobriety. She allowed him a fifteen minute break and he quickly ran inside and chugged as many drinks as he could in the given time allotment. He emerged noticeably perkier and seemed to bring a new enthusiasm to the case at hand. 

This unfortunately only lasted for another twenty minutes or so before he announced that he needed to take a short nap. Sarah rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Bobby. "So how far do we have to go?" 

"Well, the city's pretty big," Bobby conceded. "I'm taking some shortcuts I know about, but it's probably about as long of a trip as the one we took to the eastern edge of the city yesterday." 

"We don't have to cross any bridges along the way, do we?" she asked. "I don't think I care to deal with any more trolls." 

"Nah, it should be a fairly dull trip. The northern quadrants are mostly residential areas. Actually, I wouldn't mind stopping by my house to grab a herring sandwich if it's not too much of a bother." 

"I suppose I wouldn't mind seeing your house if you can make it quick." 

"Won't take but a moment. It's right down this street." He turned down a side street and stopped in front of what appeared to be an oversized green igloo.  

Max woke up abruptly as the rickshaw came to a halt. "I swear officer, I didn't do anything wrong! This glass pipe is just for blowing bubbles!"  

"Relax, you were just having a dream," Sarah said soothingly.  

"Oh, right," Max said as he blinked his eyes groggily. "Where are we? This doesn't look like the cloud factory." 

"We're stopping at Bobby's house so he can grab a quick bite to eat," she explained. 

"Sorry, mate," Bobby said somewhat sheepishly. "I haven't eaten anything since yesterday." 

"What's with all this dilly-dallying around?" Max asked angrily. "We're working on a case here, people! Time is of the essence!" 

"You're the one who made us stop at that bar," Sarah said. 

"Yes, but that was a necessary side trip for the good of the case! I was following up on an obscure hunch that may yet pay great dividends down the road! You have no idea about all the complexities that go into running a proper investigation!" 

"Oh please," Sarah rolled her eyes as she climbed out of the rickshaw. "You just wanted to get drunk." 

"Seemingly," Max extended his index finger as he hopped out after her. "But that was merely a front for a far more insidious information gathering endeavor on my part." 

"Sorry about the mess," Bobby said as he unlocked the front door and let them in. "It's my bachelor pad. I don't have a maid service or anything like that." 

He wasn't kidding about the mess. There were fish heads covering the floor as well as numerous empty bottles of Eskimo Lou's Igloo Brew. The few patches of carpet that could be seen beneath the clutter were shaggy and red. The house seemed to consist mostly of one room with a small makeshift kitchen off to the side and a door carved into one wall that presumably led to a bathroom. A large unmade bed took up most of one corner and it seemed to be occupied by a plastic blowup female grizzly bear doll. "Oops," Bobby blushed as he tossed a blanket over it. "There's a perfectly good explanation for that. I think Timmy left that over here."