A Shoe In – Bentley 46

 

[For back story go here: Story so far at 30 Nov 2020 and definitely this one.]

[Relevant back story also in embedded links.]

He didn’t want to count it again. It seemed a little pointless. He knew it was still a substantial amount of money, even with the deductions he’d made a little while back. Staring at it while alongside Lucky, who sniffed at the money hopefully, Bentley was facing a dilemma. Or maybe several dilemmas.

If this really was the money that Jeremy Knowles was looking for how and why should he send it back to him? If this really was the money Jeremy Knowles was looking for why had it been sent to him and what would whoever had sent it to him think if he now sent it back to Jeremy Knowles? If this really was that money why had no one mentioned it before? And if this really was the money did the shoes belong to Jeremy Knowles too? How could he find this out?

Bentley made himself another cup of tea. It was the fourth one so far this morning and none of them had made him feel any better or any more capable of making a decision regarding his some time windfall. Lawrence had mentioned this once, but thinking back on it, had he actually referenced this money?

Stuff it, thought Bentley. I’m taking this to the top.

He phoned Shiela and asked her straight out.

“Do you know anything about a pair of shoes?” he asked. “ Smart. Black. Size ten.”

“Should I?” asked Shiela in reply. “And if I did do you think I should talk about them over the phone like this? Anyone could be listening.”

“I honestly don’t think anyone is listening,” said Bentley. And then just to prove it: “Shoes shoes shoes shoes shoes! There, any difference? What do you think? Smart. Black size ten.”

“You used to where shoes like that.”

“I got to size eight. Eight and a half at a push and then stopped,” retorted Bentley. 

“Why are you so worried about a pair of shoes?” asked Shiela. “I assume they actually exist rather than these just being hypothetical shoes?”

“Someone sent them to me,” said Bentley.

“OK. And?”

“And I have no idea why and I’m trying to work out why and maybe, just maybe give them back. What do you think?”

Shiela didn’t seem that interested on the whole. She was off on a reminiscence suddenly about a shoe shop they used to go to together. A Hastings shoe shops where the best styles came with a discount. Even more of a discount if you had a loyalty card, although loyalty cards at shoe shops were a bit of a waste of time, she thought, unless you had a big family. The two of them and Lawrence never really bought enough and besides the shop didn’t have every kind of shoe they needed. Wellies were never any good from there and Bentley’s work boots were special commission and not available from any other stockist.

“What was the biggest eh size you remember Lawrence having?” interjected Bentley. “I mean, before he went off. Do you think he was size ten?”

“Probably,” said Sheila vaguely, “Although to be honest I’ve no real idea.”

“Fat lot of use you are,” said Bentley, before he could stop himself.

“Always with the bon mot,” snapped back Shiela.

“So when’s the next wild goose chase scheduled?” asked Bentley.

“Just thinking it over,” said Shiela. “Processing the implications of this ‘route map’ we’ve been presented with. Do we still risk it now when there are fewer people out there but more chance of being stopped or do we sit until there are more people but...”

She trailed off.

“Anyway,” she returned, a little stronger now, “mustn’t discuss it over the phone. Walls have ears.”

“No walls here,” observed Bentley. “Just a cat.”

“Well, do you know who she’s talking to? She might be bugged.”

“Yeah, right,” scoffed Bentley.

Shiela wasn’t impressed by this either and was on the point of giving Bentley a piece of her mind when something else seemed to distract her. “Right, I’m needed elsewhere,” she said. “I’ll squawk later I expect.”

“So nothing on the shoes then?” asked Bentley to be certain. “Really nothing?”

“There’s only one thing I say about other people’s shoes,” said Shiela. “And that is you have to walk a mile in them to know how that person feels.”

The line dropped. Bentley scowled at the phone. And the shoes. And the cat.

And then he tried the shoes on. They were too big. 

But as he took them off a part of the sole on the left foot swivelled back and small key fell to the floor.