Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Death Dues: Rafferty & Llewellyn British Mysteries, #11
    Death Dues: Rafferty & Llewellyn British Mysteries, #11
    Death Dues: Rafferty & Llewellyn British Mysteries, #11
    Ebook282 pages6 hours

    Death Dues: Rafferty & Llewellyn British Mysteries, #11

    By Geraldine Evans

    5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A Little Laughter. A Little Mayhem. A Little MURDER...

    Another murder ...another little family difficulty.

    With his wife-to-be's wedding budget spiralling out of control, and his Superintendent demanding the swift resolution to the series of muggings of local loan sharks' collectors, DI Joe Rafferty is anticipating a long and trying week. And sure, enough, he isn't disappointed.

    When one John 'Jaws' Harrison is found with his skull caved in, in an alleyway backing on to rundown Primrose Avenue while on his way to collect debt repayments from the residents, Rafferty and his intellectual partner, Sergeant Dafyd Llewellyn, imagine the case will be easily solved. Armed with a list of local debtors, they begin their investigations.

    But they hadn't counted on the conspiracy of silence amongst the residents -- most of whom had good reason to want Jaws dead.

    With the Super breathing down his neck and fiancée Abra sending his blood pressure to boiling point, Rafferty is forced to make some unorthodox decisions and stretch his intuitive powers to breaking point.

    BOOKS IN THE RAFFERTY & LLEWELLYN BRITISH COZY MYSTERY SERIES

    Dead Before Morning #1
    Down Among the Dead Men #2Death Line #3
    The Hanging Tree #4
    Absolute Poison #5
    Dying For You #6
    Bad Blood #7
    Love Lies Bleeding #8
    Blood on the Bones #9
    A Thrust to the Vitals #10
    Death Dues #11
    All the Lonely People #12
    Death Dance #13
    Deadly Reunion #14
    Kith and Kill #15

    Asking For It #16

    The Spanish Connection #17

    Game of Bones #18

    ABOUT THE SERIES: 
    British Detective, Joe Rafferty, working-class lapsed Catholic, is cursed by coming from a family who thinks -- if he must be a copper -- he might at least have the decency to be a bent one. When you add the middle-class, more moral than the Pope intellectual DS Dafyd Llewellyn to the brew the result is murder with plenty of laughs for us and plenty of angst for Rafferty.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGeraldine Evans
    Release dateDec 18, 2014
    ISBN9781507091814
    Death Dues: Rafferty & Llewellyn British Mysteries, #11
    Author

    Geraldine Evans

    A Little Laughter. A Little Mayhem. A Little MURDER... British mystery author Geraldine Evans is a traditionally published author (Macmillan, St Martin's Press, Hale, Severn House) who turned indie in 2010. Her mysteries include the soon-to-be 18-strong Rafferty & Llewellyn series of British Mysteries, whose protagonist, DI Joe Rafferty, comes from a family who think -- if he must be a copper -- he might at least have the decency to be a bent one. Her second is the 2-strong Casey & Catt British Mysteries, with protagonist DCI 'Will' Casey, whose drugged-up 'the Sixties never died', hippie parents, also pose the occasional little difficulty. She has also published The Egg Factory, a standalone mystery/thriller set in the infertility industry, Reluctant Queen, a biographical historical, about the little sister of Henry VIII, romance (under the pseudonym of Maria Meredith), and non-fiction (some under the pseudonym of Genniffer Dooley-Hart). Geraldine is a Londoner, who moved to a Norfolk (UK) market town in 2000. Her interests include photography, getting to grips with photo manipulation software, learning keyboards and painting portraits with a good likeness, but little else to recommend them. Why not sign up to her (irregular) newsletter for news of new releases, bargain buys and free offers? You can unsubscribe at any time and your email address will be kept private. Here's the newsletter link: http://eepurl.com/AKjSj WEBSITE: http://geraldineevansbooks.wordpress.com

    Read more from Geraldine Evans

    Related to Death Dues

    Titles in the series (21)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Cozy Mysteries For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Kiwi King Of Crime

      Jul 31, 2022

      The Wrong Woman starts with a plot set-up that I’ve come across numerous times in other novels. Someone is forced to return to their hometown, a small place they fled from years ago, usually under a cloud, and going back there is going to mean a reck

