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

Lou no longer came here now Dor was back. She’d been here so often in the past her absence was bound to be noted.

On the landing, she breathed deep again and knocked on the bedroom door.

“I said I was having a nap,” Dor shouted.

“It’s me.” Lou turned the handle and poked her head inside.

Dor scrabbled to sit up, flapping her hand for Lou to come in. She did and, door closed, sat on the bed.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Dor kept her voice low.

“Didn’t you read the flyer the two bitches sent?”

Dor smiled. “Which two bitches? There are loads on this estate.”

“Karen and Sharon.”

Dor shook her head. “No. What are they sending flyers for?”

“Apparently, it’s a new thing they’re doing when anything criminal happens. Karen moaned about the printing costs, so hopefully we won’t get another one for a while.”

“Crime?” Dor paled and darted a glance at the door. “Whisper in case Mam comes nosing.”

“It had Stalker in it.”

“What?” Dor shrieked then slapped a hand over her mouth.

“You said to whisper, you silly cow.”

“I know, but… What were they saying about him?”

“That he’s missing and his brother came to find him, and if anyone knows owt, they should go to the police.” Lou thought of what state the body would be in by now at the bottom of the well. “The smell’s gone and—”

“So you did smell it.”

Lou shrugged. “Only a bit.”

“You made me think I’d imagined it.”

Lou huffed. “I had to calm you down somehow, didn’t I?” She sighed. “What if this doesn’t go away? What if all the residents start poking about? The neighbours either side of me… What if they smelt him, too, and realise it was strange, then call the pigs? What if they come round and ask to look in the well? The water board’s already been out for blocked drains, but they didn’t find anything, obviously.”

“You told me not to worry about that when I brought it up, so take your own advice. Have the police spoken to you yet?”

“Yes, at Betty’s. We gave the same story, and they seemed okay with that. Bob Holworth, it was, and you know he fancies me, so it won’t go anywhere, I bet.”

“It had better not.” Dor bit her lip. “I have nightmares every so often. Do you?”

Lou nodded.

Dor swiped a hand down her face. “Will it ever go away, what we did?”

“We need to hope so, because I can’t keep living like this.”

Dor hung her head. “Me neither.”

* * * *

PC Bob Holworth didn’t know what to do next. Those two pains up his arse, Karen Scholes and Sharon Barnett, had offered to help him with that man going missing, but nothing had come of their good turn. He’d been surprised they’d mentioned doing a flyer, considering they didn’t like ‘pigs’ as he’d heard them refer to the police one night in The Donny. Were they up to something? Did he need to be on his guard?

The thing was, Bob had been warned by The Pains to mind his own business when it came to scraps on the estate—or anything else for that matter. Then there was that bloke, an up-and-coming gangster type, Lenny Grafton, having a word in Bob’s shell-like that things were going to change one day, and unless Bob toed the line, there’d be trouble.

What that change was and when it would happen hadn’t been revealed, and Bob didn’t really want to know. The problem was, the Barrington was his beat route, as well as the town centre, and he couldn’t very well look the other way too often else his sergeant would wonder why the estate had suddenly calmed down.

But on saying that… Bob could make out he had it so under control that no one dared break the law anymore. Then, went this Lenny fella did whatever it was he had planned, the sergeant wouldn’t have to know anything about it.

Nodding, Bob left Vera’s B&B, content he’d looked down all avenues and couldn’t proceed further. Steve Zander was just one of many missing people in the country, and his family would have to accept he’d taken himself off to start again elsewhere.

Chuffed he’d put that episode to bed—well, almost, he had paperwork to fill out yet—he checked his watch and, seeing as it was five minutes after his shift ended, he got in the patrol car and drove back to the station.

Case closed.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Cassie woke after sleeping for twelve hours straight. Groggy, she got out of bed and went into the bathroom to shower and whatnot. Once dressed, she met Mam in the kitchen and sat at the island. Mam took a plate of full English out of the microwave and placed it in front of Cassie.

“I heard you get up so warmed it for you.” Mam smiled and picked up a cup of coffee, passing that along, too. “A late night for you then.”

Cassie nodded and cut some bacon. “I killed Jason. Took him to Marlene. Ted and Felix dealt with him after that. Jimmy was with me.”

“How did he cope?” Mam propped a hip against the island.

“Pretty well, considering. Until he puked when the mince came out of the machine.” Cassie ate the bacon, unperturbed that she chewed cooked meat while discussing raw.

Mam chuckled. “Poor sod. He’ll get used to it. I take it you will be using him in future.”

Cassie nodded. “That reminds me, I have to nip twenty K round to him in a bit. I’ll get it from of the safe on my way out.”

“Ah, the sum for murder. I thought you said you’d killed Jason.”

“I did, but I wanted Jimmy to see what he could earn just by being involved. Once he’s done whatever he needs to