Girl Number One: A Gripping Psychological Thriller by Jane Holland

Author:Jane Holland [Holland, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Thimblerig Books
Published: 2015-09-20T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

‘I’m visiting Connor and Tris.’

‘Tris?’ His eyes narrow, looking searchingly from me to the empty farmhouse. ‘Thought that boy was in the nick. On suspicion of murder.’

‘Tris hasn’t done anything wrong,’ I say sharply, and take a step towards him. ‘The police wanted to ask him some more questions, that’s all.’

Dick Laney shrugs, looking unconvinced. ‘Whatever you say. Is Connor in, then?’

‘Nobody’s in.’

‘That’s a pity. I’ve got a delivery for him from the garden centre.’ Dick jerks his head towards the back of the van. ‘But I suppose it won’t matter if he’s out. I’ll leave it outside the garage as usual.’

He turns off the radio and gets out of the van, his frizzy hair wilder than ever. Now the radio is silent, the farmyard feels quieter and lonelier than ever before. Again that sense of unease prickles down my spine, and I begin to wish I had indeed called Connor before setting out. Then I would not be here on my own with Dick Laney.

‘Help me with it, would you?’ he asks in that thick Cornish accent, not looking at me.

It’s only thanks to my dad that I don’t sound the same as him and Jago, I suppose. His family came from the Midlands, so I grew up with a flatter accent than the rest of my friends. ‘Never quite proper Cornish,’ Hannah calls it.

‘It’s not heavy,’ he adds, ‘just awkward to lift on my own. I prefer to get Jago to come with me on a two-man delivery job. But there weren’t no one else to shut up shop for us. So I’m on my lonesome today.’

He throws open the back doors of the van, then looks back round at me with a slow, crooked smile as though well aware I dislike feeling so vulnerable. ‘Well? You going to help me or not? I thought you feminists didn’t mind getting your hands dirty?’

I meet his eyes, then nod. ‘Of course I’ll help.’

With a consciously nonchalant expression, I step round to the back of his van, and hope a spanner to the side of the head isn’t waiting for me.

I immediately see the reason for that knowing smile. Besides his tool box and a pair of soiled gardening gloves, there’s nothing inside but a vast roll of thick wire fencing. I don’t know what I expected. Duct tape, perhaps, or a length of rope. The kind of thing you find in most serial killers’ vans.

Dick nods towards the garage door, locked with its shiny new padlock. ‘We’re heading over there with it. Can you take that end?’

I don’t have much choice. ‘No problem.’

Together we wrestle the unwieldy roll of wire fencing out of the van and carry it across the yard, depositing it on the cracked concrete in front of the garage.

Dick nods, wiping his hands on his jeans. ‘Ah, thanks, that’ll do nicely. I told Connor I’d be delivering it after work today, so I expect he’ll be back soon enough.’

‘But what does Connor want all this fencing for?’ I ask, perplexed.

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.