Ottercombe Bay – Part Two: Gin and Trouble. Bella Osborne

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СКАЧАТЬ head again. ‘Do you even like teaspoons?’

      ‘Not especially,’ said Daisy, as the serviette she was using to mop up the coffee began disintegrating.

      ‘Ahh, but you don’t dislike them.’

      ‘No.’ This was possibly the oddest conversation she’d ever had.

      ‘There you go then.’ Tamsyn seemed pleased. ‘I think I might have something.’

      ‘It’s a bit of a cliché but seriously Tamsyn I don’t think you should give up the day job.’

      ‘O-kay.’ Tamsyn’s tone was sulky.

      ‘You need to plan what job you really want to do. What are all the things you love? Think of those and they may uncover a wonderful opportunity.’

      ‘I love buttons,’ said Tamsyn and Daisy bobbed her head enthusiastically whilst she tried desperately to think of an associated job.

      In that moment Daisy realised she also wanted something more – to do something she loved and not just for the money. She was here until the end of June and she couldn’t spend her time doing nothing because then it would seem like a life sentence. In the back of her mind something Max had said started to germinate. Perhaps it was worth having a chat to the planning office about the railway building; it couldn’t do any harm.

      Jason was sitting in the pub engrossed in a newspaper headline about a drugs raid in Exeter, not taking his eyes off the page as he sipped his half of shandy.

      ‘All right?’ Max pulled out the stool opposite noting Jason’s intense expression. This was the stuff of his dreams – a big police case.

      Max was wearing his lifeguard’s uniform and his orange shorts strained when his muscled thighs flexed as he sat down. He put his pint down and looked across the table. It made Max smile that as well as the drugs raid, Nesbit the eagle’s safe return home had also made the local front page.

      ‘Have the shed arsons made it to the nationals yet?’ he joked.

      ‘Don’t ridicule it, it’s a serious crime, Max. Mr Patel’s shed was torched on Monday and his tortoise was burned alive.’ Jason’s face was sombre unlike Max who was already cracking up.

      ‘Toasted tortoise. It might become a delicacy,’ said Max, bringing his laughter under control.

      ‘He was very upset,’ said Jason, folding up his paper precisely and laying it on the table.

      Max snatched up the paper and turned to the sports pages. ‘I hear you’ve got another big case to crack.’

      ‘Yes, a second burglary took place this morning.’ His eyes widened as he spoke.

      ‘Proper crime wave,’ said Max, with a smirk.

      ‘It could be the start of something. Perhaps organised crime.’ There was no mistaking the excitement in Jason’s voice.

      ‘Steady on,’ said Max, before taking a long slow drink. ‘Not likely in Ottercombe Bay though is it?’

      Jason raised a finger. ‘Now, you say that but a place where you wouldn’t expect to find an underworld cell has to be the perfect place to hide one.’

      Max couldn’t disagree with the logic, however unlikely it was in reality. It was hard to keep a straight face. He started to hum a melody.

      Jason gave him a longsuffering look. ‘And you can stop with the Midsomer Murders theme tune as well.’

      Max and Jason had always been mates – an odd combination of the once local troublemaker and the ultimate goody two shoes. They had diverse upbringings and therefore differing outlooks on life but their differences were what made them a good team. Max encouraged Jason to be brave, to step outside the rules occasionally and Jason tempered Max’s wayward streak.

      Jason and Max were both from local families who could trace back their ancestry to multiple generations of Devon residents – but there the similarity ended. Jason had doting parents; a mother who worked part time and a father who was a coach driver and shared Jason’s love of trains. They were still very much in love after umpteen years of marriage and were immensely proud of their son, the policeman.

      Max on the other hand had mainly been brought up by his mother who to all intents and purposes had been a single parent through his formative years because her husband had been in and out of prison as his petty crimes got bolder. She had finally moved to Scotland with a new boyfriend when Max was eighteen leaving him with his dad. His father had tried to stay on the right side of the law but it simply wasn’t profitable enough to support them both. Max turned a blind eye to his father’s antics until he tried to persuade him to join him on a criminal venture – that was the last time Max had spoken to his father.

      Jason adjusted his jacket and leant forward a fraction. ‘Your dad must be due for release soon. Isn’t he?’ he asked, looking slightly embarrassed.

      Max’s expression changed. ‘Not for another couple of months. Let’s not go pinning anything on him just yet.’

       Chapter Two

      Jason was turning out to be a useful person to know. As the local bobby, everyone knew him and therefore he had a wide network he could tap into, particularly as he had a colleague with an uncle working in the local planning department. After a warm-up phone call from Jason he was happy to meet Daisy for a chat. She had made an effort, steered clear of both espresso and Bug’s furry patch on the sofa, and she felt ready for her meeting.

      An older-looking gent with thinning hair and thick glasses collected her from the waiting area at the council offices and they did introductions.

      ‘Thanks for meeting me,’ said Daisy, starting to feel a little less prepared as she followed him into an office and saw a mountain of paper on his desk.

      ‘No problem but you will need to submit a formal application through the proper process. Anything discussed here today does not in any way constitute agreement of any changes to the property or land we are discussing. I hope you appreciate this?’

      Daisy swallowed hard. With formal wording like that he would get on well with Great Uncle Reg’s solicitor. She hadn’t even suggested anything yet and she was being told off. ‘Yes, of course. I’m just looking for guidance. Some ballpark areas that may be worth exploring.’

      ‘This is the last application we received for the property,’ said the planning officer, passing Daisy a pile of papers. She had a quick flick through and spotted some blueprints – it looked like her grandfather had taken the whole thing seriously and spent some money in the process.

      ‘And I think the solicitor said this was turned down, as were the other ones before it. I’m guessing the same would happen again if I were to suggest building a new property in what was the car park.’

      ‘I think that is a fair assumption. There are properties nearby that would be affected and the apartment building previously proposed would have looked out of place in the surrounding area and had a visually overbearing impact.’

      ‘How СКАЧАТЬ