The Mamur Zapt and the Men Behind. Michael Pearce

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      HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

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      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published 1991

      Copyright © Michael Pearce 1991

      Michael Pearce asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

      HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

      Source ISBN: 9780008259440

      Ebook Edition © JULY 2017 ISBN: 9780007483037

      Version: 2017-09-12

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

       Copyright

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

       Chapter 5

       Chapter 6

       Chapter 7

       Chapter 8

       Chapter 9

       Chapter 10

       Chapter 11

       Chapter 12

       Chapter 13

       Footnote

       Keep Reading

       About the Author

       Also by Michael Pearce

       About the Publisher

CHAPTER 1

      Riding home from work on the back of his donkey one lunch-time, Fairclough of the Customs Department was shot at by two men. The shots were fired from a distance and missed, and the only damage from the incident resulted when the frightened donkey careered into a fruit-stall nearby and deposited both fruit and Fairclough on top of the stall-holder, who, since it was lunch-time, was sleeping peacefully under the stall.

      Fairclough held court afterwards in the bar of the Sporting Club, which was where Owen caught up with him.

      ‘It was ghastly,’ he declared, drinking deeply from his tumbler. ‘There were squashed tomatoes everywhere. Mind you, they saved my life. It looked like blood, you see. All over him, all over me. They must have thought they’d got me.’

      ‘What I can’t understand,’ said someone else at the bar, ‘is why anyone would want to get you anyway. I mean, let’s face it, Fairclough, you’re not exactly important, and although everyone else in the Department regards you as a bit of a pig, I wouldn’t have said that feeling ran high enough for them to want to kill you.’

      ‘Perhaps there’s a woman in the case,’ suggested someone.

      Fairclough, who was a lifelong bachelor, snorted and peered into his tumbler.

      ‘Unlikely,’ said someone else. ‘The only female he lets get anywhere near him is that damned donkey of his.’

      ‘Perhaps it’s an animal lover. After all, it is a very small donkey and a very large Fairclough. Perhaps after years of witnessing this unequal combat somebody has decided to take sides.’

      ‘Miss Crispley, perhaps?’ suggested someone.

      There was a general laugh. Then someone noticed Owen.

      ‘Hello,’ he said. ‘On the job already? I see you’re starting in a sensible place. The bar. We’ve got a suspect for you. Miss Crispley, of the Mission.’

      ‘Thank you,’ said Owen. ‘Or shall I begin with the donkey?’

      Beyond what he had told everyone in the bar, Fairclough had little information to give. He always rode home for lunch on his little donkey and he always went that way. Both he and his donkey were creatures of habit. Yes, that would have made it easy for anyone who wanted СКАЧАТЬ