Temple’s Job: Chapter 4

Is Joe’s girlfriend Janine in danger?   While Wigram and Temple pursue the vicious murder suspect Janine tries to continue with the routine of her daily life.  Read more of Temple’s Job a crime novel by  Tauranga local Nick Scott.

“Hello Janine, it’s Joe. Are you you planning to go for a jog to the museum this afternoon?”

He already knew that that the answer would be “yes”. Janine loved to keep fit.

“Well maybe not today, because someone could be out to do you some harm.”

“Nice euphamism Joe, what you mean is someone wants to kill me.

“Always were an intelligent girl weren’t you?”

“You know it Joe.”

“Which is why I don’t want to see you hurt.”

“I’ve always gone for my afternoon run, it’s where I met you.”

“Yes, I remember, the only time I bumped into someone without feeling like an idiot. Please stay at home.”

Joe waited for a response. He listened carefully and all he could hear was the sound of her sniffing as she quietly sobbed.

Janine eventually stopped crying and walked into the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face. She had known that this day would come. She had met some of Joe’s clients and they were, to a large extent, nasty men. She couldn’t blame Joe, well not with any amount of logic.

This was obviously not a client who threatened her, or else she would have been warned some time ago.

She really should be concerned for him. Sure, he was a very strong man and could probably take a lot of physical pain. But he could still die.

She resented the fact that her afternoon jog was going to be sacrificed because of Joe’s’ work   Well, what Joe didn’t know, would not hurt him. Feeling guilty, she slipped on her expensive training shoes and began to plot out her jogging trail inside her mind. Janine preferred to cross as few roads as possible. Jogging beside a car that was belching pollution was unpleasant.

By the time she had reached the museum, a tiny feeling of paranoia had entered her mind. Was that man reaching for a gun, or a knife? No, just a phone. Still, you could bash someone to death with a cell phone if you needed to. Was that someone waiting for her behind a tree ? Just a pair of teenage lovers. The paranoia grew worse until just outside Joe’s place where she was sure a baby in a pram was going to shoot her.

Janine had suffered for Joe’s sake before, but this was becoming too much to handle. There was only one way to deal with an imaginary foe – use her own imagination.

As soon as she was back in her room, she set up her laptop on the bed beside her. She began to write a short story – “THE DEATH OF THE ASSASSIN”

She wrote in detail an account of the man whose mission it was to kill her. He tried several times, only to be discovered each time. Then, at last, he saw her out walking by herself.   He had become frustrated this by the delay. Determined to get a clear shot at Janine he stepped straight out into Riccarton Road. The huge line hauler hit him into the air. The SUV behind went over his head. Definitely dead……   to be continued

What have Wigram and Temple been engaged in while Janine has been out and about. Check out Chapter 5 of “Temple’s Job” publishing on the first Saturday of October!    

Nick Scott Nick Scott has a B.A from The University of Waikato where he studied film under Sam Edwards. Nick has retained a keen interest in cinema. He studied Te Reo Maori at Te Wananga O Aotearoa part-time for 3 years and then from 2014 to 2016 Nick collaborated in writing “The Traveller’s guide to Maori Place Names”.  Nick is a regular Film Reviewer on ARTbop.

ARTbop has another of Nick’s  film reviews in the publication pipeline.    Keep your eye on the ARTbop facebook page!  Nick has been privileged to be provided with some cinema tickets by the Rialto Cinema, Tauranga.