DEATH BY NIGHT a gripping British crime mystery full of twists by P.F. FORD

Author:P.F. FORD [FORD, P.F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JOFFE BOOKS crime thrillers and mysteries
Published: 2024-02-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

It had been snowing overnight and next morning everything was covered in a good two inches of the stuff. And it was cold; Norman shivered as his breath filled the air around their heads.

‘I take it from your downbeat mood this morning that your friend Vinnie didn’t crack the password,’ said Jolly, her words creating a visible vapour trail, as they trudged along the old towpath.

‘It never occurred to me that he might be away,’ Norman said, sighing and forming his own word cloud. ‘Good job I phoned him before I drove up there, or I would have wasted the whole night.’

‘What did Dave say?’

‘Ha!’ Norman smiled. ‘Him and Vinnie don’t get on, so he’s torn between being disappointed that we don’t have the password and pleased that he doesn’t have to thank Vinnie for helping us out.’

‘Why doesn’t he like him?’ asked Jolly.

‘Oh you know Dave. He finds it difficult to deal with people who are too sure of themselves, and Vinnie is confident to the point of arrogance. I guess it’s because he’s out of his depth with all the geeky stuff that Vinnie finds so simple. The guy’s a genius and he knows it. I guess he makes Dave feel inadequate or something.’

‘It’s funny,’ said Jolly. ‘I never thought of him lacking confidence until we went to the school together. He really struggled with the kids at first.’

‘But I bet he was okay once he was the one stood at the front giving the talk,’ said Norman.

‘Yes, that’s right, he was,’ agreed Jolly.

‘He likes to be in control of the situation. That’s why he finds the unexpected difficult to deal with. He doesn’t like change. I wonder how he’s gonna cope when Bob Murray leaves and they start shaking things up at work.’

‘You think they will change things?’

‘They have to,’ said Norman. ‘Tinton’s run like it’s still the sixties. Once Murray goes they’ll send in a new broom, you wait and see.’

‘Is the old man definitely leaving then?’ asked Jolly.

‘I didn’t tell you this,’ said Norman, ‘but they’ve asked for volunteers to take redundancy and he’s applied. I got the same letter, but I’d have nothing to do if I quit. But Murray’s different. He sees it as his free ticket from hell. He can’t wait to go.’

They’d reached the woods at the back of Hatton House now, and it was time to split up.

‘Make sure you keep that switched on.’ Norman pointed to the small radio in Jolly’s top pocket. ‘It’s got a range of about a hundred yards so I should be able to hear everything you say through my earpiece. If you need me just say so. I’ll probably walk about a bit to keep warm, but I won’t be far, okay?’

‘Okay,’ she said.

The path was difficult to make out in the snow, but she was soon gone from view. Norman was happy he could hear her breathing as she walked. They had agreed beforehand that he would avoid speaking so as not to frighten Florence.

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