Free Bryant & May - The Burning Man by Christopher Fowler

wolves. Baboons, perhaps.’
    Kzsowolski reappeared at the door with a fashionably dressed young Arab in his mid-twenties. He wore the Hoxton young-granddad uniform of a trimmed, slender beard, tight cardigan and a narrow-brimmed hat pushed back on the crown of his head. His trousers were too fitted to have useable pockets, so he was forced to stand awkwardly with his mobile in one hand.
    ‘We understand you had a row with this man?’ asked Colin, showing him the photograph.
    Jamel nodded. ‘Yeah, it kind of came out of nowhere. I thought he was going to hit me.’
    ‘What was it about?’
    ‘Phone apps.’
    ‘Apps?’
    ‘I was sitting in the lounge just messing with my phone and I felt someone looking over my shoulder. He asked me what apps I was using, and I told him, and he just went off, shouting and acting all kind of crazy. Linda came along and threatened to throw him out.’
    ‘At first I thought he’d taken something,’ added Linda. ‘But he didn’t have the look, you know? After I warned him he calmed down very quickly, but it gave me a bit of a turn, seeing him blow up like that.’
    ‘Has something happened to him?’ Jamel asked.
    ‘I’m afraid he’s dead,’ said Colin.
    ‘What happened?’
    ‘I can’t discuss the details. We need to establish his prior movements.’
    Jamel looked aghast. ‘It wasn’t my fault.’
    ‘Don’t worry, nobody’s saying it was. Did you have any other contact with him?’
    ‘We spoke a couple of times in the lounge, just casual stuff. He seemed fine then.’
    ‘Did he talk about his plans? Or mention anyone else? Anything you remember that would be useful?’
    ‘No, I don’t think so. As I said … Wait, something about his girlfriend. Or ex-girlfriend. A girl, anyway. He was waiting for her one evening.’
    ‘A girl. Anything else?’
    ‘I don’t think she was British.’
    ‘What makes you think that?’
    ‘I don’t know, something about “when she first came here”, something like that.’
    ‘Do you remember if anyone turned up to see him?’ Meera asked Linda.
    ‘Non-guests can only come into the lobby,’ the manager explained. ‘They’ve usually arranged to meet their friends down here, so there’s no reason why they would give us their names, or say who they’ve come to meet.’
    After a few more questions Bimsley and Mangeshkar knew they’d gone as far as they could go, and took their leave. ‘At least now we know he had a girlfriend,’ said Colin as they headed back into the street. ‘I’ve no idea how we track her down.’
    ‘Suppose he met her here and they went somewhere nearby?’ Meera began. ‘Where are the nearest cheap eats?’
    They tried pizza bars, Thai takeaways, pasta cafés, a McDonald’s and a Subway. After that they started on the pubs, hitting the Lady Ottoline, the Yorkshire Grey, the Blue Lion, the Calthorpe Arms, the Lamb and the Duke of York, but none of the bar staff recalled seeing Weeks. By the time they had doubled back to the Ship and the Enterprise, last orders were well and truly over and it was starting to rain again.
    ‘We’re not going to get anything more tonight,’ said Meera. ‘Do you need a lift?’
    Bimsley hopped on and off the pavement, then stood on one leg for no particular reason. ‘Nah, I’m hungry. I think I’ll go and get a burger.’
    ‘Why don’t you find yourself a girlfriend?’ Meera asked.
    ‘’Cause I’m still waiting for you,’ he replied, as if the answer was obvious.
    She touched his arm lightly. ‘Please, Colin, don’t. Not any more.’
    ‘Why not?’
    She hesitated a moment before telling him, and in the gap he felt a chill. ‘My parents,’ she said. ‘I’ve been meaning to tell you. They’ve got someone lined up for me.’
    Colin couldn’t believe what he had just heard. ‘I thought they were still trying to get your sister married off?’
    ‘They’ve sort of given up on that.’
    ‘So who is this bloke?’
    ‘A boy I used to know, Ryan Malhotra.