      1 min read

    • Article

      Reading Corner

      Jun 17, 2024

      The bride’s happy ever after is about to unravel This is one of those hyper-twisty thrillers, bristling with secrets and lies, that is fiendishly difficult to describe without causing a whopping spoiler. Still, I’m going to try! Annie fell in love w

      2 min read

    • Article

      Subscribers’ News

      Jul 4, 2024

      Just wanted to pat myself on the back for finally finding a publisher for my pet project: a book about Essex Authors (Famous Essex Authors writes subscriber Dee Gordon. Although I have had seventeen non fiction books published (mostly local history a

      5 min read

    • Article

      Reading CORNER

      Dec 4, 2022

      For six years, a town has been hiding big secrets This novel starts out like a murder mystery, but very quickly becomes so much more than that. A heartfelt tale set in the suburbs of an Australian country town in the early ’90s, it’s about friendshi

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Magic Words

      Nov 2, 2023

      Although crime writer Elly Griffiths brought her much-loved Dr Ruth Galloway series to a close with The Last Remains at the beginning of this year (‘for now’, she has said), contrary to some reports she has very much not stopped writing. Elly’s a pro

      7 min read

    • Article

      Fiction

      Jan 20, 2023

      Fiction
      3 min read

    • Article

      The World According To John

      Dec 1, 2022

      At the age of 80, John Irving feels anything but an author in their twilight years. On Zoom, recovering from a bout of Covid that slightly delayed WM’s interview with him, the acclaimed author, screenwriter and former wrestler is slightly husky in to

      9 min read

    • Article

      February’s BOOK CLUB

      Jan 5, 2023

      River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer (£18.99, HB, Headline) It’s Barbados 1834 and slavery has been abolished, but former slaves must work for another six years – for free! In an act of resistance, Rachel heads off through the Caribbean and South A

      4 min read

    • Article

      Shelf Life

      Mar 2, 2023

      Shelf Life
      4 min read

    • Article

      Shelf Life

      Jan 4, 2024

      To say that the inspiration for my third whodunit, Murder on Lake Garda, came unexpectedly wouldn’t quite be doing it justice. When I first happened on the seed of an idea, I was actually well into working on a completely different novel, involving a

      5 min read

    • Article

      August’s BOOK CLUB

      Jun 27, 2024

      We love a good thriller, and this month there are more than ever. We hope you enjoy the ones we’ve chosen as part of our summer selection. Swift River by Essie Chambers (£16.99, HB, Dialogue) It’s summer 1987 and Diamond Newberry is navigating life

      4 min read

    • Article

      BREAKING THE RULES: How To Write Genre-busting Fiction

      Feb 1, 2024

      As a writer, it’s rare when you can pinpoint the moment a whole book series came to you. This is probably why so many authors hate That Question. You know, the ‘Where do you get your ideas from?’ one, which is often so hard to answer. But with my ser

      6 min read

    • Article

      An Idyllic Place To Die

      Oct 16, 2022

      Crime writer Jane Harper has made her name by writing “outback noir”, but for her latest novel she takes readers to the more rustic and charming south Australian wine country. Exiles combines two mysteries that have rocked a small community, tricky f

      2 min read

    • Article

      In Conversation With ELLY GRIFFITHS

      Sep 28, 2023

      This year, bestselling author Elly Griffiths retired her most famous character – for now. Set in Norfolk, the Ruth Galloway series blends intricate plots, great characters, vivid landscapes and a much-loved heroine. Elly has also written standalone c

      2 min read

    • Article

      Gone Guy

      Mar 2, 2023

      Gone Guy
      1 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Laura Turner

      Dec 21, 2017

      The best book club I ever joined was one that reads exclusively from two categories: Bestselling books from several years back, and books set in the place we happen to be traveling. We meet whenever we want, read whatever we want, and eat whatever we

      4 min read

    • Article

      Layering In Backstory

      Nov 8, 2018

      “The first draft of my second novel, Common Murder, began with five beautifully crafted chapters of backstory for my protagonist. When I sent it off to my agent, she said, ‘Lose the first five chapters. They’re lovely, but they don’t tell the story.

