Power Games Read Online Free Page A

below, and a rapid exit.’
    â€˜Bloody risky. In an explosion, the roof could go—’ He gestured. ‘Any theories?’
    â€˜Crazy kids playing chicken. But why are the sites so far apart? Highly mobile kids, if they are kids. And there’s no car thefts to tie in with the arson. So how are they getting there? Taking a can of petrol on an all-night bus?’
    â€˜Or older kids with their own car? Are the warehouses all covered by the same insurance company?’
    â€˜Three different ones. Three different firms – no connection that we can see.’
    How could she bring the conversation round to his departure? He was already looking at his watch. He drained his mug in one go.
    â€˜Come on, Kate – time you weren’t here.’
    â€˜But it’s only just after five and I can’t see my desk for—’
    â€˜Come in early tomorrow. Stay late tomorrow. Only now,’ he grinned, ‘vamoose!’
    Â 
    It seemed as though all Birmingham were leaving work early to see what was under a garden shed. Plus every set of lights was at red, every yellow line had a parked car. But she got home at ten to six – nowhere to park nearby, of course, as she could have predicted. When at last she scooted up her entry she found several panels of the fence removed and an ominous blue plastic sheet where her shed had been.
    Alf greeted her with a flap of the hand. ‘Glad you got back, Kate. Only I’ve never seen anything like this before. And I thought you, being in the police, ought to. You might know what to do. Oh, don’t worry about those panels – it was just that it was easier for us to barrow out the last of the trees, see. Come on, aren’t you going to have a look? I mean, there’s nothing to be afraid of, not that you policewomen don’t see nasty sights every day, of course.’
    Despite herself, her hand was shaking as she lifted a corner of the heavy plastic. Fear of creepy-crawlies, she told herself, was a thing of the past, conquered by all that therapy. So it couldn’t be that. Would it be something human so decayed that Alf could no longer identify it? No. There was no smell to alert him or her.
    A burst of evening sun spotlit the ground. Amid the splintered wood – the ex-shed – were some bricks and some greenish discs.
    Dropping to one knee, she touched one of the discs. ‘Coins?’
    â€˜That’s what I thought. I’ve got my heart set on a spot of treasure trove for you. But you have a closer look. They can’t be English ones – all these funny patterns.’
    Kate picked one up from the extreme edge of what she was already calling a site. Scrubbing it clean, she inspected more closely. ‘Well, it’s metal, all right … No, it can’t be gold …? Coin of the realm it isn’t. Wasn’t.’ She scraped a bit more soil free. ‘But there is a crown! Look!’
    â€˜What about these, then?’ Alf held out a smaller disc, quite plain.
    Kate took it, turning it carefully. ‘Hey, that’s a shank.’
    â€˜And if you fit this to that – if you pressed this spare metal round here—’
    â€˜You have a button,’ Kate concluded. ‘Well, I’m blessed.’
    â€˜Some bone ones – here.’ Alf dug in his overall pocket and held out three or four.
    â€˜You’re right. Now, why should anyone want to leave all those buttons under my shed?’
    Alf shrugged. ‘Ask me another. You could do with getting that
Time Team
in.’
    â€˜Be nice to be on telly, wouldn’t it? But they’d take months to get here, even if we could interest them in the first place.’
    â€˜Do you want me just to dig everything up so I can get on with the rest of the job? I’ve got the hard-core coming at the end of the week. For your path. And don’t forget that friend of your mate’s wants to be planting as soon as possible