Read Online Judgement Call by Nick Oldham - Free Book Online Page B

game by brown-nosing, being buoyant and positive about the dregs that FB might toss to him like a dog waiting for table scraps.
    Such as this latest offering … which was why he was rushing from the police station to his rented house to grab a change of clothes and reflect on WPC Wade’s suggestive remark about spending the night together.
    The words had taken Henry aback. He had looked stupidly at her.
    â€˜What do you mean?’
    She grinned teasingly, then raised her finely plucked eyebrows and said, ‘On business.’
    She waved the sheet of paper at him. Henry saw it was actually a message sheet ripped from the teleprinter. He made a grab for it, but she snatched it playfully away. ‘Say please.’
    â€˜Please.’ He held out his hand. He didn’t feel like playing games. His day, so far, had not gone well and he was feeling extremely grumpy.
    She obviously considered toying with him but responded to the look in his eyes and gave him the message.
    He took it and read. It was from the Kent police in Dover who had apprehended a young man about to board the Calais ferry, a lad who had been circulated as wanted for burglary in Rawtenstall.
    â€˜Jack Bowman,’ Henry muttered. He knew of Bowman, one of the valley’s most prolific burglars, who had been on the run for about a month.
    â€˜Mr Fanshaw-Bayley wants me and you to go down and pick him up. He’s in custody, Dover nick,’ Jo said energetically. ‘Isn’t it exciting?’
    â€˜Does he now?’ Henry muttered, realizing that this prisoner escort trip must be the ‘jolly’ FB had referred to. Henry tried to stop his mouth from curling crookedly into a pissed-off snarl. He pretended to read the message again, but in reality he was trying to work out the logistics. The best part of a three hundred mile run down, three hundred back, probably six hours each way at best; it was mid-afternoon now so the journey would necessitate an overnight stay, probably in some shoddy bed-and-breakfast hellhole. On top of that he had a date tonight with his young lady friend, Kate. It was a newish relationship verging on serious and he didn’t want to miss that. The prospect of a tedious journey from one end of the country to the other did not appeal in the slightest, even with Jo, who was evidently up for it.
    â€˜We could get down there, go out on the town,’ she enthused. ‘Pint or two, curry.’
    â€˜Have you ever been to Dover?’ Henry asked grimly. ‘It’s not exactly Singapore.’
    â€˜No … anyway,’ she burbled on, ‘we need a change of clothes, and there’s a car for us at group garage in Accrington. I’ve sorted it. And I’ve got some money from petty cash.’
    â€˜You’ve thought this through.’
    Her eyes focused on his. ‘Oh yeah,’ she said huskily. Henry was convinced her pupils dilated with a rush of blood and despite himself, and the thought of the planned evening with his girlfriend, he too felt an inner rush that left his mouth dry. ‘It’s all arranged. I’ve even sorted the accommodation … separate rooms, obviously.’
    â€˜I need to speak to the DI.’
    He stood up quickly and shot down the corridor to FB’s office, the door which, as always, was closed. FB was not one of those bosses with an open-door policy. Henry rapped on it, then waited for the requisite countdown before FB called him in.
    â€˜You again?’
    Henry flapped the teleprinter message. Not in FB’s face, as he would have liked, but just in the air. ‘Is this the job, boss?’
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜A prisoner escort?’
    â€˜It’s a jolly, isn’t it? And in some pretty company, too.’
    â€˜Not exactly my idea of a
job
, though,’ Henry whined.
    â€˜It’s a job that needs doing.’
    â€˜Can’t disagree with that, but not by me. I finish my shift in half an hour and