There was a dame sitting at the bar. She was attractive and alone. I decided to take a chance. I slid onto the stool next to her and asked if she wanted a drink.
‘My name is Alice’ she said, ‘Alice Fortune. Miss Alice Fortune.’ I noticed her beautiful smile as she shook my hand.
As our fingers met, I felt something pass between us. My sixth sense was screaming at me but I took no notice, I was hooked.
‘Sam, pleased to make your acquaintance.’
‘That’s a lovely name, it really suits you.’
It seemed that my luck was in. It didn’t last long.
We had only been seeing each other for a couple of weeks, before things started to go pear shaped.
The case I was working on was going nowhere. It should have been a slam-dunk one, easy money, but things started to unravel. I was going down blind alleys, looking for things that didn’t exist. Some of the evidence went missing, my surveillance photos were blurred. I checked the camera, there was nothing wrong.
The more I saw Alice, the more odd things started to happen. I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but this girl was trouble. I started checking and rechecking everything I did, trying to find another explanation. The only one was Alice.
I’d always been on top of my game. Had I just let things slip? My lease had lapsed on my office as the cheque had gone missing, even though I’d hand delivered it. Some of my best clients had taken their work elsewhere. My secretary had quit for no reason. There was one misfortune after another.
I was slowly sinking. At this rate, I was going broke.
I was only then I realised that I had to let her go and get myself out of the mess I was in. I saw her again at the same bar a few months later, I left misfortune alone.
