A Bagful of Dragon - Sample

5. Mysterious Loot

Waiting for the bus, my phone rang. The mysterious text messaging number.

I picked it up. "Hello?"

Leah's casual tones crackled through the bad connection. "How are you doing, babes?"

Relief surged through me hearing her sensible voice. "It was you!"

"What was me?"

"The messages the other night!"

"Who else did you think it was?"

I groaned. "You wouldn't believe what's been happening."

She laughed. "Been busy?"

"You could say that. Fancy a trip to the police station with me"

"Me? No way thanks. Why'd you need a visit there?"

"That guy I was messing around with tried to jump me. Left some things at my house, so I've gotta take them back."

She was silent. "To the police station?"

I tried to lighten it with a laugh. "Yeah, there's a lot I'm not telling you. Stood in the bus stop." I lowered my voice. "Bit close for comfort."

"Okay, you want me to tell you about black people and police?"

Embarrassed, I blurted, "I'm not in trouble."

"No, you won't be. But by the time we get out of there, I probably will be. Gotta a career to consider, sorry hun."

"Fuck's sake, I'm sorry, I didn't think about that."

"Yeah." Her tone told me that I didn't need to think about it. White people white peopling as usual.

I gave up and changed the subject. "So what gives?"

"Got that interview tomorrow!"

Excitement rushed through me. "Team Leader Leah! You'll crush it!"

"I know that!" She sounded smug. "Can't guarantee anything, so I'm swotting up on it now." She'd been tipped for the job anyway, but I knew she was up against it. Pump engineering was a white man's world. Complacency would do her no good.

"What time is it at? Want to celebrate afterwards?"

"We'll see, I might go out with Jez if he bothers to get finished early."

I could almost taste my disappointment. My instincts were right, she didn't want to spend time with me right now. I could never gauge it because I didn't really understand why. We didn't have issues between us, but I never knew if I was really accepted by my friends or if they just tolerated me to be nice. Or if I just expected more of them than was normal for friends.

"Let me know," I said brightly. "It's still buy-two-glasses-get-the-bottle-free at The Crypt."

She laughed and promised me she would call if her boyfriend didn't sort himself out. They'd been together years, ever since I'd known her. He hadn't started out as the reliable type—youth had always got the better of him—but somehow they stuck together through everything. I didn't know how anyone managed that. The prospect of finding a partner to trust my life with was distant at the best of times and right now, I couldn't see it ever happening.

As I got off the bus in the direction of the police station, I couldn't decide whether to ask for Sergeant O'Brien, or otherwise what to say to the person on the desk. Police stations give me the creeps—they're so cold and bleak, windows like blank eyes watching everyone. The recently constructed building loomed overhead and the traffic whipped past me, stopping impatiently only to allow crossing at the lights.