      7 min read

    • Article

      Drew Davies

      Dec 3, 2020

      Drew Davies
      4 min read

    • Article

      Why I’ve Stopped Waiting for ‘The Winds of Winter’

      May 11, 2018

      1. It was my ex who first suggested I read George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones. “I think you’ll like it,” he said, pulling his copy from the wooden bookcase in the corner of his bedroom. The shelves sagged under the weight of the epic fantasies th

      5 min read

    • Article

      Swansongs And Southern Discomfort

      Oct 27, 2022

      THE BORDERLAND BETWEEN popular fiction and literary fiction is now fertile territory. Once upon a time it was easy to tell them apart. Popular and genre fiction were in small format paper-backs, literary fiction larger: now all have been promoted to

      6 min read

    • Article

      Silence Of The Lands

      Dec 7, 2023

      Silence Of The Lands
      6 min read

    • Article

      Reading Corner

      Aug 12, 2024

      A reality TV contestant has a secret to kill for On the crime novel in a Survivor-style show, shelves there are but the reality is far crueller. many, many police Each contestant is hiding a procedurals and they can secret and the show will force st

      3 min read

    • Article

      Running From His Life

      Sep 25, 2023

      The runaway man of the title is a seemingly mild-mannered med student, Nick Greene, who disappears from campus one day with just a backpack. The mystery in this Paeroa-based author’s debut thriller isn’t where he is – we meet him in the opening chapt

      2 min read

    • Article

      Reading Corner

      Sep 25, 2023

      An antenatal group solves bumps in the night! Book of the week Hilarious and wildly improbable, there is so much to love about this novel. With a Midsomer Murders vibe, it’s a mashup of chick-lit and crime. The story follows a group of heavily pregn

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Death Dues

    5/5

    2 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Great story I love how it was given. Good job writer! If you have some great stories like this one, you can publish it on Novel Star just submit your story to hardy@novelstar.top

    Book preview

    Death Dues - Geraldine Evans

    DEATH DUES

    A Rafferty & Llewellyn British Mystery

    Geraldine Evans

    Table of Contents

    DEATH DUES

    Table of Contents

    COPYRIGHT

    DEATH DUES

    Geraldine Evans

    BLURB AND REVIEWS

    Prologue

    Chapter One

    Chapter Two

    Chapter Three

    Chapter Four

    Chapter Five

    Chapter Six

    Chapter Seven

    Chapter Eight

    Chapter Nine

    Chapter Ten

    Chapter Eleven

    Chapter Twelve

    Chapter Thirteen

    Chapter Fourteen

    Chapter Fifteen

    Chapter Sixteen

    Chapter Seventeen

    Epilogue

    BIO OF THE AUTHOR

    Other Books by Geraldine Evans

    CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR

    About The Rafferty & Llewellyn Mystery Series

    REVIEWS

    BRITISH SPELLING AND USAGE

    COPYRIGHT

    DEATH DUES

    Geraldine Evans

    ©Copyright Geraldine Evans 2008

    Originally published in hardback by Severn House Publishers

    ©2013 This digital edition published by Geraldine Evans

    The moral right of the author has been asserted

    THIS BOOK IS A WORK of fiction. Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to living persons is purely coincidental. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination.

    Except for text references by reviewers, the reproduction of this work in any form is forbidden without permission from the publisher.

    Cover Design by Nicole of covershotcreations.com

    All rights reserved

    BLURB AND REVIEWS

    WITH HIS WIFE-TO-BE’S wedding budget spiralling out of control, and his superintendent demanding the swift resolution to the series of muggings of local loan sharks, DI Joe Rafferty is anticipating a long and trying week. And sure, enough, he isn’t disappointed.

    When one John ‘Jaws’ Harrison is found with his skull caved in, in an alleyway backing on to rundown Primrose Avenue while on his way to collect debt repayments from the residents, Rafferty and his intellectual partner, Sergeant Dafyd Llewellyn, imagine the case will be easily solved. Armed with a list of local debtors, they begin their investigations. But they hadn’t counted on the conspiracy of silence amongst the residents—most of whom had good reason to want Jaws dead.

    With the Super breathing down his neck, and fiancée Abra sending his blood pressure to boiling point, Rafferty is forced to make some unorthodox decisions and stretch his intuitive powers to breaking point.

