BooksBarbecue
Back The Satsuma Complex Save as PDF
Chapters (36)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. PART ONE
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. PART TWO
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. POSTSCRIPT
  35. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  36. More from the Author

Hi Gary,

Brendan is working away from the offices and won’t be able to take on any new casework for the foreseeable future. Please feel free to contact me directly and I will allocate the work to one of our other operatives.

Cheers,

John McCoy

PS Good luck with the lady

I took the email at face value and felt suddenly elated by the increasing possibility that Brendan was still with us. I really wanted to see him again. I really wanted to have another drink with him and congratulate him on his Fuzzbox socks joke. This elation was slightly tempered by thoughts of Wilmott and Cowley and their motivations regarding me. Still, all I could do was keep reminding myself that, come what may, I had done nothing wrong.

I knocked on Grace’s door when I got home but there was no reply apart from Lassoo letting out a strange whine that sounded like ‘Weetabix’.

11

As my worries about Brendan subsided, my thoughts about Satsuma intensified. By Wednesday evening it became inevitable that I would attempt to see her again. I drove over to the Grange estate after work and stopped in the same spot as last time. The bald man’s red BMW 3 series was parked just beyond the stairwell on the opposite side of the road. Boiler Suit Man was working away replacing the bumper on an ancient-looking Volkswagen Golf about fifty yards in front of me. His vast arse was facing directly at me.

It briefly crossed my mind that if his stomach was actually situated in one of his arse cheeks it would cut down on the amount of pipework required to shift his food intake back into the outside world. The thought soon passed as I began to doubt my decision to visit the estate.

I hadn’t really thought it through. The chances of her appearing as I sat there were negligible and I couldn’t really go and knock on her door in case Bald Man was there. From my brief sighting of him he looked a lot older than Satsuma, but I hadn’t dismissed the idea that he might actually be her boyfriend. In some ways it was a relief to see his car outside. It gave me an excuse not to attempt contact. It made me feel less guilty about the fact that I really just wanted to see her face again. It made me feel one step up from being a stalker.