The Bingo Hall Detectives by Jonathan Whitelaw

Author:Jonathan Whitelaw [Whitelaw, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2022-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

GOODBYE TEENS

The road leading up to the main site office was slick. Jason had to battle to keep the car on a straight path. The storms of the last few days had made the dirt track little more than sloshy, bubbling mud. Eventually he managed to wrestle and slide his way to the main courtyard outside Mike Taylor’s farmhouse. He was glad when he switched off the engine and climbed out.

A loud squelch immediately drew a curse from him. He looked down and saw his right foot was ankle deep in a filthy puddle. He could feel the dirty water being soaked up by his sock already. He cursed again, convinced nobody would notice on a building site. He was wrong.

“You should watch where you’re going.”

He looked up. Mike Taylor was standing by the door of his house, mug of something steaming in his hand. He blew on it, smiling.

“Morning,” said Jason weakly.

He stepped out of the puddle and tried not to wince as he hobbled away from the car. He looked around the site. There was no sign of Rory Francis’ flash motor. It was all very industrial. Diggers lifted their huge mechanical arms, scraping dirt from one pile to another. A huge truck loaded high with pipes loomed like a colourful giant lying down for a minute to catch its breath. Beyond the site office, houses were starting to sprout up all over the fields that surrounded the farmhouse. Even in the week or so since Jason had last been here the place was unrecognisable. Bare roofs stood like wooden pyramids in a state of undress. Walls were being stuffed with insulation, teams of hard-hat-wearing workers scurrying in and out of empty doorways like ants in a nest. Progress, Jason thought. Of a kind. He wondered how long it would be until there was no countryside left.

“You lost?” Mike Taylor shouted at him.

“What?” he asked, turning around to face the farmer.

“Are you lost, I said.”

“No, not lost, just looking.”

“Don’t know what you’re looking at, son. There’s nothing here but houses, houses and more houses. Unless that’s your thing.”

“Different strokes for different folks,” Jason said with a laugh.

“You what?”

“Never mind,” he thumbed at the site office. “You don’t know if Mr Francis is about, do you? Only I was supposed to drop off my car to get repaired.”

“Francis? Here? You must be joking, lad,” Taylor sipped from his mug. “You won’t see that smarmy bugger around these parts until all the houses are finished and they get Princess Anne to come and cut the ribbon.”

Jason furrowed his brow. He didn’t understand. Francis had messaged him telling him to be there for nine sharp. Everything was going to get sorted, he had nothing to worry about. Francis’ words, not his.

“But he was here the other day,” said Jason. “He’s the boss. Isn’t he, you know, meant to be on hand in case something goes wrong?”

“Something did go wrong, didn’t it,” Taylor laughed, pointing at the car. “You and that woman friend of yours should look where you’re going.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.