Exit Strategy (Jenny Parker Book 4) by D. J. Harrison

Author:D. J. Harrison [Harrison, D. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Media
Published: 2019-08-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 31

The bulldozer is inching its way off the low loader and into the Midgeland morass. Peter O’Brian stands proudly in attendance with the air of a man witnessing the birth of his enormous metallic child.

“There you go, Jenny. That’s a D8, a proper tool. We’ll have that stockpile spread in no time. Leave it to me.”

“I need to speak to you about the caravan business, Peter. I can’t put any more cash through. At least not for the immediate future.”

“That’s not what we agreed, Jenny. I’ve got funds coming through all the time. I need you to keep your side of the bargain.” Peter stands motionless, watching my face.

“There’s still repercussions from the Lafferty affair, everyone is under scrutiny. Especially us. My advice is to keep your dealings above board for a while or run the risk of a full-blown investigation that takes us out of the caravan business completely and permanently.”

“OK, if you say so.” He looks at the pitted and cratered landscape with its heaps of mud and rubbish as far as the eye can see. “This is going to be a big job, you realise. It’s better to do it all at once instead of picking at it a bit at a time. There’s the mobilisation costs to consider.”

“There’s no money for anything else in the kitty. The EA are bleating about this heap and threatening to close us down if we don’t shift it. That’s all I’m concerned with at the moment.”

“Now it’s the start of the earthworks season you should be keeping at it, get the best of the weather. Tell you what, when he’s done the stockpile we’ll get him to carry on grading the northern flank. It needs tidying up and you’ll get less hassle from the natives once it’s growing grass.”

Peter is obviously anxious to keep his dozer on hire and earning money but he also has a good point. The success of the planning application might depend on presenting a nicely grassed slope to the outside world instead of the heap of mud they can see at the moment. I need to do what he’s suggesting but I don’t have any money to pay for it.

“OK. We’ll work on that basis, Peter.”

“The job needs doing right, Jenny, that’s all I’m saying.”

When Peter has had enough of watching his beloved machine churn away at my muck, I make my way painfully to the office inside the big shed. It’s slow going. Wellies, mud and crutches aren’t conducive to the rehabilitation of a poorly knee. Dragging each footstep out of the mud makes for a painful journey.

Lesley is sitting in her prison of old tattered documents counting money into piles. There’s more of it than I’m used to seeing.

“Have we had a good week?” I ask.

“Amazing. The new driver is going mad, he’s bringing in twice as much as anyone else and most of it is cash sales.”

“New driver?”

“Didn’t Monty tell you? We took on a replacement for Greg.”

“I didn’t even know that Greg had left.

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