Paintshark by Kingsley Pilgrim Read Free Book Online

breaths, he bent down and picked up the phone up from the floor and pressed the intercom button.
    “Melissa?” Her voice came online as calm as ever. “Yes sir.”
    “Sorry about that.”
    “That’s fine, sir.”
    He looked over to the body of the man crumpled in a heap on the rubber plant. “Could you send out a condolence package to Mrs Davis please? Usual stuff, flowers, sympathy card, that sort of thing?”
    “Of course, sir.”
    “Thank you, oh and Melissa?”
    “Yes sir?”
    “I know I still owe you two hundred notes from that bet….so would you like some tea?”
    “Why thank you sir, I would.”
    “Good, me too, and while you’re out there, could you bring me a bacon and egg sandwich as well… milk and three sugars with the tea.”
    The man looked around at the broken boardroom and the body of Mr Davis. “In fact, Melissa…best make it one sugar.”

C HAPTER T HREE
Teenage Sensation
    Gemma Glaucas was going to be in so much trouble, Elias thought, she had slipped away while he was at work.
    Elias sat in the bubble-filled bath with a glass of wine and wry smile, his daughter had tricked him and run him around her little finger once again, he could only chuckle as he wondered where she got her guile from.
    Maybe it was from hanging around her travelfast Auntie Kay, it certainly wasn’t him. What ‘Big Man’ called him earlier was true, he was a nerd, he had studied long and hard to become the youngest headmaster in the country, but it wasn’t without social sacrifice, when he was at college he never got invited to any of the crazy parties and on the few occasions he was invited he got the impression people were waiting for him to leave so the party could really get started.
    One person did like his quirkiness and his ability to spend over three hundred notes on a comic, yet not change his underwear for a week; his ex-wife, beautiful Scylla, his smile faded when he thought of her and the knock at the front door all but confirmed his smile’s disappearance.
    “JUST A SECOND,” he shouted down and fumbled at the towel rack for a clean one, another ring from the doorbell made Elias groan as he hurriedly made his way downstairs, the caller started to bang on the door.
    “I SAID JUST A SECOND.” The banging continued. Elias reached for the handle. “WHATEVER IT IS I’M SURE IT CAN WAIT.”
    He flung open the door to find Apollo and Mr. Tidy standing there. Elias twitched, unable to summon up any words, before slamming the door in their faces and running upstairs.
    “I bet you he ran upstairs instead of running out the back door,” sighed Apollo. Mr Tidy chuckled. “He’s a headmaster or something? No common sense some people, why do they always do that?”
    Apollo shrugged and took a step back to look up at the top windows of the house, he ran his hand through his hair and waited a few seconds before signalling to his colleague. Mr Tidy charged through the door and the two men walked into the hallway.
    “MR GLAUCAS, YOU’RE NOT MAKING THIS ANY EASIER ON YOURSELF, COME OUT NOW!” Apollo yelled. There was no answer. He smiled coyly and signalled to Mr Tidy to check the kitchen, and as his large companion did so, Apollo shouted again. “I’M NOT GOING TO WARN YOU AGAIN, MR.GLAUCAS.”
    The huge man came back out of the kitchen shaking his head. The two men knew there wasn’t going to be an answer and stooped down at the foot of the stairs and listened for a moment, their eyes looking to the ceiling, pupils flitting left to right, until they heard an expected creak from the floorboards above. Apollo did some more military hand signals to his colleague but they were wasted on him, as he knew the teacher was upstairs and didn’t need confirmation from a guy who looked like his hand was possessed.
    Apollo rubbed his tired eyes. “Are you ready, Mr Tidy?”
    “Yep.”
    “Then let’s go to work.”
    They ran up the stairs, adrenaline coursing through their bodies, running straight to the main