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chips.
      'I want chips please,' he repeated. He spoke as clearly as he could and thrust his twenty-pound note at her again. The girl scowled as she took it.
      'I give you coins,' she complained, handing over his chips. The girl turned to the till. Jim saw a black ponytail dangling below her cap. The chips warmed his hands as he stared at her hair, swinging. If he lunged forward he'd be able to reach it. The sight of her hair made him forget about her funny voice. He grinned. 'What you laughing at?' the girl asked, spinning round suddenly to face him. He could tell she was cross. Their fingers touched as she held out his change. Her skin felt greasy and he nearly dropped his chips in fright. He turned and ran. 'Hey! You forget change!' the girl shouted half-heartedly.
      He kept running. He ran until his legs ached. When he stopped, winded, he was round the corner from the park. The chips were cold but he ate them greedily, sitting on the doorstep of an empty house. When he'd finished eating he felt thirsty. He needed a drink and somewhere to sleep. He glanced around. No one could see him sitting there, concealed behind an overgrown hedge. Drawing his knees up to his chin he wrapped his arms round his legs and began rocking gently backwards and forwards.
      'Clever boy,' Miss Elsie said and he laughed softly to himself. They'd never find her, hidden under the leaves. And they'd never find him.
     
     
     
     

 
     
    9
     
     
    Honda
     
     
     
     
    DI Carter and his sergeant DS Black pulled into the forecourt of the Honda showroom on the Hinckley Roundabout.
      'Nice,' Black said, looking around.
      'Come on,' Carter answered. 'We're not here to look at cars.'
      'Shame. Not that I'd go for a Honda, but even so. There's something about a brand new car, isn't there? They're so shiny and …' He paused, searching for the right word.
      'Expensive?' Carter suggested. 'Come on, let's get on with it.' They entered a plush powder blue and white show room where an attractive girl behind a white desk smiled up at them brightly. Everything in the showroom was gleaming.
      'Can I help you?' she asked. 'A salesmen will be with you in a moment if you'd like to test drive one of the cars.' They smiled back, taking out their warrant cards. A young man approached them as she examined their credentials, his suit stylishly cut, teamed with an expensive looking red tie. He threw them the same professional smile that the girl had given.
      'Marcus Morrissey,' he introduced himself. 'Sorry to keep you waiting, sir. We're short staffed this morning. Can I help you?'
      'Yes,' Carter replied, turning so the salesman could see his ID card. 'We'd like to ask you a few questions about a colleague of yours, John Drew.'
      'I'm afraid he's not here,' Morrissey said breezily.
      'There was a phone call for him earlier on,' the receptionist added. 'He said he had to go. He wouldn't say why, but he looked pretty shaken.'
      'Is Johnny in some sort of trouble?' Peter Morrissey asked.
      'I'm afraid there's been a death,' Carter told them.
      'Oh dear,' the girl said automatically. Her eyes fell.
      Black stepped up to the desk. 'Were you working here yesterday morning?' he asked. She nodded, suddenly serious. 'And you, sir?' Marcus Morrissey confirmed that he'd been there every morning that week.
      'Who else was here in the showroom on Wednesday morning?'
      'Just us and the boss, Robert Lakeland.' He told them Robert Lakeland was away. He wouldn't be back until after the weekend. The receptionist thought he might be at home on Sunday and gave them her boss's address and telephone number.
      'Should you be giving that out?' Morrissey hissed at her.
      'Shut up, Marcus, it's the police.'
      'Do you know where Mr Lakeland's gone?'
      'Yes. He's gone to a meeting at Head Office in Swindon. He often goes and stays over. He's got a sister or someone he visits out that way,' Morrissey told them.
      'His