Dead in the Water by Chris McDonald

Author:Chris McDonald [McDonald, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781913331863
Publisher: Red Dog Press

Colin had watched footage of many a footballer croon a stone cold classic a cappella, murdering it in the process, as part of their initiation after a big money transfer.

That’s what he thought the Meadowfield team had in mind for him. He’d even picked Sweet Caroline as his tune, hoping that the crowd participation parts would see him through.

Thoughts of Neil Diamond were quickly pushed from his mind as he was bundled into the back of a car which was driven off at high speed up the narrow track. The car raced on the familiar coast road between Meadowfield and Stonebridge, and Colin was surprised at how little time it had taken to make it back to his hometown.

He was even more surprised when they entered the car park behind the town centre. The barriers were up to signify that no payment was necessary.

And why would it be? It was nearly ten o’clock and all the shops were shut.

‘Right,’ Ricky said, tossing him a bag inside which something clinked together noisily. ‘Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to walk to the offices of one Mr Holland and graffiti his shutters.’

Colin glanced inside the bag and felt his mouth grow dry. Two paint canisters, red and blue, appeared to look back at him accusatorily.

‘Why?’ he spluttered.

‘Why?’ Ricky laughed. ‘To show that you’ve got balls. To show that you hate these scumbags as much as we do. To give two fingers to the people of this crappy town.’

The two other men in the car laughed loudly.

‘What should I write?’

A series of choice phrases were hurled his way.

‘Any of those,’ Ricky said. ‘Or, if you’re feeling creative, you can make something up. We won’t be offended that you disregarded our suggestions.’

With a small nod of the head, Colin got out of the car. He walked towards the town centre, weighing up what he had been asked to do. If he was caught, which was unlikely given the time of day and how dark it was, it would have serious repercussions—one more serious than the rest.

He could lose his job.

And he didn’t want that.

On the flip side, he was committed to holding up his end of the bargain. Adam had promised Elena Henderson that they would look into Matthew’s death and for better or worse, this would help.

Surely, once he’d done this, the Meadowfield team couldn’t question his commitment. He could start asking his questions in earnest.

Maybe even ex-prisoner Paddy would be impressed and let his guard down.

He sighed and skulked around the corner towards the estate agent’s office. Aware that there were no CCTV cameras down this end of town that could capture what he was about to do, he ran to the metal shutters, pulled out a paint canister and sprayed a message as quickly as he could.

Once finished and without even bothering to check his handiwork, he threw the cans back into the bag and legged it down the street towards the car park. The muscles in his

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