by Pete Trewin
He and Alison walked along the footpath at the edge of the river. He could hear the leather of her jacket creaking as she moved. They stopped to read the information board. Otters, salmon and dolphins had been seen here now that the river had been cleaned up.
‘Am I glad that it’s all over,’ she said.
‘Don’t be too sure about that,’ Chris said. ‘You’ve got two bodies at the bottom of a cliff and forty thousand in old notes spread around them. The cops might check up on Stroller and the money. And Sefton used to work for you, didn’t he?’
‘That was all a carry over from the past. I didn’t want to get involved but I had no choice when Kenny drowned.’
‘You must have known something about what was going on.’
‘I just thought that Kenny was a good robber. He kept all the nasty stuff away from me. All I want now is to put all that behind me and move on.’
‘And what about the NCA?’ he said. ‘They might want the report. They might want the money back.’
‘It’s all well-laundered now. It would only go back to the government. All those workers at Snug as a Bug would go on the dole. This way at least it creates jobs and helps the local economy.’
Chris thought about this for a while.
‘You sound like a local politician defending her record,’ he laughed. ‘Of course I’m not going to turn you in, Mrs Kirkpatrick.’
She looked at him.
He laughed and she punched him on the shoulder.
They both stopped and stared across the river, the currents fast and the water seething.
‘Do you reckon there are salmon in there like that board says?’ she said.
‘Well look at all those gulls and cormorants. They must be feeding on something.’
They walked on for a while.
‘Emile wants to get into this climbing thing,’ she said. ‘Would you take him?’
‘I could manage that. Did you know about the books he’s reading on his iPad?’
‘Books? I didn’t know. I thought he was just playing games.’
‘He’s reading classic novels. Treasure Island. Frankenstein. He’s several years ahead of his age group. He shouldn’t be at a special school.’
They walked on for a while in silence.
‘Listen, Chris, if you’re not going to turn me in I’ve got an idea.’
‘Go on.’
‘I’ve been going over the portfolio and I think it’s a bit unbalanced.’
‘What, too much double glazing and brew pubs?’
‘Aha. We could do with more security. Someone to keep an eye on surveillance and people putting their hands in the till. As Simon said: this is the future.’
Chris thought about this.
‘I’ll have to think about that,’ he said.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Gary Smailes of BubbleCow for editing and general advice.
Ned Hoste of 2H Design for the cover design.
Paula Trewin for editing, copy reading and support.
THANK YOU FOR READING
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My website has information on forthcoming novels and some background to the north of England settings in my books. There is also information on my interests which range from conservation of historic buildings to rock climbing.