Running Stupid: (Mystery Series) Read Online Free PDF

The smile was still on his face, and bubbles of delight rose inside him. “So why did the firm send you again?” he wanted to know. “How many hours a day have they got you working?”
     
    “Not many,” Charles said placidly. “I’m doing some overtime, covering for a friend.”
     
    Jester nodded. “Well, Charlie,” he stated. “I’m shattered. I’m going to catch forty winks. Wake me up if anything exciting happens, will you?” he said unenthusiastically.
     
    Charles Edinburgh nodded with a smile. He watched Jester shut his eyes and seemingly drift off to sleep instantaneously.

 
5
     
    Jester woke with a start.
     
    He had dreamed of falling, waking before he hit the ground. He always woke just before he hit the ground. Reality had a tendency to destroy his dreams, whether he liked it or not. His eyes fell upon the sights outside of the window. The vehicle was cruising along at a handsome speed, the landscape now a cosmic blur.
     
    He shifted uneasily. He had managed to slide down the plush leather during his sleep, and his lower back rested painfully on the edge of the seat. He corrected his posture with a grimace and continued to stare.
     
    They were on a dual-carriage way. Out of his window, the fields, farms, and houses forged the colourful blur. Out of the opposing window, cars raced the opposite way, making their speed seem dizzyingly fast.
     
    “Charlie,” he croaked, his voice dry.
     
    “Yes?” the driver answered, alert and professional.
     
    “How long was I out?”
     
    “Twenty minutes.” He paused, his eyes flickering to a digital clock past the steering wheel. “Exactly,” he added.
     
    “I need a drink,” Jester said. “D’you want to do me a favour, Charlie?”
     
    “Anything you wish, sir.”
     
    “Take me to a pub. Just for twenty minutes or so. Call it a celebration. You can be the first person to share a drink with me after my record breaking win. How about that?”
     
    The driver smiled. “I’m only supposed to take you home.”
     
    Matthew grinned and slapped the seat with his palm. “Ah,” he spat merrily. “There’s a ‘ but ’ there, isn’t there? I can see that cheeky fucking smile of yours.”
     
    “ But ,” the driver said with a nod of his head, “you’re the last pick-up for the night. So, yes, let’s go celebrate,” he agreed. “Not for long, though, and I can only toast to your victory with lemonade.”
     
    “Fair enough,” Matthew agreed, his voice smooth again. “Fair enough,” he repeated. He lifted himself from the seat and squinted out of the front window. “Take a left at the next exit. I think,” he added unsurely, “there’s a nice little pub around here somewhere. The King and Spade, know about it?”
     
    “Yes, sir,” Charles said in recognition. “It’s the exit after next.”
     
    Matthew nodded loosely, his mind elsewhere. “How would you spend a hundred million quid, Charlie?” he asked.
     
    The question took the driver by surprise. “Well,” he said after much deliberation, “that’s a tough question.”
     
    “Don’t be uncomfortable about answering it, just do it. You make up questions like that all the time when you’re a kid. There are plenty of what-ifs in the world; even the people who have it all are plagued with them. The only difference here is that this what-if happens to be sitting in the back of your car and smiling at you.”
     
    Charles Edinburgh smiled. “Fair enough,” he said. “If I had one hundred million. Well, first I’d make sure my family was sorted out.”
     
    “None of that shit,” Matthew interjected. “In this what-if, you have no family. I have no family, so neither do you.” Matthew explained. “Sorry to break it to you like that,” he added with a smile. “No family; no fucking houses and cars for them, and certainly no trust funds. It’s just you.”
     
    “Well…I guess I would buy myself a new house first,” the driver said. “I’ve always wanted