The Cyberkink Sideshow (17 page)
As she pulled him to his feet to lead him away, she noticed the thing he’d tripped over, a drainpipe-like object that looked the same color as the flooring. It was a snake with a gem between its eyes.
Chapter 9
Sylvia stood before Superintendent Scott’s desk in her office while she flipped through the card file Sylvia had just presented her.
“I’m sorry to hear you’re leaving us, Price,” said the superintendent. “Thanks for filing your report on the Sideshow case. Everything seems in order here.”
She pushed back her chair, got to her feet, and smiled at Sylvia. “Hope everything goes well. If you need a reference any time, I’m happy to provide one.”
Sylvia shook her hand. “Thanks.”
As she exited the superintendent’s office to the stairwell, Pikesley appeared. He wore plain clothes and carried an armful of personal items: his photograph of his family and his Christian paraphernalia. He scowled at Sylvia. They had let him go after they’d handed in the saboteur, but in his interview the man had named Pikesley as his collaborator and, after that, several constables had come forward independently and claimed Pikesley had tried to bribe them.
“You’re leaving the police to go and live with a
freak
in a
circus
?”
Sylvia walked away from him. She could think of a number of things to say in reply, but she didn’t see the point in stooping to his level.
At the front desk, she asked the receptionist, “Do you have the discounted evidence from the Sideshow case?”
The woman had a rummage through some filing drawers. “Ah yes, here it is.”
“I’m going to return it.” Sylvia took the plastic evidence bag containing the multi-colored titanium fish. “Thanks.”
Baxter loitered in the foyer. He looked nervously at Sylvia when she entered, and took a step in her direction. “I’m sorry you’re leaving. The new super is bloody good at her job.” He glanced down at his hands sheepishly. “This’ll probably sound odd, but I...er...I feel like I’m a better person, somehow, now Pikesley’s not around. I’m sorry about what I said about Maynard, and how I reacted when you were, uh, undercover. I just didn’t expect that at all, I mean, from someone like you.” An embarrassed smile flitted over his face.
“It’s okay, really.” Sylvia returned his smile. “It’s been nice working with you.”
She shook his hand before turning to leave through the main doors. The sun slipped behind a cloud as she slid the fish into her pocket and stroked the shape of it through the fabric of her jeans.
Back at her flat she packed the two suitcases containing her possessions into the boot of her car before getting Max onto the back seats and attaching his harness to the dog seatbelt fixed to the straps there. The flat was rented. She’d left her keys on the kitchen table and canceled the direct debit. She’d lose her deposit for not giving notice, but that didn’t seem to matter anymore.
The heat wave had finally burned itself out. The air had cooled and the wind had picked up, and the leaves in the trees looked faded and parched as Sylvia drove the road to the Garden Festival, not bright and fresh with the vigor of late spring as they had a month ago.
She turned through the gates and onto the main concourse, and the sight that greeted her came as a shock.
The stalls, the rides, the tents and marquees–everything had gone. The Ferris wheel was being dismantled by men in fluorescent orange suits and yellow helmets. The flowers in the gardens had all wilted, the leaves of the plants turning yellow. The breeze tumbled a multitude of colored litter across the lawns.
Sylvia switched off the engine. She opened the car door and stepped out, and she stood staring upon the desolation. Where was the Sideshow? Where were Victor, Vaughn, the Hermaphrodite Twins, the zebra lady? How had she allowed them to disappear from her life as easily as they’d first come into it? She glanced over her shoulder at the car. Max pressed his nose against the back window of her hatchback, leaving a snotty smear on the glass.
The wind flung a sheet of paper against her leg, wrapping it around her ankle. She bent over to pull it off. Victor’s name stood out at the top and she recognized it with a shocking jolt that surged upward through her chest, as though Marvin the Electrosex Wizard had set up his electrodes wrong.
Victor R. Maynard’s CYBERKINK SIDESHOW
Touring with the International Garden Festival 2030
Experience the most depraved interactive celebration of human sexuality in all its forms and many other once-in-a-lifetime attractions before the Festival travels South for the winter.
June: Newport
July: Leicester
August: Gateshead
September: Glasgow
Sylvia strode back to her car. Gateshead it was, then. She had a full tank of diesel and her whole life ahead of her. And Victor was waiting, and she would go with him just like he’d wanted.
As she pulled away, the first patter of rain began to fall on the road.
Ophidia Cox
Ophidia Cox is interested in fetishes and sex that doesn’t follow the textbook’s instructions. When not doing research in the field, Ophidia relaxes in a home filled with snakes and spiders.
Ophidia’s eMail:
Lyrical Press books are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp. 119 West 40th Street New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2011 Ophidia Cox
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Lyrical Press and the L logo are trademarks of Kensington Publishing Corp.
First Electronic Edition: November 2011
ISBN-13: 978-1-61650-334-5
