The Clockmaker's Secret by Jack Benton

Author:Jack Benton [Benton, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AMMFA Publishing

31

It was just after seven when the door of the middle terrace opened and Michael appeared, still buttoning up a dress shirt under the unzipped jacket he wore. As he reached the gate that opened onto the road, Slim stood up straight from where he had been leaning against the waist-high stone wall that fronted the three council houses.

‘Hey, Michael,’ he said. ‘I was wondering if you could help me. It’s Friday, right? If I wanted to hit a club, would it be better to go to Camelford or Bude?’

Michael stared at him with his brow bunched into a frown. ‘Are you stalking me? How did you know where I live?’

‘Not hard when people are so willing to talk,’ Slim said as Michael came through the gate and walked up to him. It made him feel bad to admit it, but something about Michael got under his skin. Michael had the fading good looks of a former boyband singer two decades past his sell-by date, with the physique of a man who could handle himself in a bar fight. Slim, who had enjoyed his share of punch-ups during his military service, wondered how a ruck between them would end, and chided himself for feeling tempted to find out.

‘What do you want from me?’

‘Tell me about Celia and you.’

Michael gritted his teeth. ‘You’ve got a nerve—’

Slim lifted a hand. ‘Save it. I’m working for someone who wants Amos Birch found. You don’t have to talk to me, but if you have nothing to hide it won’t hurt, will it?’

Michael shook his head. ‘You don’t need to go dredging all this up. You’re going to upset a lot of people talking about the Birches. As far as people around here are concerned, that’s old news.’

‘Why? If you’ve got nothing to hide, why does it matter?’

Michael came a couple of steps closer, but Slim held his ground.

‘I’m warning you,’ Michael said. ‘Get out of my way.’

‘You know what I think?’ Slim said, standing up straighter, letting the remnants of his army stature do the imposing for him. ‘I think you knocked him off. I think he objected to you and Celia. I think you were an angry young man who thought he could do anything and get away with it.’ At Michael’s incredulous look, he added, ‘I’m not saying it was intentional. Perhaps words got a little heated, and you blew your top. You hit him with something heavy. It happens. Believe me, I know.’

‘You don’t know anything,’ Michael snapped.

‘That’s why I’m standing here. Come on, Michael. Where’s the body?’

‘What body? I didn’t kill him!’

‘So why did Celia blame you for his disappearance?’

Michael lifted a closed fist, and for a few seconds Slim thought, Here we go, here’s the fight I’ve been baiting him for, then Michael turned and swung at open air. A couple more air punches and a howl of frustration, and he slumped, leaning on the fence, head bowed.

‘You won’t leave it, will you?’

Slim felt quietly relieved. His face still

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