Play or Die by Jen Cole

Author:Jen Cole [Cole, Jen]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3
Publisher: The Happy Mac
Published: 2012-09-27T23:00:00+00:00

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CHAPTER 27

At the red light, Richard stretched and rotated his neck. The drive to Shepparton had been uneventful, but after two and a half hours, he was ready for a coffee. He’d check into his motel before going on to the Warrington Farm.

Bev was at the reception desk and her face lit up when she saw him in the doorway. “Richard, it’s been a while. How many nights shall I put you down for?”

The ‘Welcome Inn’ was a small family-owned motel on the outskirts of Shepparton. Bev and her husband had ties with the farming community and operated their business with the reluctant assistance of their two sons, who kept threatening to depart, but who so far had been unable to find anything better.

“Just doing a spare parts round this time, Bev. I’ll probably only be here a day or two, so put me down for one night and I’ll let you know if I need to extend.”

Richard made a point of staying at the Welcome Inn whenever he came to Shepparton. It lent legitimacy to his farming machinery salesman persona and kept him up with the local news.

“Any exciting events in my absence?”

Bev tilted her head, considering. “Well, Popsie’s just had a litter of four kittens, which are so cute. It’ll be heart wrenching when the time comes to give them away. We might keep one to help Popsie with the mousing. Not that we have a mouse problem,” she hastened to add. “But with this drought on, the field mice may well start heading into town.”

Richard signed the register and Bev handed back his company credit card.

“Have you heard how the new bloke’s getting on at the Davies’ place?” he asked.

“Jack Murray? Seems to be doing okay. Are you looking to sell him some equipment?”

Richard winked. “Always on the lookout for new customers, Bev.”

Her smile faded. “Well, you may have a new customer up at the Warrington farm soon. I imagine Jo will be selling.”

“What do you mean Jo? Has something happened to Bill?”

“Oh, you hadn’t heard? There was a terrible accident, nearly a month ago now. Bill was killed.”

“Killed! What happened?”

“He was crushed under some machinery. They had a coroner’s inquest and all.”

“My God, Bev, I had no idea. I’ve been interstate for the last month.”

“Such an awful thing. From what I gather, a part of his tree shaker worked loose and came down on him while he was standing under it… you didn’t sell that to him did you?”

Richard answered vaguely, still stunned by the news. “No, the big tree shakers come from overseas. I can hardly believe this has happened. I must go and give my condolences to Jo.”

“I don’t think Jo’s around at the moment. Stuart drove past the place yesterday and said it seemed to be all locked up.”

Richard fumbled the room key into his pocket. How could this have happened? Bill Warrington was well aware of the danger of displaying knowledge about the H Group, and would surely never have done so, but this unlikely death couldn’t have been an accident.

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