Death of a Dream by Chris Lewando

Author:Chris Lewando [Lewando, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Drombeg Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

When Donna told her dad, the next morning, he said, ‘Well, Paul Kilbride’s right. What could you do, anyway?’

Often, by the morning, the things she’d wanted to run past him had evaporated during the night. It was annoying that his evening shift at the distribution centre ended when she was too tired to wait up. Her mother leaving him to cope with a three-year-old child on his own meant that his dreams of a career had been buried beneath a long series of badly-paid jobs. She might have been bitter if it had happened to her, but he maintained that being bitter was a waste of energy. Her father was a nice guy; her mother must have been dumb to leave him.

‘Maybe you should just let him sort it out?’ he carried on. ‘If he wants to help Gerry Bright, that’s good, isn’t it?’

‘If he does. But it was all a bit strange. I’m a nobody in the empire he’s just inherited. He’s been keeping tabs on me, and he called me up to the gods to tell me all that stuff?’

‘You did save his life.’

‘Inadvertently. I was left with the feeling he was trying too hard to put me off.’

He hesitated, then said, ‘I’d be happier If you did as he asked, and left well alone. Someone murdered the girl, and whoever did it isn’t the sort of person you’d want to discover. I’d rather you didn’t put yourself in harm’s way. If anything happened to you, I don’t know what I’d do.’

She brushed a kiss on her father’s cheek as she left. ‘I’d love to believe Paul, that it wasn’t his dad who killed Catherine. I just don’t like being manipulated.’

Her dad looked surprised. ‘You’re not falling for the guy, are you?’

‘No way. He doesn’t rock my boat in the slightest. I’m more than sure I don’t even like him. He’s just too good looking, it’s unreal. You want to pinch him to see if he’s made of plastic. But I don’t believe all that guff about how sweet his father was.’

He sighed. ‘You’re not going to leave it alone, are you?’

‘I thought I should just speak to the PI guy, off the record.’

‘Just ease off, Donna. Paul’s got the money and clout to help the Bright chap. If he does, we’ll know he’s on the level, won’t we?’

‘Maybe. Anyway, don’t worry. I probably won’t do anything,’ she said, ‘because you’re right. I don’t know what I could do that will make any difference.’

But her assurance didn’t wipe the concern from his face.

At lunchtime she visited an internet café, and did a search for private investigators in the locale. There was no one listed called Boyle, but there were three William Boyles in the South of England. She rang from her mobile. The first two led nowhere, but the third rang out twice, and wasn’t diverted into an answer service. If that was him, he sure wasn’t out to get custom. At the third try, she was answered by a long silence.

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