The Graveyard Shift. Jack Higgins

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СКАЧАТЬ if she had said some magic word, it all dropped neatly into place. Ben Garvald and the Steel Amalgamated hoist. Eight no, nine years ago. His first big case as a Chief Inspector. His mind jumped back to the house in Khyber Street, to Bella Garvald and her young sister.

      ‘You’ve changed,’ he said. ‘As I remember, you were still at the Grammar School waiting to go to college. What was it you wanted to be – a school-teacher?’

      ‘I am,’ she said.

      ‘Here in the city?’

      She nodded. ‘Oakdene Preparatory.’

      ‘Miss Van Heflin’s old school? That was on my first beat when I was a young copper. Is she still active? She must be at least seventy.’

      ‘She retired two years ago,’ Jean Fleming said. ‘It’s mine now.’

      She was unable to keep a slight edge of pride from her voice and her northern accent became more pronounced.

      ‘A long way from Khyber Street,’ Grant said. ‘And how’s Bella?’

      ‘She divorced Ben not long after he went to prison. Married again last year.’

      ‘I remember now. Harry Faulkner. She did all right for herself there.’

      ‘That’s right,’ Jean Fleming said calmly. ‘And I don’t want anything to spoil it for her.’

      ‘Such as?’

      ‘Ben,’ she said. ‘He was released yesterday.’

      ‘You’re sure?’

      ‘With all his remission it would have been last year, but he lost time for breaking from a working party at Dartmoor some years ago.’

      Grant blew smoke up to the ceiling. ‘You think he’ll make trouble?’

      ‘He was difficult about the divorce. That’s why he tried to break out when he did. Told Bella he’d never let her go to anyone else.’

      ‘Did she ever visit him again?’

      Jean Fleming shook her head. ‘There wasn’t any point. I went to see him last year when she and Harry got together. I told Ben that she was remarrying, that there was no point in ever trying to contact her again.’

      ‘What was his reaction?’

      ‘He was furious. Wanted to know who it was, but I refused to tell him. He swore he’d run her down when he got out.’

      ‘Does Faulkner know about all this?’

      She nodded. ‘Yes, but he doesn’t seem particularly bothered. He thinks Ben will never dare show his face here again.’

      ‘He’s probably right.’

      She shook her head. ‘Bella got a letter a few days ago. More a note, really. It just said, See you soon – Ben.’

      ‘Has she shown it to her husband?’

      Jean Fleming shook her head. ‘I know this sounds silly, but it’s his birthday and they’re throwing a party tonight. An all-night affair. Dancing, cabaret, the lot. I’m looking in myself when I leave here. Bella’s put a lot into it. She wouldn’t like Ben to spoil things.’

      ‘I see,’ Grant said. ‘So what do you want us to do? He’s served his time. As long as he keeps his nose clean he’s a free agent.’

      ‘You could have a word with him,’ she said. ‘Tell him to stay away. Surely that isn’t asking too much?’

      Grant swung round in his chair, got to his feet and crossed to the window. He looked down at the lights of the city in the rain below.

      ‘Look at it,’ he said, turning to Jean Fleming. ‘Seventy square miles of streets, half a million people and eight hundred and twenty-one coppers and that includes the ones who sit behind a desk. By any reasonable standard we need another two hundred and fifty right now.’

      ‘Why can’t you get them?’

      ‘You’d be surprised how few men want to spend the rest of their lives working a three-shift system that only gives them one weekend in seven at home with their families. And then the money isn’t exactly marvellous, not when you consider what you have to do to earn it. If you don’t believe me, try standing outside the Exchange around eleven o’clock on a Saturday night when the pubs are turning out. A good copper earns his week’s money in an hour down there.’

      ‘Which is a roundabout way of telling me that you can’t help.’

      ‘I’ve got fifty-two detectives under me. At the present time eighteen have got flu and the rest are working an eighty-hour week. You may have noticed how quiet things are around here. That’s because Detective Constable Brady and I are the only people in the office at the moment. At the best of times we only run a token squad during the ten till six shift. Tonight, you could say things are thinner than usual.’

      ‘But there must be someone available.’

      He laughed harshly and returned to his desk. ‘There usually is.’

      She got to her feet. ‘It’ll be all right, then? You’ll see to it?’

      ‘We’ll check around,’ Grant said. ‘It shouldn’t be too difficult to find him if he’s in town. I can’t promise much, but we’ll do what we can.’

      She fumbled in her bag and took out a card. ‘I’ll be at Bella’s place in St Martin’s Wood for an hour or two. After that, I’ll be at home. I’m living in Miss Van Heflin’s old flat at the school. The number’s there.’

      She turned to the door. As Brady moved to open it for her, Grant said, ‘One thing I don’t understand. Why you? Why not Bella?’

      Jean Fleming turned slowly. ‘You don’t remember her very well, do you? She was never much of a one for positive action about anything. If it was left to her she’d just pretend Ben Garvald didn’t exist and hope for the best. But this time, that’s not good enough, because if anything, I stand to lose even more than she does. A scandal could ruin me, Mr Grant, destroy everything I’ve worked for. We’ve come a long way from Khyber Street, you said that yourself. Too far to be dragged back now.’

      When she turned and went through the main office, she found that she was trembling. She didn’t bother with the lift, but hurried down the three flights of marble stairs to the ground floor and out through the revolving door into the portico at the front of the Town Hall.

      She leaned against one of the great stone pillars that towered into the night above her and a gust of wind kicked rain into her face in an oddly menacing manner, ice-cold, like the fear that rose inside her.

      ‘Damn you, Ben Garvald! Damn you to hell!’ she said fiercely and plunged down the steps.

      ‘Quite a girl,’ Brady said.

      Grant nodded. ‘And then some. She couldn’t be anything else to survive a place like Khyber Street.’

      ‘Do СКАЧАТЬ