Friday Barnes 2 Read Online Free

beans.’
    â€˜Beans that can be used to make ricin, one of the deadliest substances known to man,’ said Sergeant Crowley.
    â€˜Electricity is deadly,’ said Friday, ‘and you’ve got two power sockets in this room. No-one is arresting you .’
    â€˜Why did you hide them in your hockey stick?’ demanded Sergeant Crowley.
    â€˜I didn’t,’ said Friday. ‘I’ve been set up. And by someone with a perverse sense of humour.’
    â€˜I don’t see what is funny about a terrorist threat,’ said Sergeant Crowley.
    â€˜It’s funny, because not only is this not ricin – it’s not even the castor seed that ricin comes from,’ said Friday, picking up the packet. ‘These are pinto beans. They look a lot like castor seeds, but are entirely harmless. In fact, if you’ve ever had a burrito you’ve probably eaten them because pinto beans are the main ingredient in refried beans, a feature of Mexican cooking.’
    â€˜How do I know you’re not lying?’ asked Sergeant Crowley.
    â€˜You don’t,’ said Friday. ‘You’ll have to check with a botanist or a Mexican chef. Or you could wait until the counterterrorism unit get here and ask them to run it through their forensic process. You should, it will give them a good laugh.’
    Sergeant Crowley drummed his fingers on the desk for a few moments, then got up and walked over to the door. He opened it and leaned out. ‘Harris?’ he barked.
    â€˜Yes, boss,’ replied Harris.
    â€˜Run down to the taco place next to the pub and get the chef back here, pronto,’ ordered Sergeant Crowley. ‘And when I say run, I mean run, now!’
    Six minutes later, Jorge, a short-order chef from Guadalajara had cleared Friday’s name by confirming that the bag did, indeed, contain pinto beans. Sergeant Crowley immediately rang the counterterrorism unit and told them to turn back – it had been a false alarm.
    â€˜You can go now,’ said Sergeant Crowley, sulkily.
    â€˜Do you want to make a complaint about wrongful arrest?’ Uncle Bernie asked Friday. ‘We could pick up the forms while we’re here.’
    â€˜No, of course not,’ said Friday. ‘I’ve had a wonderful morning. I want to thank Sergeant Crowley. It’s been very educational. And it got me out of double woodwork. So it was extra educational in that it didn’t fill my head with redundant twaddle.’
    â€˜I can have an officer drive you back to school,’ offered Sergeant Crowley.
    â€˜No, thank you,’ said Friday.
    â€˜I’ll drive her,’ said Uncle Bernie.
    â€˜No, I mean I don’t want to go,’ said Friday.
    â€˜You’re not going to confess to something else, are you?’ groaned Uncle Bernie.
    â€˜No, I want to help Malcolm,’ said Friday.
    â€˜Who’s Malcolm?’ asked Sergeant Crowley.
    â€˜My friend outside,’ said Friday.
    â€˜What friend?’ asked Sergeant Crowley.
    â€˜The gentleman you’ve got handcuffed to the bench,’ said Friday.
    â€˜You mean the escaped prisoner and thief we’ve got handcuffed to the bench?’ said Sergeant Crowley.
    There was a knock at the door. The lady police constable ducked her head into the room. ‘Boss, I just got a fax through from the prison. Our suspect doesn’t match their physical description.’
    â€˜Are you sure?’ asked Sergeant Crowley.
    â€˜Our suspect is six foot five and has blue eyes,’ said the lady police constable. ‘The guy who climbed over the wall this morning is five foot four and has brown eyes. Also, he’s only twenty, so that’s about twenty years younger than the guy we’ve got.’
    â€˜Okay,’ said Sergeant Crowley. ‘So he’s just a bum who stole a bracelet.’
    â€˜He didn’t steal the bracelet and I can prove it,’ said Friday. ‘If you take me