    REVIEWS

    ‘Another smart and whimsically funny police procedural from Geraldine Evans! She certainly has a winner with this delightfully mismatched detective team. As always the story is delivered with wit and more than a touch of human nature wrapped up in a mystery.’ READER REVIEW

    ‘Geraldine Evans penned a wonderful entertaining story. She paid attention to details which was seen in the descriptions of places and scenarios being played out. I also thought the author had a sense of humour and it showed in the colorful personalities of the characters. The ending was not what I was expecting, and that added to my confirmation that Geraldine Evans can write. Death Dues was worth the read.’ READER REVIEW

    ‘I liked Ms Evans tortured detective, DI Rafferty from the first page. He wasn’t your usual ambition, driven policeman trying to make a name for himself. Rafferty is a bit jaded and not too motivated about finding the attackers of three men who collect for a local loan shark, until his boss hauls him over the coals. His partner, DS Dafyd Llewellyn also has to prove he is up the job – as if his name wasn’t enough for any man to cope with! As a traditional British mystery which doesn’t need to shock, and yet still keeps the reader engaged, this is a winner.’ READER REVIEW

    ‘I love British detective stories and I loved this one. Geraldine Evans is a seasoned novelist and her professionalism is evident in all aspects of this novel - the plot, the procedure, the characters, the pacing, the dialogue and even the subplots are all spot on. This is the first book I've read in the Rafferty & Llewellyn cozy procedural series but it certainly won't be the last ‘ READER REVIEW

    ‘This was my first introduction to the Rafferty and Llewellyn series by the author and I enjoyed the way the author has shaped these two main characters. There is a realism between the two partners that serves the story well with enough differences between the two that they play well off one another. The partners are somewhat like Neil Simon's characters in the Odd Couple. Llewellyn is the plodding, methodical investigator while Rafferty is the mercurial one of the two and more inclined to discover facts through a flash of insight. To me Death Dues is an old time traditional British mystery story with the main characters following proper police procedures to solve the puzzle.’ READER REVIEW

    ‘UK crime writer Geraldine Evans adds to her impressive Rafferty and Llewellyn police procedural series with Death Dues, the eleventh in the series. Death Dues is a gripping police procedural told with wit and intelligence in which clues are planted with such a light touch they are only obvious once the case is solved. Rafferty's family dilemmas are well drawn, but if you like family drama laced with angst you won't find it here. This is a straight police procedural painted with a pallet of internal politics, family baggage and mateship all framed in an intriguing puzzle. Death Dues is a crime novel that doesn't need bells and whistles to ring with veracity.’ READER REVIEW

    ‘Death Dues by Geraldine Evans is British cozy mystery at its best, with witty conversations between Rafferty and Llewellyn, and no end to twists, red herrings, and misdirection to keep you guessing until the very end. Evans paints a full-color – though not rosy – picture of Essex and its environs and trots out a cast of characters that you want to love, hate, and smash – in no particular order. I couldn’t put it down until I’d reached the end, and then had to go back to search for the clues I somehow missed the first time through. If you like traditional British mysteries, you’ll absolutely love Death Dues.’ READER REVIEW

    ‘This is a good book, full of mystery and social studies. Lots of British words that are easy enough to figure out if you don't know them. i.e. put the frighteners on. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.’ READER REVIEW

    ‘As a former private investigator I must say that most books that are crime series lack in some area or another. Not this book, the author has all the bases covered. The book is written in an easy to read style where you understand everything that is going on. It is very descriptive and the story well developed. DI Rafferty must solve the murder of a loan shark who everyone wanted to kill and solve his own personal challenges at the same time. This mixture makes for a well-rounded three dimensional character. The author seems to have mastered the crime genre. These elements lead to a book that is both intelligent and entertaining. As you read keep your eyes open for clues. In the end what is revealed is more than that which meets the eye. A good book that is highly recommended.’ READER REVIEW

    ‘Ms. Evans takes the reader into the plight of people under the thumb of brutal debt collectors. The death of one of the collectors brings detectives Rafferty and Llewellyn into the murder . While investigating the crime, Rafferty is also struggling to deal with his fiancée’s outlandish wedding plans. The detective pair must try to find their way through twists, turns and schools of red herrings .Using proper police procedures, they solve several muggings and eventually the identity of the murderer. I enjoyed this mystery and would highly recommend it to fellow mystery readers .’ READER REVIEW

    Prologue

    DI JOE RAFFERTY RIFFLED through the pages of quotations for caterers and photographers, florists and all the rest, and thought—why do weddings have to cost so much?

    He muttered, ‘I can feel my credit cards wincing from here, and they’re all the way across the hall.’ And he hadn’t even looked at the honeymoon holiday brochures yet.

