Read Online STRANGE BODIES (a gripping crime thriller) by Antonia Marlowe - Free Book Online
Authors: Antonia Marlowe
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your office in London I recognised her immediately. She knew me too … how extraordinary that was.’ He broke off there for a few seconds, lost in thought. ‘You know, I never forgot her, all those years. Sometimes I suspect she’s the reason I never married … she was my ideal perhaps, but I never had the nerve to look her up again.’
‘So what about now?’
The big man sighed. ‘No, it’s too late now. But I like talking with her occasionally.’
Adams said no more about it and brought the conversation around to a discussion of where they were going next with the two cases before going back to the office. There was more than enough there to keep them busy all afternoon.
Chapter 12
Next morning Nick Adams arrived early, anticipating being away most of the day. He spent a half hour or so going over the reports from the previous day, then called DS York.
‘Has anything new come in on the Richardson murders, York? Other than crank calls? I’ve been going over the case files again and I’ve come up with something. Get hold of Fraser and come up to my office, would you.’
‘Yes, sir, he’s here with me and so are DI Gold and Mr Jacobsen. We’ll be up in a few minutes.’
Ryan York said, ‘Looks like the boss has found something new in this case.’
Jacobsen said, ‘Blowed if I know what it can be.’
‘That’s why they pay him the big bucks.’
‘Are you special unit people on the same pay scale as us plebs?’
‘Yes, standard pay scale, my friend. But a lot more than I was getting back in London. And the bonuses are … blue skies, warmth, plenty of food.’
‘Food? What do you mean?’ Jacobsen sounded surprised.
‘All food in the UK is strictly rationed. Very severe penalties for black marketing in anything … food, fuel, clothes. By severe I mean severe … life on a prison farm on one of the northern islands, or the death penalty in some cases. When given a choice most prefer the death penalty.’
‘Christ, I had no idea things were that bad. We’ve never had rationing here.’
‘Well, it’s not only in the UK, Europe and the USA are the same. Asia is worse.’ As York spoke he led the others to the stairway between floors.
‘It’s the combination of climate change, sporadic food riots and terrorism, the asteroid strike in the Middle East in 2036 … it’s still difficult to get anything to grow in sufficient quantities. We don’t know what’s going on in Africa. With all the years of drought, famines were the norm there for years but now the rest of the world can’t help—no one has surpluses. I don’t know much about the food situation in the USA but I know that most states have the death penalty for black marketeers.’
He paused on the stairs and glanced back.
‘Don’t you get any of this information here?’ asked York.
‘Well, yes, some, but I don’t think we realised how bad it was in England. Over the years we took in thousands of eco-refugees, you know, from all those islands that simply disappeared under the rising seas.’ Jacobson shook his head. ‘We had to stop—we couldn’t support more with the infrastructure we had then. Australia was once called the lucky country and I think it still is.’
Jacobsen fell silent as they made their way up two flights of stairs which Goldy referred to as his daily exercise. The DI had always taken it for granted there’d be food on the table, in the shops, in any restaurant. He wondered if he should drop a hint to DI Gold about his weight … or maybe he’d already had a visit from one of the Health Monitors.
They filed into the Commander’s office and grabbed seats.
‘Sir,’ said Jacobsen, ‘My team has been over everything a half a dozen times, and re-interviewed the poor chap who found them. In fact I sent Detective Vaughan back to have another chat with him. Do you want to talk to her?’
Adams said, ‘Yes, I’ll speak to her before we head up to Penrith and the bodies’ site. I want to see
‘So what about now?’
The big man sighed. ‘No, it’s too late now. But I like talking with her occasionally.’
Adams said no more about it and brought the conversation around to a discussion of where they were going next with the two cases before going back to the office. There was more than enough there to keep them busy all afternoon.
Chapter 12
Next morning Nick Adams arrived early, anticipating being away most of the day. He spent a half hour or so going over the reports from the previous day, then called DS York.
‘Has anything new come in on the Richardson murders, York? Other than crank calls? I’ve been going over the case files again and I’ve come up with something. Get hold of Fraser and come up to my office, would you.’
‘Yes, sir, he’s here with me and so are DI Gold and Mr Jacobsen. We’ll be up in a few minutes.’
Ryan York said, ‘Looks like the boss has found something new in this case.’
Jacobsen said, ‘Blowed if I know what it can be.’
‘That’s why they pay him the big bucks.’
‘Are you special unit people on the same pay scale as us plebs?’
‘Yes, standard pay scale, my friend. But a lot more than I was getting back in London. And the bonuses are … blue skies, warmth, plenty of food.’
‘Food? What do you mean?’ Jacobsen sounded surprised.
‘All food in the UK is strictly rationed. Very severe penalties for black marketing in anything … food, fuel, clothes. By severe I mean severe … life on a prison farm on one of the northern islands, or the death penalty in some cases. When given a choice most prefer the death penalty.’
‘Christ, I had no idea things were that bad. We’ve never had rationing here.’
‘Well, it’s not only in the UK, Europe and the USA are the same. Asia is worse.’ As York spoke he led the others to the stairway between floors.
‘It’s the combination of climate change, sporadic food riots and terrorism, the asteroid strike in the Middle East in 2036 … it’s still difficult to get anything to grow in sufficient quantities. We don’t know what’s going on in Africa. With all the years of drought, famines were the norm there for years but now the rest of the world can’t help—no one has surpluses. I don’t know much about the food situation in the USA but I know that most states have the death penalty for black marketeers.’
He paused on the stairs and glanced back.
‘Don’t you get any of this information here?’ asked York.
‘Well, yes, some, but I don’t think we realised how bad it was in England. Over the years we took in thousands of eco-refugees, you know, from all those islands that simply disappeared under the rising seas.’ Jacobson shook his head. ‘We had to stop—we couldn’t support more with the infrastructure we had then. Australia was once called the lucky country and I think it still is.’
Jacobsen fell silent as they made their way up two flights of stairs which Goldy referred to as his daily exercise. The DI had always taken it for granted there’d be food on the table, in the shops, in any restaurant. He wondered if he should drop a hint to DI Gold about his weight … or maybe he’d already had a visit from one of the Health Monitors.
They filed into the Commander’s office and grabbed seats.
‘Sir,’ said Jacobsen, ‘My team has been over everything a half a dozen times, and re-interviewed the poor chap who found them. In fact I sent Detective Vaughan back to have another chat with him. Do you want to talk to her?’
Adams said, ‘Yes, I’ll speak to her before we head up to Penrith and the bodies’ site. I want to see
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