Read Cherringham--Snowblind for Free Online Page B

homes. I’ll stay out here. My job.”
    “Alan,” Sarah said, “what will happen?”
    “You mean?”
    “About Broadmead. The home.”
    He shook his head. “Stories like this are all over the papers these days. Funds cut back. Places run on a shoestring. Things happen. And with them as short-staffed last night as you said, due to the storm …”
    “Maybe nothing then?” Jack said.
    The two of them walked into the holes made by their previous steps.
    “I don’t know, Jack. There’ll be an investigation of some sort. Could be a fine maybe. But, in the grand scheme of things … You know?”
    They stopped at the edge of the road, the police car parked behind the Land Rover, lights flashing, nearly dark out now.
    “I will let the right people know. The police may get involved. May not. I’ll talk to the staff there in the morning. Get their statements.”
    “Quite the crew,” Jack said.
    “I can imagine.”
    “What about the people there now? Maybe even relatives of people we know in the village. They going to be okay?”
    “You guys got the generator going. There’s heat, food. Not much more I can do, at least tonight. ‘Cept, deal with the man back there.”
    “Archy,” Jack said.
    “Hmm?”
    “His name’s Archy. Who knows what his life was like. And it ends like this.”
    Sarah realised that Jack had been thinking about the old man’s sad death too. She looked at Alan’s face to see if Jack’s words stung.
    “Right, I know Jack. We’ll all do our best. Going to be a busy night out here.”
    Which is when Jack took a step closer to Alan. And Sarah thought, this must be how he talked to his rookies on the NYPD.
    He put an arm on Alan’s shoulder. “I know you will but … we had a question. Would you mind, when the storm ends, if we do a little talking? To the people in the home. To those who work there.”
    Alan took a second, thinking about it.
    Then: “Don’t see why not. You brought one of their people back, helped them get power. Some friendly follow-up … makes sense to me. After all, this isn’t a police matter.”
    Jack nodded. Then: “Not yet.”
    And with that Sarah looked up — the damn snow kept on falling.
    “We’d better go, get the Land Rover back.”
    “Right,” Alan said.
    And she and Jack walked on to the road, already with an inch-thick covering.
    It was going to be a long night indeed.
    The Ploughman was — amazingly enough — still full. But not with old folk any more. Sarah recognised a few faces: some of the pub’s stalwarts had made it through the snow. One day of cabin fever seemed to be the most the regulars could take.
    Though Sarah guessed that Billy would soon show them away and close the place.
    He had asked how things went, and she and Jack shared with him about finding Archy — and at the same time, asked him to keep it quiet.
    If she and Jack were going to start asking questions about Broadmead, it was better if people didn’t know what had happened last night.
    “Love to stay for a drink,” she sad to Jack, “but I’d better be heading back—”
    “Walk you home.”
    “No, it’s out of your way. It will be okay. You’ve got the big trudge, back to the Goose.”
    “Looking forward to getting there.”
    They reached the door, the flakes flying around in the bright pools made by the pub’s outdoor lighting.
    “I’m going to try and get into the office first thing in the morning. Got a ton of work to do. But I’ll do some digging as well. On the home, see if I can find out who owns the place. Whether it’s had any investigations for bad care.”
    “Great. I’m guessing that this isn’t the first time.”
    “And maybe who works there. Think they’re supposed to go through a security check — I’ll dig around.”
    “Then we head back there, yes?”
    “Even if we have to walk it, Jack.”
    Jack opened the door. “Good for you.” She saw Jack look up to the illuminated flakes spinning down. “Cherringham in winter. More like