Free The Girl at the Bus-Stop by Sam Aubigny

said Rudge. ‘I’ll leave you to organise the cleaning then, I want the place spotless. Mr Hewlett can pick up the keys on Friday afternoon.’
     

Chapter 7 – Waterloo Sun Seat
       Rudge waved as he saw Becky moving through the ticket barrier from platform fifteen at Waterloo. She waved back and smiled as she rushed over to him, dragging her wheeled-suitcase behind her.
     
    ‘Thank goodness you made it, Becky,’ said Rudge grinning, ‘I’m sorry it was a bit short notice.’
     
    ‘Why all the urgency, Mr Rudge?’ she asked, ‘I had a hell of a job getting another day off work, Friday’s our busiest day, and the train was delayed.’
     
    ‘Well you got here that’s the main thing. The car is outside, so let’s go for a drive and have a coffee.’
     
    Rudge grabbed her case and they walked across the busy concourse and down the memorial steps to the waiting Mercedes.
     
    ‘Can you drop us at a nice coffee shop by the Thames please, Harry?’ Rudge instructed the driver. ‘Somewhere this side of the river would be nice.’
     
    ‘No problem, Mr Rudge,’ replied the driver, opening the boot and putting Becky’s case inside.
     
    Rudge and Becky sat at an outside table at a riverside café, enjoying the late afternoon sunshine.
     
    ‘I could never get tired off this view,’ said Becky, exhaling a plume of cigarette smoke, ‘it’s a proper working river and it’s fascinating to watch.’
     
    ‘Yes,’ agreed Rudge, ‘but imagine what it must have been like in its heyday? There would have been dozens vessels from all corners of the globe bringing in everything from tea to terracotta. I doubt if you’d have been able see across to the other bank for ships.’
     
    ‘I wish I could have seen it back then.’ she said wistfully. ‘But even now I’m quite content sitting here watching it. I’ve even put a picture of the Thames on my PC in the office, it makes working there just that little bit more bearable.’
     
    ‘I don’t have that problem anymore. I am no longer an employee of Einstein & Unger.’
     
    ‘When did you decide to resign?’
     
    ‘I didn’t, they sacked me. Or rather that overbearing bully, Dave Banstead did. When I walked out of that dreadful place for the last time I was so delighted I almost danced all the way to the bus stop.’
     
    Becky looked sad for a few moments as she stared at her coffee cup.
     
    ‘I wish I could jack-in my job,’ she said miserably.
     
    ‘Well you won’t have to put up with it much longer,’ said Rudge cheerfully.
     
      ‘What do you mean?’
     
    ‘How would you like a full-time career as Raspberry Caine?’
     
    ‘How, I mean, why, I mean, what are you talking about?’
     
    ‘The book is selling quite well,’ Rudge explained. ‘To be perfectly honest it’s gone ballistic, and I need you to be Raspberry Caine permanently.’
     
    ‘Doing what exactly?’ she asked, sounding apprehensive.
     
    ‘I don’t know, what you did before I suppose. It’s my full time business now, but you’re the real star of the whole thing so I want you to do it as a proper job. I’ll pay you a decent salary and everything.’
     
    ‘What can I say?’ she said grinning, ‘Yes of course I’ll do it, even if I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing.’
     
    ‘Excellent, I’ve already instructed my accountant to draw up a proper salary and package for you,
     
    ‘Your accountant, eh? Very posh I’m sure.’
     
    ‘So you can hand your notice in at work any time you like.’
     
    ‘Hang on a minute though, Mr Rudge,’ she said looking worried, ‘I won’t have to do that bloody awful train journey every day will I? It would drive me bonkers.’
     
    Rudge smiled at her warmly and got up from the table, easing her chair from under her as she too stood up.
     
    ‘No chance of that, I wouldn’t put you through all that palaver.’ he said. ‘So come on, let’s go and find the car, I have a little surprise for you and I think