Finders Keepers Edie Baylis (phonics readers .TXT) 📖

right about him being after the diamonds. He’d clearly known nothing about them. Regret pooled, only to be replaced with a spark of hope. She may have lost Robert, but she could still have a piece of Michael through this boy here and his father.

Should she tell him? What did she have to lose? ‘Out of interest, does your father use the name Pointer or has he changed his too?’ Dulcie forced herself to ask, her voice dry. She hated to think that the legacy of Michael’s name was forever obliterated from the record books.

Heath feigned surprise. Gotcha! ‘How did you know his surname? I don’t think I mentio...’

‘Because I’m Faye...’ Dulcie smiled, reaching out to stroke Heath’s face. ‘And Robert is your uncle...’

‘YOU’RE TAKING THE PISS, COCK-SUCKER!’ Saul raged, pulling Joe up by the scruff of his checked shirt. ‘Get us another chair Keith – that’s if you can cope with that one small task without melting down?’

Mechanically, Keith lumbered into the dining room and pulled another chair into the hall, placing it next to Gwen. He couldn’t look at her. He didn’t want to see the expression on her face again. What he really wanted to do was knock Saul Powell clean out and stop this madness, but he couldn’t. Saul still wielded a strange invisible control, like he always had. It was like being hypnotised and turned into a programmable robot.

As expected, Keith stepped back, not even bothering to look at Lena. He stood by, awaiting his next instruction, like he would until the end - until he silently allowed Saul to take his life, which would be soon.

Saul dragged Joe, his arms and legs flailing wildly, over to the chair. ‘There’s no point trying to pretend you know where my diamonds are, you pointless streak of piss,’ Contempt dripped from his voice. ‘Keith might be stupid enough to fall for your bullshit, but I am not.’

He secured Joe’s wrists to the back of the chair with cable ties, closing them so tightly the skin bunched up and split. ‘How much were you planning on demanding for your bullshit information?’

‘N-Nothing! I didn’t ask for anything, apart from the girl and it’s not bullshit.’ He had to get this lunatic to see sense. ‘I know where your stuff is. I know who’s got th...’

‘Oh, shut up! Saul backhanded Joe, reopening his already split lip. ‘I’m bored, do you hear me? Fucking bored!’

Spitting blood, Joe pulled against the immovable restraints, the thin plastic cutting deeper into his wrists. ‘You have to listen!

‘I have to do fuck all!’ Saul roared. ‘You’ve wasted enough of my time and he’s allowed it!’ He glared at Keith. ‘And it’s the last time!’ He bent down, pulled his trouser leg up and removed a large knife secured to a strap on his ankle. ‘Now, if none of you mind, I’ll get on with editing my masterpiece.’

Joe’s eyes widened as he stared at the glinting blade in this madman’s hand. Was he going to cut him? If he’d just listen, then he’d know where his precious diamonds were. Opening his mouth to speak again, Joe found his voice box rendered useless. Any chance of uttering the words that could grant his freedom disappeared as Saul’s nicotine-stained fingers were shoved into his mouth.

‘Urrgh!’ Joe gagged from the thick fingers pressing down on his tongue along with the overpowering smell of stale fags.

Saul glanced at Gwen, becoming more animated at the raw terror on her face. ‘Back to my version of the three monkeys. Firstly, we have a slight differentiation from the classic line-up.’ He nodded towards Lena’s limp body. ‘On the end we have Ms Think-No-Evil.’ He laughed shrilly, his eyes manic as he turned to Keith. ‘Do you get that one? ‘Think-No-Evil’? Yep, she can’t think fuck all. Not much of a change, but I like it. Like it a lot.’

Keith stared at Saul, finding it impossible to move his face into any form of expression. There was nothing to say. Nothing at all. Lena was dead – yeah, he got it. Very clever...

Saul gestured to Gwen, his fingers still embedded firmly in Joe’s mouth. ‘Next we have our lovely trusted colleague and long-standing family ‘friend’, Gwen Vella. Gwen will be Ms See-No-Evil.’

He laughed loudly once again, heartily enjoying the panic behind Gwen’s eyes - the eyes that would shortly see nothing. ‘Gwen has seen and more importantly done a lot of things... You’ll go last though, Gwen. Purely because I want you to see everything else I do first.’ He looked thoughtful. ‘Although, if I was delivering like for like, I’d make you wait another twenty years. Imagine twenty years of being lied to...? Alas, I haven’t got that sort of time to waste.’

He bowed theatrically. ‘Moving swiftly on to our new friend here.’ Saul pulled Joe’s tongue forward, making Joe squawk in pain. ‘Our stoner friend here likes talking shit. Unfortunately for him, he’s wasted too much of my time because some people are stupid enough to believe his crap. Predictably, there can only be one choice for this muppet.’

‘NNNGH!’ Joe screeched as the knife lowered, his body stiffening as it pushed inside his mouth.

Pulling Joe’s tongue forward further, smiling as the man’s eyes bulged almost out of their sockets, Saul grinned with deep satisfaction. ‘Introducing Mr Speak-No-Evil.’ The knife sliced through Joe’s tongue, only requiring a small amount of sawing at the end to detach the last bit. This knife was good. He was most impressed.

With thick blood mixed with saliva flowing over his hands, right up to halfway up his forearm, Saul proudly held up the detached tongue. ‘Ta-da!’

Joe sat bewildered as thick blood dripped onto his jeans, presumably from his chin. Whatever had been done hadn’t hurt. His mind was unable to rationalise what had happened. He tried to ask, but nothing came out apart from an intelligible sound.

As the truth sank into his addled brain, the pain started. Heaving with agony and shock, Joe vomited a mixture