HALLOWEEN LAUNCH
A Land Rover begins its steep ascent up Cwm
Roblyn.
The driver in Barbour wax hat and red neckerchief is singing along to a
song on Radio Cymru
"Da di'r hen Aled yna.
Ein gwlad ni, Ein iaith ni, Ein diwylliant ni"
In
Fidlas Avenue, Llanishen Cardiff, Ken Frane is scratching his balls in bed.
7.44am and he should really
be up and about, but he is fatigued. It would be his 59th Birthday before long
and the impending reality of this was filling him with dread. He was nearly an
OAP. An Oafish Adult Person. He'd been one of those for a while, but a pension
would make it official.
That afternoon Ken Frane
presents himself at Cardiff Rhoose ‘there's a moose on the loose’ airport. He
boards a twelve-seater passenger aircraft. “Destination Môn.”
Flying over Cymru/Wales,
well this, indeed to goodness look yew, was a new one on Ken Frane. He just
couldn’t stop himself from gawking out of the window. It was a glorious country
from up above. He had an eagle’s eye view. The slow-moving cars on the A470,
the traffic jams and the hold ups. He could see the Transport for Wales train
chuffing its way up North through England. Bit of turbulence over Troed-y-rhiw,
and Ken Frane starts to feel a bit queezy. Not the done thing to ask the Pilot
to arrest the Plane for a toilet stop in Dinas Mawddwy. Up over the Peaks of
Eryri and Frane was so close to the top of the Wyddfa that the tren bach looked
like a toy train and he could touch the snow on the top and turn it into a ball
to roll back down the mountain killing all the tourists in one fell swoop. “There’s
gratitude for you”
" Who the fuck is that Dai?"
" One of the Black Monks of Mona Abbey by the look of
him"
" or somebody gone mad in T K Maxx?"
" Their community is just over the sand dunes
there"
" Shall we call past on the way to the station
Dai?"
" Any particular reason?"
"Well he spooked me a bit there Dai and they always say face
your fears"
" We can drive by there but we would need a warrant to go
in"
" What, don't they welcome visitors at this
community?"
" It's not that kind of community Ken"
“We know that he ended up
having a boxing match in the beer garden of a pub in Penrhyndeudraeth and he
would often take his wife to dine at Portmeirion, he liked the finer things in
life and he reveled in his minor celebrity status”
“Who was the man he was
fighting in the beer garden?” Dai Williams asked
“I’m afraid we haven’t been
able to ascertain that yet Sir”
“It’s pretty important, I
would imagine he would be prime suspect”
“None of the villagers are
willing to talk, closing ranks”
As Dai Williams's finger
hovers by the buzzer, the perimeter fence gate opens and a voice over the intercom,
an otherworldly voice says
“Welcome Gentlemen, we have
been expecting you”
Ken Frane is about to shout "we’ve got your dog" but is shushed by Dai Williams.
“Now don’t fuck about here
Ken, play this straight. I’m in charge, just shut up and take my lead”
“Whoa fucking hang on Tonto,
if it hadn’t been for me, we wouldn’t have come here at all”
“Shut it Frane” something in
Dai Williams voice makes Frane ‘shut it’.
Rather than a monk in habit
opening the main door, stands a man in dinner suit.
“Croeso gyfeillion, diolch
am ddod”
The three detectives are
ushered into the main hall and a huge banquet is underway with the diners being
all men and all the waitresses being somewhat underdressed.
The soup is the first course
and none of the diners acknowledge or appear to recognise the three late
comers.
The man who had opened the
door stands and taps his glass.
It is foggy and there is a
steady drizzle when Garmon, Frane and Williams get out of the squad car. A uniformed
police officer turns off the engine and waits patiently for them.
“So, he was driving up here,
he was heading home, he must have had a reason to stop the Land Rover. He stops
for a piss? There’s a sheep lying in the middle of the road? somebody stops him?
A roadblock perhaps? What did forensics come up with?” Frane is keen to solve
this one and get home.
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