Read Online Lambs to the Slaughter by Sally Spencer - Free Book Online

I’ve got work to do,’ he said.
    But Forsyth showed no signs of leaving.
    â€˜It is at pits like the one in Bellingsworth that we stand the best chance of turning the tide,’ he said.
    â€˜Bellingsworth!’ Baxter repeated.
    â€˜That’s right – the very place to which you have recently dispatched the admirable DCI Paniatowski and her team.’
    â€˜Stop playing games,’ Baxter growled.
    â€˜Bellingsworth, you see, is not so strongly in the grip of the communist conspiracy as some of the other collieries,’ Forsyth said. ‘There are positive forces at work there, and one of them – an old man called Len Hopkins, who was a very positive force indeed – was, much to my annoyance, murdered last night.’
    â€˜So are you saying that he was killed because he opposed the strike?’ Baxter asked.
    â€˜You surely don’t expect me to do Monika’s job, as well as my own, do you, Mr Baxter?’
    â€˜Answer the question.’
    â€˜I don’t think he was taken out by some professional assassin, working on Moscow’s instructions, if that’s what you’re wondering. It is far more likely that he was murdered by a local hothead, inspired by the Kremlin, but acting entirely independently of it.’
    â€˜If you’re asking me to pull my people off the case, and let yours take over, then you’re wasting your time,’ Baxter told him.
    â€˜I’m not asking that at all. I have every confidence that Monika will find the killer, though she may need a little help from me.’
    â€˜If I get even a whiff of you sticking your nose into police business, I’ll have you arrested,’ Baxter said.
    â€˜The point you seem to be failing to grasp is that the miners of Bellingsworth – on both sides of the divide – will reach the same conclusion about Hopkins’ death as I have, and at the meeting tonight—’
    â€˜
What
meeting tonight?’
    â€˜What meeting!’ Forsyth repeated, with just a hint of contempt in his voice. ‘You fondly imagine you have no need of my help – yet you don’t even know about the meeting in the Miners’ Institute to discuss the strike!’
    â€˜I’ve only been on the case for a few hours,’ Baxter said, suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable.
    â€˜And I have been studying Bellingsworth
for weeks
,’ Forsyth countered. ‘In the light of the murder, and based on the intelligence I have received, I expect there to be trouble at the meeting – and if it is allowed to get out of hand, it could seriously impede Monika’s investigation.’
    â€˜In what way?’
    â€˜In all sorts of ways, not the least of which is that the miners would be less willing to talk to the police after an incident of that nature.’
    He was right, Baxter thought. The bastard was spot on.
    â€˜So you’re advising me to send in reinforcements for the meeting, are you?’ he asked.
    Forsyth laughed. ‘Of course not. Sending in hooligans in uniform would only make matters worse. It is for that reason that I have asked the head of Scotland Yard’s Special Branch – which occasionally runs little errands for us – if he would be so kind as to send a couple of his men up to Bellingsworth.’
    â€˜So that’s why you’re really here, is it?’ Baxter asked. ‘You want permission to send your men on to my patch.’
    â€˜They are not
my
men, and I don’t need
your
permission,’ Forsyth said in a chilling voice. ‘You have no power over me, though I – if I seriously put my mind to it – could probably have you out of your job within a week.’
    â€˜Threaten me like that again, and you’ll leave my office head first,’ Baxter said.
    â€˜If you did decide to eject me in that manner, I’d have you out of your job in a
day
,’ Forsyth said, unperturbed. ‘But there’s no