Page 71 of Not That Impossible

Apparently, I drew the line at dead folk. I was starting to sweat. My stomach turned at the thought of a human-sized dehydrator doing its thing, slowly sucking…the, uh…the juices…

A glass of water was banged down by my elbow, making me jump. Charlie glared down at me.

“Don’t you dare puke on my floor,” he said, and stalked off.

I sipped the water gratefully, and cleared my throat. “Uh. Where were we?”

“I found the body,” Kevin said.

“Kevin took the lid off the tub andIfound the body,” Craig said. "I was closest.”

“Then what happened?”

“Kevin screamed,” Craig said.

“Craig threw up,” Kevin said.

“I did not!”

“You did.”

“How would you know what I did? You ran so fast you were already out of the house before I got up off the floor.”

Kevin looked proud.

“Ray freaked out, is what happened,” Craig said. “He’s lucky I was there. I helped him down the stairs, had him sit on the doorstep to gather himself, and the police came. That’s about it.”

I flipped back through my notebook and read the sparse notes I’d made after talking to Mrs Hughes.

“Mrs Hughes from the bookshop lives over the road from Ray. She said she saw the pair of you run out the house and drive away. She said you were speeding.”

Craig hesitated. “We were late for another job. And unless she or her little dog clocked it with a speed gun, that’s her opinion and nothing more.”

“She also said that Ray was the one who called the police.”

“I can’t speculate as to whose call went through first, but let me tell you, I was on the phone the minute we were out of Sycamore Close.”

“And what did you do after that?”

Craig hesitated again.

“Pub,” Kevin supplied helpfully.

“Kev needed something to settle his nerves,” Craig said. “He was in a right state. Nothing like Ray, but still.”

I couldn’t imagine what Kevin in a right state looked like. He was the most placid guy I’d ever met. Ray, on the other hand, I could easily imagine freaking out.

“Right, then,” Craig said. “Do you want a picture before we go, or not?”

“Of what?” I put my notebook down.

Craig pointed between him and Kevin. “The discoverers of the body.”

“Yes! Good idea.” I hadn’t thought of that, but it might give me an edge when I pitched it to Ralph. I didn’t think I needed an edge, though. I’d got some exclusive and unsettling information that hadn’t made it into Mrs Strickland’s article. If the police had told Craig to keep the extra details to himself and he’d decided to give it all up for a breakfast banquet, I decided, that was on Craig.

Craig stood, checking his watch. “We’ve got to be off to Lakeside for our eleven o’clock, but I parked out back. Does a shot of us in front of the van work for you?”

Ah. Free advertising for Craig. I didn’t argue. I didn’t exactly have the time to set up any kind of photoshoot. I’d barely have the time to write the article and get it to Ralph before it was last week’s news.

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