In Plain Sight

Chapter 1

1

Trinity Lloyd wasn’t a fan of the late shift. Petrol stations were empty, soulless places at the best of times but it was even worse when she just wanted to get home to bed.

It wasn’t made any easier by the fact that she had to get up at the crack of dawn the next morning for a nine o’clock lesson at Mildenheath College. Still, there were only four months left until she’d be a fully qualified childcare specialist.

Those thoughts were far from her mind, though, as she shuffled the display of Cadbury’s Chocolate Buttons on the edge of the counter, trying to make them look somehow more appealing. She was constantly amazed at how many people impulse-bought them at the advertised ‘incredible discount’ despite the fact they were still almost twice the price of the convenience store down the road.

The owner claimed this was perfectly reasonable as they were an ‘out of town’ petrol station, even though they were barely a couple of hundred yards outside the edge of Mildenheath — and still claimed Mildenheath as part of their address.

This was typical of Ian Gumbert, though, who the staff jokingly referred to as Call Me Mister, after his keenness that employees should refer to him respectfully as Mr Gumbert rather than simply Ian. His penchant for penny-pinching was notorious amongst the staff, and it was common knowledge that Gumbert didn’t mind his businesses barely breaking even — the land they sat on was going to earn him a very nice retirement indeed when he finally decided to sell up.

For Trinity and the rest of the staff, it was just a job. They were left with almost complete autonomy, apart from the times when Gumbert would appear and ask for completely pointless changes to be made. Once, he insisted that Heat magazine should be on the left of Hello! and not — as it had been —the other way round, as it made the display look more ‘balanced’. They’d smiled and nodded, acquiescing to his request, only to swap them back round again after he’d left.

Still, it was money in the back pocket for relatively easy, uninteresting and eventless work. Gumbert’s sky-high prices meant locals very rarely filled up at his petrol stations, and it was only the occasional fill-up from an out-of-towner visiting Mildenheath and panicking on leaving the town’s boundaries that kept them going.

Trinity had bigger ambitions in life. Her grandmother had died when she was just six years old, and it was only then that she realised Charissa had personally revolutionised childcare in Jamaica with her own small empire of nurseries. Ever since then, Trinity had wanted to follow in her footsteps. Of course, the childcare system in the UK was already well established, but the idea of working with children had stuck with Trinity ever since.

Her mother had wanted her to be a doctor. Either that or a lawyer. ‘There’s no money in childcare,’ she used to say. ‘Tell that to Grandma’s forty-acre estate in Montego Bay,’ Trinity would reply. She knew her mother was secretly pretty proud of her career choice. Deep down.

She might have been a little less happy with her daughter’s present employment, though, if she’d seen the dark BMW estate pull up on the forecourt.

As the car came to a stop near the door, two men got out — one from the passenger seat, one from the back — and walked quickly and calmly into the shop, their faces obscured by balaclavas.

Before Trinity had even had a chance to register what was happening, she was greeted by the sight of a gun being pointed at her face. She didn’t know one gun from another, but this one was longer than a pistol.

‘The money. All of it. Now,’ one of the men said, although she couldn’t be sure which one it was. Everything was a bit of a blur. ‘The bucket, under the counter,’ another voice said.

She did as she was told, and bent down to retrieve the large rectangular bucket from under the counter, trying to remember how many staff members had told Gumbert it was a f*****g stupid idea in the first place. All her brain could do to make light of the situation was to give her the thought that maybe this would convince him to step up his security measures in future. She knew that wouldn’t happen, though.

As soon as she lifted the bucket above the level of the desk, the two men leaned over and snatched it, turning on their heels and leaving the shop almost as quickly as they’d entered it.

By the time they got back outside, the boot had been popped, ready for them to throw the bucket inside, slam the boot, get in the car and make good their escape.

Back inside the forecourt shop, Trinity’s mind finally started to come to terms with what had happened, as she dropped to her knees and began to cry.