A Vagrant Story by Paul Croasdell Page A

It…”
    “Was a general goods store. You don’t keep books in a store like that.”
    “I doubt it‘s all that legal,” Sierra said.
    “It’d make terrible cover. Illegal gambling needs a place off the beaten track, a place people go in and out all day so not to draw attention. Come on Alex, your brain might be shot but you can figure these things out.”
    Alex pondered a moment. “The note did suggest the building would be something a little more shady. It also seems to imply this Jack Matters owns more than one building. It seems plausible we could have hit the wrong one.”
    “But then … what about the fire? What about the man you and Henry rescued?” Sierra said.
    “What about him?” Alex replied. “We rescued him. Nobody else would have so we can be glad we went a little off course. Time to resume I think.”
    “But!”
    “You want a reward or something, Blondie? You heard Alex, we don’t need the guy, let’s go.”
    “You know the old drunk’s just being a selfish git again!”
    “Well he can occasionally be helpful in his own selfish way. Whatever the case, it seems we‘ll have to look for our Mr Matters at one of his more frequented locations.”
    “And where’s that?” Sierra asked.
    “We’ll have to go look.”
    “Are you really sure about this?”
    “Surer than I’ll be scrambling around this place. We were getting nowhere anyway.”
    “I’d still like to see how he’s getting on.”
    “For a nice fat thank you, a big warm hug to make everything okay? There‘s nothing here, time to go. That guy‘s none of our business now. We’ve done anything we‘re going to.”
    “Let’s find Henry first,” Alex said.
    Rum groaned. “Oh come on, leave that dud here, he’ll only slow us down. I advise you listen to what I’m saying. I‘m the only one of us who seems to know what he‘s doing.”
    Alex placed a finger to chin in contemplation. “Let’s see, Henry was on the third floor … or was it the second? Maybe we should just check at reception.”
    “Or we can run around the hospital again, we’d be a lot faster,” Rum said, idling his way down the stairs.
    Alex followed closely behind, stopping in wait for Sierra. “You coming?”
    She stood staring into the note as if trying to solve a puzzle. “I … could have sworn that was our guy. I … are you sure about this, Alex?”
    “Don’t let it get to you. Hurry up or Rum will wander off and get lost.”
    There was little else to do except check at reception again. With any luck the clerk from earlier had been replaced by a more tolerant employee. Any hope for it became immediately squashed upon entering the reception area. Not only was the same receptionist still there, but a new bustle of people jammed the hall near wall to wall. The only sign of a queue was the horizontally moving streak of people jammed together in the centre. The receptionist herself fretted over her keyboard, typing near non-stop. Rum spared a moment to laugh at her misfortune before deciding to speak.
    “What is this, the Christmas rush?” he said. “It’ll be night before we get through this line.”
    From somewhere in the crowd a familiar voice started calling for Sierra and Alex. It came in the direction of the main entrance. It sounded like Henry, and from the brief glances they caught of him jumping up and down to grab their attention, it looked like him too. After stumbling his way through the bustle Henry came falling out the other side.
    “They let you out already?” Alex asked.
    “Yeah … sort of,” Henry replied.
    “I get it,” Rum said. “The doctor wouldn’t let you leave so you decided to sneak out. And check it out, looks like the rebel Henry robbed some fancy new clothes before taking off too.”
    “Well actually one of the doctors gave them to me since my old ones got damaged in the fire.”
    Sierra eyed Henry warily. “Okay so … why did you come in from the main door?”
    “I didn’t want anyone catching me so I