[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-115728-en":3,"doc-seo-115728-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":84},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":27,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},115728,5909887256941,"Levi","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc",1,"Story & Novel","SPEND GAME - Chapter 1 - NO MATTER WHAT","Spend Game opens amid a violent thunderstorm where Leckie, a man from the auction world, lies dead in a roadside ditch after his car is deliberately smashed. Lovejoy and Sue scramble to check what happened, arguing over practical steps while lightning reveals the scene’s details. As they realize the men who caused or staged the accident may return, they weigh immediate safety, evidence, and what to do next. The narrative begins the first chapter’s escalating trouble.","SPEND GAME  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nTO  \nTo Wu Ch’ang, ancient Chinese god of wealth and good luck who hands out gold mountains to the humble and pious of heart, this book is humbly and piously dedicated.  \nLovejoy  \nFOR  \nA story for John and Julie, Susan, Julia and the Port Sunlight Players, Pat and Roy, Elizabeth.  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nConstable & Robinson Ltd  \n55-56 Russell Square  \nLondon WC1B 4HP  \n[www.constablerobinson.com](www.constablerobinson.com)  \nFirst published in Great Britain in 1980  \nThis paperback edition published by Constable Crime, an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2013  \nCopyright © Jonathan Gash, 2013  \nThe right of Jonathan Gash to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988  \nAll rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being  \nimposed on the subsequent purchaser.  \nA copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library  \nISBN 978-1-47210-287-4  \neISBN: 978-1-47210-288-1  \nPrinted and bound in the EU  \n1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2  \nCover illustration: Peter Mac; [Cover design: www.simonlevyassociates.co.uk](Cover design: www.simonlevyassociates.co.uk)  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nChapter 1  \nNO MATTER WHAT people say, you can’t help getting into trouble. And the antiques game is nothing but trouble – beautiful, lovely trouble all the bloody time.  \nThis story starts where a pretty but terrified woman was holding my hand in a thunderstorm. We were looking down at the dead man in the ditch, and I was frightened too. In fact, I bet I was more scared than she was, because I knew roughly why he’d been killed. She didn’t.  \nThe rain was hurtling down in great falling clouds. We were soaked and it was pitch-black. Occasional sheets of lightning washed the silent night sky into sudden silver, letting us see his face and our own aghast paleness. It was my friend from the auction, all right. We call him Leckie. The rumble of thunder from the east seemed to shut the light away and Sue and I hung on to each other ’s hands for dear life. We slithered down the embankment from the road, calling out to see if he gave any sort of answer, though I think we both realized he was killed the moment he was flung clear of his tumbling car.  \n‘A torch, Lovejoy,’ Sue said frantically. ‘We need a torch.’ I was impressed. Women are so much more practical. Often useless, but permanently practical. She kept on about a torch, getting me mad.  \n‘I’ve not got one.’ I was literally shaking.  \nShe sounded snappy.‘Everybody with any sense keeps a torch in their car.’  \n‘I’ve not got one,’ I said back doggedly.  \n‘You should always keep –’‘Shut up.’ I needed to think.  \n‘Headlights!’ Sue exclaimed, tugging at me.‘Lovejoy, your headlights! You can turn your car this way with the lights on –’  \n‘– Then we can see what we already know,’ I finished for her.‘That he’s already dead.’ She was getting me madder, as well as more frightened. What if the big car came back? It had been deliberate, blundering into a lunatic swerve and chucking Leckie’s little car into the air like that.  \n‘Have you a lighter?’‘You know I don’t smoke.’  \n‘Then feel his pulse.’ This sort of thing turns my stomach over, but Sue might be right. You never know till you make sure.  \nWe’d seen his flying body leave the car and hit the roadside tree, to flip brokenly aside towards the ditch. All these unlit country by-roads in East Anglia have ditches lined by hedgerows, though they were no shelter. Sue’s blonde hair was straggling across her face from the rain. We couldn’t get any wetter. The sheet lightning showed us how poor Leck","cbCaiibDvaL8Kwy6","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiibDvaL8Kwy6","pdf",1319065,7,194,"English","en",105,"# Chapter 1\n## The storm and the body in the ditch\n## Immediate checks and mounting fear\n## The question of what to do next","[{\"question\":\"What concern makes them worry about the men involved in the accident?\",\"answer\":\"They suspect two men who witnessed the crash may return to “find” the accident and report it, suggesting intent beyond a simple accident.\"}]","SPEND GAME - Chapter 1 - NO MATTER WHAT | PDF",1785476211,299,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":79,"head_meta":81,"extra_data":83,"updated_unix":28},"spend-game-chapter-1-no-matter-what","",{"@graph":36,"@context":78},[37,54,69],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/spend-game-chapter-1-no-matter-what/115728/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-22","2026-07-31",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"What concern makes them worry about the men involved in the accident?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"They suspect two men who witnessed the crash may return to “find” the accident and report it, suggesting intent beyond a simple accident.","Answer","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":80,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":82,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":85},[86,89,93,97,102,107,111,116,121,124,128],{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":87,"slug":88},90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":90,"show_sort_weight":91,"slug":92},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":98,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":103,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":104,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":106},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":112,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":113,"show_sort_weight":114,"slug":115},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":118,"show_sort_weight":119,"slug":120},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":122,"show_sort_weight":119,"slug":123},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":126,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":127},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":129,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":130,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":131},19,"General","general"]