Read Online Blackwater (DI Nick Lowry) by Henry James - Free Book Online Page B

the end of the last decade. They’d argued: he’d wanted to stay in but she’d insisted on going to a party. He gave in, to keep her happy, and had hated every minute: the crowded room, the squealing doctors and nurses, the sheer noise . They had left at one, not speaking. No wonder she had arranged to go out with her pals tonight. Jacqui claimed she’d told him already that she had made plans, but he couldn’t for the life of him remember. That wouldn’t be unusual, by any means. As for all the shit Sparks had lectured him on, about a mid-life crisis – God! Advice from a man embarking on his third marriage to a woman half his age – if that wasn’t a mid-life crisis he didn’t know what was. Not trading in boxing gloves for binoculars, in his book . . .
    ‘Blimey, now there’s a look of consternation!’ The jovial Sergeant Barnes had appeared in the office doorway and recoiled in mock horror. Lowry noticed that his hand was still on the receiver; he pulled it away and refocused on Barnes and Kenton, who hadn’t stirred from his report.
    ‘Ready when you are,’ said Barnes.
    ‘For what?’ asked Lowry.
    ‘The chief wants to run through the press briefing.’
    Damn, he’d forgotten to check in with Special Branch. ‘Give me five minutes with this fella.’ He nodded towards Kenton.
    ‘Right you are, inspector,’ Barnes said, then jogged Kenton’s shoulder. ‘Thawed out yet, sonny?’
    Kenton spun round. ‘It may have helped if you’d let me do something instead of leaving me to stand there like a pillock.’
    ‘Didn’t want your nice clothes getting muddy, did we?’ Barnes chuckled, shaking the detective’s shoulder playfully before taking his leave.
    Kenton rolled his eyes. ‘As if.’
    ‘Quite,’ Lowry said, flicking through his Rolodex for the Special Branch number. ‘It’s not as though that sports jacket’s long for this world.’
    ‘That’s not what I . . . What do you mean?’
    ‘Graeme Garden would be at home in that, what with the elbow patches.’
    Kenton frowned.
    ‘Lighten up. He likes you! Be thankful for it.’ He dialled the number and held his hand up to silence the objecting Kenton as it rang. Lowry knew his young detective had had a difficult early morning, but he needed him not to take it too seriously. It was important to get on with the likes of Barnes, who’d been in uniform for over twenty years.
    The number continued to ring. Eventually, it went through to the Scotland Yard switchboard. He was put on hold.
    ‘All right, instead of scowling at me,’ Lowry said finally, ‘get on down to Mersea and tie up the post-office job from last week. Nail the witness statements. I’m going to be tied up here for the next couple of hours.’ Lowry thought Kenton would like that, to be trusted to go out on his own. But if he found the likes of Barnes condescending, he was in for a shock down on the island; they kept to themselves and had no time for outsiders. Still, he had to learn. The only way to know a place was to know its people.
    4.05 p.m., Great Tey
    Had there been an edge to his voice? Jacqui stared at the phone as if the plastic itself were harbouring a grudge. The doorbell – it had been ringing but she’d not heard it. Matthew, she thought. Her parents had brought back her son. Of course, she was still half asleep. Sex on shift work was clearly taking its toll. She shrugged off the covers and slipped on her dressing gown. The heating was off, and the cold January afternoon had infiltrated the house.
    She went downstairs and opened the front door to see her ten-year-old son, grudgingly wearing a Christmas scarf, looking tired and sulky. Behind him were her parents, who, as usual, looked like they were dressed from another time, her mother in a fur hat and her father in a homburg.
    ‘Happy New Year!’ She forced a smile. ‘Mum, you’ve not let him stay up too late, have you? He looks exhausted!’ She kissed her mother on the cheek as the three of them