Birds Of A Feather Episode 41
Jess’s hands shook as she raised the binoculars to her eyes again.
Maybe she’d been mistaken. From a distance the man didn’t look anything like Harry, whose tailored suits and crisp white shirts made him look more like a bank manager than a private detective.
This man was wearing jeans and a leather jacket.
But it was no mistake. His clothes might be different, but it was definitely Harry who was being greeted like an old friend by Kevin Brigstocke.
She took out her phone and called Rob, but he didn’t answer.
Brigstocke and Harry were now heading towards the large triple garage on the side of the house. What were they up to?
A footpath next to her cottage went past Billington Grange. She often took Alfie that way if she wanted to access the moor beyond.
The path went down through trees and came out at the back of the house, and a hedge screened the footpath so there was little danger of her being seen.
Nevertheless she’d take Alfie, just in case. She could then say, truthfully, that she was walking the dog.
Alfie was curled up in his bed, but jumped up the second he heard the rattle of his lead.
She hurried down the path, not allowing the dog any time to sniff until they reached Billington Grange’s boundary hedge.
She pushed herself as far into the thick foliage as she dared and saw that she was not far from where a small silver car was parked.
She was about to push further in to get a closer look at the car when she heard a door open, quickly followed by the crunch of footsteps on gravel and the sound of two men talking.
She recognised Kevin Brigstocke’s unmistakeable brash tones and, to her dismay, the other one was indeed Harry Manvers.
Her heart skipped a beat as it sounded as if the men were coming towards her.
Alfie gave a soft growl and she put a warning hand on his head to keep him quiet.
How could she have been so wrong about Harry?
Ben had said Harry was a good policeman in his time. But times change and, judging from his down-at-heel office in Bristol, his business wasn’t doing too well.
Was that why he’d become involved with a man like Kevin Brigstocke?
“It’s been good doing business with you,” she heard Brigstocke say. “I’ll see you here tomorrow at eight p.m. sharp.
“Any later and the deal’s off. I’ll find myself another buyer.”
“I’ll be here,” Harry said.
“Don’t mess me around.” Brigstocke’s voice was loaded with menace. “The last person who tried that didn’t live to tell the tale.”
Harry’s dry laugh had no humour in it.
“Drive carefully,” Brigstocke went on. “These country lanes can be lethal. A young woman got herself killed not far from here. A journalist with her whole life ahead of her. Tragic.
“She got too close, you see.”
There was a pause and Jess held her breath.
“Too close to you?” Harry replied.
Brigstocke laughed.
“Too close to the edge of the road. Went down a steep bank to the river below. Shame, really.”
Jess heard footsteps on the gravel, followed by a car door opening and closing, then the car driving away.
She heard, too, footsteps that she assumed were Brigstocke’s go back towards the house.
She gave a gentle tug on Alfie’s lead and moved away, her heart thudding.
She’d heard Brigstocke all but admit he’d been involved in the accident that had cost Rob’s girlfriend her life. Had he forced her off the road?
She hurried back to the cottage and tried to get hold of Rob again. He still wasn’t answering.
This time she left a message, asking him to get in touch urgently.
“It’s about Alice,” she said.