The Piggy Farmer (The Barrington Patch Book 3), Emmy Ellis [electric book reader txt] 📗

can to Gina, too. That mother of his has the potential to cause a ruckus during the time he’s ‘missing’. I’ve no doubt she’ll come whinging to me, asking if I know where he is, but she’ll get short shrift until I’m ready to tell her he’s dead. I know full well she won’t take to you suddenly wanting to be pals, so I don’t expect that of you—she’s a closed door when it comes to friendships, isn’t she. Always has thought herself better than everyone else, yet she lives on the shittiest street of the Barrington. Weird, that.”

“I heard she likes her house and doesn’t want to leave it.” Brenda knew that feeling well. The location might be ropey, but the interior was what became home. “Jason told me that once—why he thought I’d want to know is anyone’s guess. He wanted to rent somewhere else once he started working for Lenny and got better wages, but Gina wouldn’t hear of it.”

“Well, that’s her lookout. You can’t expect people to believe you’re royalty yet live in the slums, can you. Anyroad, she’ll know exactly what her precious son has been up to—and if she gives me any bother, I’ll let her know where her husband ended up an’ all.”

Bloody hell… “Lenny…”

Cassie nodded. “Between you and me, Dad got rid of him for Jason’s sake, said he was better off without that sort of man in his life. Do you know what really boils my piss? The fact Dad watched out for Jason, tried to make up for him not having a father anymore. Showing him what a proper dad was like. And look what Jason did. Threw it back in his face by wanting to run the patch. All his talk of us two dating—he was stringing me along, I see that now. He wanted to be with me, and all so he could be close by to drug me and Mam so we’d be off our tits enough that he could take over, making it look like we were incompetent.”

“How wrong he was.” Brenda drank some coffee, thinking about her new tasks. Dealing with Sharon was a breeze, but earwigging with Gina? Not a chance. The woman had her nose so far in the air it touched God’s arsehole.

“Yep, and now he’s paying the price for it.” Cassie smiled. “He’s currently attached to the floor by an eight-inch nail through his shin.”

“Fuck me.” Nauseated, Brenda imagined the pain, the blood. She was well aware of how wicked Cassie could be, she’d witnessed it first-hand with Vance, but Jesus Christ, a nail? Eight inches? She rubbed her goosebumped arms.

“He deserves it.” Cassie swigged her coffee then stood. “Right, I’ve got a full day ahead of me and no chance of it letting up, so I’ll leave you be.”

She walked out, leaving Brenda staring at the chair she’d occupied. Jason held in place like that filled her mind, and she had to shut it down, get rid of the visual. She couldn’t afford to linger on what he was going through. Like she’d always said, she was loyal to whoever ran the patch, and at the moment it was Cassie. No way was Brenda going to allow herself to feel sorry for the little scrag. But a part of her did regardless, despite his brash behaviour, his ego, his know-it-all attitude. He’d been a kid once, innocent, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Lenny’s influence had turned him towards the Devil even more than Jason’s father’s treatment of him.

Blimey. Emotions were a weird bunch, weren’t they.

Chapter Six

The Barrington Life – Your Weekly

KAREN SCHOLES STEPS DOWN

Doreen Prince – All Things Crime in our Time

Sharon Barnett – Chief Editor

EMERGENCY EDITION. FEBRUARY 2021

Karen Scholes has decided to step down as our reporter. I, Doreen Prince, will be taking over. Karen has moved on from the Barrington, going farther up north to live a quieter life now she’s getting on a bit. Her children may soon follow their mother if they query Karen’s decision.

You understand what I’m saying, don’t you?

Thought so.

In other news, Zhang Wei has decided to move away, too, so he can be with his son, Jiang, in China. Once again, please don’t bombard the family with questions. Hua and Yenay have no intention of going back, so be respectful of their feelings and mind your own business. There’s no information about what will happen to The Golden Dragon on the Moor estate, but that’s not our concern anyroad because we use the Jade Garden, don’t we.

Have a nice day.

Chapter Seven

These days, DCI Robin Gorley (he’d never think of himself without that title, he’d worked so hard to get it), came to his allotment every day, in all weathers, the only exception if there was a family gathering, a wedding or the like, and then he nipped there at the end of the party, loving the late-evening silence after the noise and sheer exhaustion he experienced with so many people around him, so many voices, so much of that awful thumping and screeching they called music.

Give him classical any day. A bit of Wagner smoothed his ruffled feathers.

Peace. He just wanted a bit of peace. Was it too much to ask after a long career fighting crime? Didn’t he deserve a calmer existence, where getting up at Oh-God o’clock didn’t feature, his alarm blessedly silent, him only rolling out of bed when he wanted to?

He’d admit he missed it, the hustle and bustle, the rush he’d always got when on the search for a criminal. Everything seemed so…empty now. He was a pointless human being, with nowt better to do than sit in his shed and think.

It didn’t matter that snow now painted the ground, or that it was cold enough to freeze a witch’s tit, as his mother would have said. He dropped