Time for Murder by Sydney J. Bounds

Author:Sydney J. Bounds
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: macabre, crime, horror, mystery, detective
ISBN: 9781434447487
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
Published: 2013-01-08T00:00:00+00:00

THE CRIME AT BLACK DYKE

Whistling the latest hit by her favourite female singer, Jo Royal swung her Alfa Romeo around the bend in the road and jammed on the brakes. The narrow country road was blocked by a crowd of women carrying banners and chanting slogans.

She stopped and stared at a demonstration in the heart of rural Shropshire.

A banner read: CHARLIE IS NOT MY DARLING!

The chanting proclaimed: “Stop your pollution, Pearson!”

An angry woman who looked as if she had been crying glared into the car and demanded: “Do you work for Pearson’s Pesticides?”

“Not likely,” Jo said. “I work for me. Right now I’m heading for—” She glanced down at the map spread across her knees. “—Black Dyke. I’m on holiday and touring, and looking for a hotel to stay the night.”

The woman thrust a leaflet through the open window. “Then you ought to know about this.”

Jo read the flimsy sheet:

POLLUTION AT BLACK DYKE!

Charles Pearson’s chemical factory is dumping poisonous waste in our town canal. Several children are in the cottage hospital, one seriously ill....

“Maybe I did,” Jo said, and reached for the Pentax camera on the seat beside her. “I’m a freelance journalist when I’m working.”

“That’s great—maybe you can get us some publicity. I’m Ann Shephard. I’ll guide you into Black Dyke.”

She handed her bundle of leaflets to one of the other women, opened the car door, and got in.

“Clear the road, Maureen. I’m taking a journalist to the hospital.”

After the women moved aside, Jo drove forward, past the wrought-iron gates of a large country house.

“That’s where Pearson lives when he’s home,” Ann said. “Charles Pearson—you must have heard of him.”

“Vaguely,” Jo said. “Refresh my memory.”

“He reckons he’s the Lord of the Manor in this part of the country. His great-grandfather started a small chemical factory. When Charlie took control, he went to the City and came back with money to expand and develop. His factory has done well, selling fertilizers and pesticides all round the world, and he’s after a knighthood. He’s rich enough to buy people off.”

“No one buys me off,” Jo said. “Feed me some facts.”

The car passed over a hump-backed bridge crossing a narrow canal. The water was scummy, and an unpleasant smell arose from it. Adults patrolled the towpath, chasing children away.

“When I was a kid, we always played along the canal bank,” Ann said. “Now, it’s too dangerous,”

The road entered a street lined by terraced houses and shops. Black Dyke was a market town, dominated by the tanks and pipes of an immense chemical plant. Jo noted the Talbot, a four-star hotel.

The cottage hospital was at the far end of the town, a small modern building. Jo parked in the drive and Ann Shepherd got out, moving at a brisk trot. Jo followed.

A woman was talking to a man in a white coat at reception.

“How is she, Sarah?” Ann asked.

“As well as can be expected,” the doctor said quickly.

“What does that mean?”

“She’s still seriously ill. I can’t allow visitors.”

Ann turned to Jo. “This doctor’s been bought.

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