I check the time on my mobile: we stayed three hours at Valentine’s mother’s place. There were times I wanted to shake her, to hurry her up a bit. The Hyena stops, in the middle of the pavement, and looks round, puzzled. ‘This is where we left the car.’ ‘You must be wrong.’ All the streets look alike in this goddam residential area. Trees everywhere, nice houses, all more or less dilapidated, and no obvious landmarks. ‘Could someone have stolen the car?’ ‘If I was a thief, I wouldn’t choose ours. There are plenty of top-of-the-range cars around here.’ The Hyena spots a little triangular sticker on the edge of the pavement. She kneels down to unstick it. ‘They’ve towed it.’ ‘You’re joking! We paid a fortune when we got here. Three euros an hour, in case you think I’ve forgotten…’ ‘Yeah, for two hours, but we were much longer.’ ‘Must be a mistake.’ ‘I did warn you when we got here. Daylight robbery’s a fine art here. Benvingut, darling.’ ‘They tow away a car for overstaying by one hour?
