The Bottom Line: A Murder Ledger Mystery (Book 5) (The Murder Ledger Mysteries) by P L Handley

Author:P L Handley [Handley, P L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Elwood Publishing
Published: 2024-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

The package sitting outside Alun’s front door filled him with a buzz that would rival any thrill-seeking activity or recreational drug. Who needed a death-defying jump when you had a highly-anticipated delivery on your doorstep? Normally, his courier’s insistence on leaving parcels unattended outside his house would have filled him with utter frustration, but on this occasion, the delivery person was forgiven. For Alun knew that the contents of this unmarked package contained the key elements of his new project.

Peg greeted him as she always did (with an excited bark and a wagging tail) and followed him upstairs into the spare room. Sitting in the corner was a box he had retrieved the night before from the confines of his attic. A cloud of dust sprang into the air, as he ripped it open and sniffed in that damp and musty smell. Inside was an object that he had not seen in many years, and it had aged far better than he had. The model steam train his grandfather had bought him could finally make its maiden journey, he thought, after years of neglect and a lack of additional parts.

A train needed a railway, and although an eight-year-old Alun Hughes may not have been fortunate enough to build upon this first step into a smaller world, the adult Alun Hughes was about to more than make up for it. He was well aware that many people, including his journalist-friend, would have a term to describe his new obsession. But the accountant was adamant that the only crisis he had experienced that week was choosing between a miniature barn or a stable.

The spare room had been intended for visitors only, but seeing as he had never had any guests over in the first place, it was time to make good use of this wasted space. The Border Collie witnessed her master laying his train track with a nose rested against her paws (almost as though she was concerned about the man’s mental well-being).

Alun continued to build for many hours, until a loud ringtone on the other side of the room broke off his concentration. He paused for a moment to admire his rather basic feat of engineering before reaching across the room to grab his phone.

“Hello?” he asked, having maintained the tradition of not just checking the name of the caller on his small screen.

“What are you doing right this second?” asked the familiar voice.

Alun looked over at the train track snaking across the carpet. “Uh, nothing much. Why?”

“How do you fancy a little car ride?” Rhiannon’s voice asked.

An hour later, Alun was sitting in the back seat of his friend’s vehicle and bound for the little village of Llanlyn. The front seat was already taken by the young photojournalist, who was making use of his lift home and listening to the strange song coming from his driver’s car radio.

“Now here’s a riddle for you,” said Rhiannon, tapping her fingers to the sound of “The Riddle” by Nik Kershaw. “You know this one?” George shook his head.

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