The Inspector Walter Darriteau Murder Mysteries - Books 1-4 by David Carter (best finance books of all time .txt) 📕

Strangely, Karen wanted to hear more, but instead she stood up and said, ‘I can’t do this.’

‘What are you doing?’ said an embarrassed Greg, grabbing the hem of her skirt, and trying to tug her back into her seat.

‘This isn’t right,’ she said, and she yanked herself free and excused herself and tried to move along the row.

‘Karen!’ said Greg.

‘Excuse me... excuse me,’ pleaded Karen, as people stood and made room for her to pass, though they weren’t keen to do so, for they might miss something, and most of them were not in any hurry either, as they were trying to hear what their great favourite, Donny, had to say, and they didn’t want to miss a single word, for he was on the cusp of introducing Kit himself, and this particularly annoying young woman was interrupting their view, and anyway, wasn’t it the same person who someone had said was not even a level fiver, so how the hell had she got in there anyhow? Probably nothing more than an ignorant gatecrasher, and finally she was out of the way, and out of the row, and heading for the exit where a minion queried what she was doing.

She flashed her police ID and pushed past him, just as Donny had introduced Kit to the crowd to unbelievable applause that thundered down from the stalls, going on and on, raising in intensity, if anything, as Kit and Donald embraced, and Donny had the good grace to retreat, for he had never been a scene stealer or a glory hunter, people had often remarked on that, ever eager to stay in the background, happy in the shadows, out of the limelight, the main beam of which was now thrust fully on the main man, Kit Napoleon, basking in the spotlight and glory that he had always known was rightly his.

The deafening applause continued unabated.

Karen dashed down the stairs. She ran round toward where she imagined the rear of the theatre to be. The corridor was crammed with people. Where had they all come from? What were they all doing there?

She glimpsed, at the far end of the corridor, Donald Rushnell’s back, being widely slapped, as the bright green emergency exit doors at the far end were pushed open. September sunshine flooded in, he was pushed out through the doors by two be-suited guys. The doors closed and the sun vanished.

‘Stop! Stop!’ yelled Karen.

People looked at her, pityingly.

‘Police!’ she screamed. ‘That man is a wanted man! Let me through!’

The confused mass of people stared at the deranged woman who was screaming some nonsense about the police, but they let her through for she seemed capable of anything, and then she was at the doors, pushing them open with a thud, and from there she could see the car park, and Donald getting into a silver Range Rover, into the back seat, and though she screamed again, yelling ‘Stop Police!’ no one heard, or if they did, no one cared or paid any attention, and she saw the Range Rover head for the exit, and in the next second it went round that sharp bend and out of sight, as it wended its way down the hill and away.

She glanced round and saw the Audi on the far side, in the corner, in the last space, and she dashed across towards the car. There in a couple of seconds flat. Ready to give chase.

‘Fuck!’ she said, ‘Fuck it!’ standing there, breathing hard, staring around, alone in the sunshine, beside the gleaming car.

She’d given Greg the keys.

Fifty-Nine

Brinton opened the door to the assembly plant and pushed Lily and Shu inside. Stepped through, locked up behind him, removed the rope from the girls’ wrists and threw it in the box. ‘You follow me!’ he growled, and he set off across the plant, Lily and Jun tagging along behind. He raced up the metal stairs, paused for a second, nodded the new units up, and they ran up and joined him on the mezzanine floor.

Monica was there, working on her computer, inputting data, Debs was missing, possibly off shift, possibly troubleshooting somewhere downstairs on the shop floor.

Brinton said, ‘Two new units for ya. Crack the whip and get them trained and working!’

Monica stood up and came over and gave the newcomers the once over. They looked dirty and tired, though she’d seen plenty worse, but they couldn’t rest yet. Their training would begin immediately. Monica spoke to them in Chinese and they both answered, seemingly long diatribes, thought Brinton.

‘What are their names?’ asked Brinton.

More Chinese speak and nods, even a smile from the titch.

‘The taller one’s name is Lily Sang; the little one is called Shu Lang. Neither of them have any experience in electronics assembly.’

‘All the more reason to get them started straight away.’

‘They start training immediately, no question,’ said Monica. ‘I like them too. I think they do okay.’

‘Well they can’t keep those names. Bloody hopeless! Call them Suzy, and ... er, oh I don’t know, Foo Foo, yeah, call the taller one fucking Foo Foo!’

Monica pulled a face, didn’t seem impressed, but she knew better than to argue with Brinton, and she didn’t want to feel his hand on her face again. She would enter the names on their computer personnel records as Suzy and Foo Foo. It was more than her life was worth not to.

‘The figures better?’ asked Monica, knowing full well they were.

‘Don’t get fucking cocky, just because you’ve met a deadline for once.’

‘I not. I just interested.’

‘Yeah right, and keep a close eye on fucking Foo Foo, because I am telling you now, she’s big trouble, I can sense it in my water.’

‘She be no trouble wi’ me, she be fine.’

‘We’ll see about that. Gotta go, loads to do, get ’em working, they have big money to repay.’

‘I start them right now.’

Brinton nodded and checked out the new units one last time, especially the taller one who always looked him