Wild Fiction

Rebecca grimaced at the cliché and then fell silent as she contemplated this fact.
‘Okay,’ she said. ‘What do I do next?’
‘Have you completely forgotten what I was going to do today?’
‘Oh my goodness,’ she said raising her hands to her mouth. ‘I had. What happened? What did you find at the bank?’
‘Well I met your friends from the island, I think. They followed me to the bank and chased me in their van. I escaped though, a bit of deft manoeuvring in the car, they didn’t stand a chance.’ He smiled at her and pushed his chest out.
‘What was in the bank? What was in the safety deposit box?’ Rebecca was jumping up and down.
The author opened the briefcase and pulled out the bonds. ‘These,’ he said. ‘Bearer bonds to the value of thirty million pounds. This is where the insurance money went, good old bearer bonds. Untraceable and just like cash. The favourite of all Belgian dentists.’
‘Belgian dentists?’
The author opened his mouth but was interrupted by the entry of Conrad and James.
‘Look at all the money he’s found,’ Rebecca enthused. ‘It’s all in Bear Bonds.’
‘Bearer Bonds,’ the author said. ‘This is just like cash, thirty million pounds worth.’
‘Well there’s no point in giving that back to the insurance company,’ Conrad said. ‘If it’s just like cash then we might as well keep that instead of the two million pounds reward.’
‘Well, actually, it isn’t exactly like cash,’ the author said. ‘It’s only as good as cash if you know the right sort of people and if you normally deal in big money. If we try to sell them, the banks and market makers are obliged by law to ask us where it came from. So our best bet is to turn them over to Guardian Royal and get the reward.’
All except Rebecca nodded in agreement.
‘Can’t you just create a character that’ll do this for you?’ Rebecca asked.
‘No, we’re dealing with the real world here. If it was that simple I could just write myself a fortune and sit back and relax.’
A bang and loud groan came from the bedroom across the hall.
‘Quickly hide,’ the author said pointing at the bookcase. The group of three squeezed into the secret passage and managed to close the bookcase just in time. Genevieve entered the study holding a hand against her head.
‘What happened?’ she asked her eyes only half open.