The Beast by Alexander Starritt

Author:Alexander Starritt [Starritt, Alexander]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781784979935
Publisher: Head of Zeus

17

Near the small Berkshire town of Thatcham, the bus carefully eased itself up a woodland road too narrow for centre markings and finally arrived at a pair of high chain-link gates set back into the trees. As a pair of armed policemen came forward to open the gates, the elder of the two men hiding in a ditch across the road began to take photographs. He’d already shot all the earlier buses and now he’d got this one, too: a line of seated hacks in profile at the windows; the policemen ushering the bus inside; the bus nosing around a corner and out of sight.

He banged the bottom of his fist against the soft verge; his guess had come good. To the younger man lying on his belly beside him he said: ‘This is fantastic stuff, Gavin, absolutely fantastic. How’re we doing on getting inside, has Nikki texted back yet?’

Gavin was sulking. With a martyred expression, he rolled a little and hoiked the phone out of his pocket. There was a WhatsApp message from his brother, but nothing else. ‘No,’ he said. ‘Nothing.’

The elder man stared at him. ‘Gavin, what’s the matter with you?’

‘You could have told me we were going to be lying in a ditch.’

‘What?’

Gavin’s voice grew petulant. ‘Then I wouldn’t have worn my suit. If you’d said, I could have worn something else. Now it’s completely covered in mud. And you’re not wearing a suit.’

Adrian glanced down at himself. It was true that he’d decided to wear some easily replaceable trousers, with an old jumper over his shirt and tie. ‘Don’t gripe, Gavin,’ he said. ‘Do you think those pros in there are griping? No, they’re probably making contacts and getting leads; they’ve probably already unearthed some great local stories we’ve been overlooking for months.’

Gavin was not persuaded. He muttered, ‘Yeah, maybe, but I bet they don’t have to buy a new suit every day.’

Adrian looked at him with misgiving. Perhaps Gavin was not cut out to be a journalist. The only reason he’d given Gavin a job on the Echo in the first place was that he was the son of his first girlfriend, to whom he still felt warm and obliging. And it wasn’t as if he had many jobs to give out. They’d just been forced to add ‘& Advertiser’ to the masthead: The Newbury and Thatcham Echo & Advertiser; he’d had a hell of a time on InDesign trying to make it all fit.

He tried to be understanding. ‘Gavin, I’m sorry about your suit. I’m sure it’ll come out.’

‘It won’t, look at it. On the Beast they probably have a clothes allowance.’

Adrian drew in his breath, but said, ‘OK, we’ll see what we can do when we get back to town. But for now, let’s remember that this is the biggest story in the history of the Echo. Not just that, it’s the biggest story in the world right now, and it’s on our patch. I think that’s worth a grass-stain or two.’

‘I don’t see what the great story is.

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