When light came, long after the departure of the criminal, Dan left Pete to look after the fishing gear and strolled over to where the truck had been. Sure enough, an enormous heap of old kitchen equipment, a two-seater settee, hundreds of old tiles, a bicycle-frame and a mixture of other unsightly junk and filth had been deposited in the tall grass next to a pleasant little brook. Dan considered the scene, looked away in sheer disbelief, then back again to confirm that he wasn’t dreaming. He spoke to himself.
‘Right. Who are you?’
The teenager carefully clambered onto the pile and set about looking for evidence of who the culprit might be. Such people, he felt, would be thick enough to leave a clue or two.
Lifting one of the settee cushions, Dan came across a brown envelope addressed to ‘Jackson’s Fitted Kitchens’, Parkview, Benson Lane, Chelmsford, Essex. He stuffed it into his back pocket and continued with the search for clues.
A minute later, another brown envelope, with ‘Jackson’s Fitted Kitchens’ neatly printed in black ink. It joined the first one in Dan’s back pocket.
He re-visited the settee and gingerly slipped his hand into that