    He’d proposed to Abra just before Christmas the previous year. Much to his astonishment, she’d said yes. Then, it had been all hearts and roses and romance. But now the cold reality of modern weddings and their expense hit him in the face with all the force of a frozen kipper. Why they had to go through all this rigmarole...

    From the other side of the table, Abra, his fiancée, complained, ‘Don’t be such a tightwad, Joe. I don’t want a hole in the corner wedding. People will say we’ve something to hide.’

    ‘And if we fork out for what this lot are charging—’ He picked up a stack of quotations, and let them drop back to the table amongst the breakfast dishes— ‘we will have something to hide. Ourselves. From the friendly, neighbourhood bailiffs.’

    Abra tossed her long, chestnut hair and gave him a poke in the ribs as she said with a challenging air, ‘Aren’t I worth it, then?’

    This, of course, put Rafferty in a cleft stick. Damned if he said yes and damned if he didn’t. ‘Of course, you’re worth it, my little peach melba. But you must remember I’m not Rockefeller. I’m just a humble cop still paying off for all the new stuff we bought for the flat.’

    ‘And that’s another thing. I think we ought to sell this place and buy a house.’

    ‘But we’ve only just decorated throughout,’ he protested. ‘Not to mention all the new furniture we’ve bought.’

    ‘Exactly. That’s the most sensible time to sell. When the flat’s looking its best.’

    ‘I’d rather like to enjoy it looking its best myself. Anyway, I thought we were meant to be discussing the wedding, not moving home. Surely getting married is enough of a big thing to be doing at one time?’ It’s certainly the most stressful, he thought, but was wise enough not to voice the thought.

    ‘Maybe. But the flat’s not mine and never will be. I’d like us to have a completely fresh start, when we begin married life. With a place that’s ours.’

    ‘We still haven’t even settled on a date for the wedding,’ Rafferty pointed out. Never mind where, which was likely to be another bone of contention.

    ‘I thought next May.’

    Rafferty nodded quickly. ‘Next May’s fine with me.’ He was just glad to have got one thing sorted.

    On that happy note, he stood and grabbed his jacket. ‘And now I’ve got to get to work.’ And earn the money to pay for it all.

    The wedding costs were getting seriously out of hand. Abra seemed to think she had to emulate the pomp of Lady Diana Spencer’s wedding. And look how that marriage had turned out. All his attempts to encourage her to be reasonable had fallen on ears that were seemingly stuffed with cotton wool. It was as if she was bewitched by some mischievous wedding sprit—and he didn’t have the formula to break the spell.

    Abra shuffled the wedding quotes into a neat pile. ‘I’m off today so leave these to me. I’ll make a start whittling them down. Some of them are charging way over the odds,’ she conceded. ‘I’ll ring round and see if I can’t knock them down a bit.’

    A lot would be better, Rafferty thought as he kissed Abra goodbye, shrugged into his jacket, and made for the door, picking up his raincoat on the way. But again it was a thought he kept to himself. It wouldn’t go down well, and would only bring them back to Abra’s ‘Aren’t I worth it?’ argument, to which he knew he’d never find a winning response. ‘I just hope this marriage does better than my first,’ he muttered as he shut the front door behind him and made for the car.

    Chapter One

    WHEN RAFFERTY GOT OUTSIDE, it was to discover that not only was it was raining as if Noah had pulled the plug on the Ark, but a fierce wind blew through his hair until it was wearing that ‘just got out of bed’, look, that was so fetching on Abra. It picked up the sides and hem of his raincoat till it danced a veritable Irish jig.

    Rafferty wished he was feeling as lively as his raincoat. As he rushed through the rain for the car, trying to restrain the whirling-dervish antics of his mac, he just hoped nobody got themselves murdered today. He didn’t fancy hanging around street corners in a downpour, the idle moments filled with musings on the type of house Abra might fancy in place of the flat. The way things were going, Buckingham Palace wouldn’t be grand enough.

    He hoped she hadn’t meant it and had only said it to wind him up. The last thing he needed along with all the wedding expenses was to have the cost of moving to contend with. It wasn’t as if the flat wasn’t big enough. With three bedrooms, it could easily house a family. If she was serious, he would have to dissuade her from it. He could only hope he had more luck with that than he was having with the spiralling wedding costs. She might be trying to emulate Princess Diana’s fairy-tail wedding, but he, no more than Prince Charles had been, was no Prince Charming. He also lacked the princely income.

    He drove through the lashing rain from his home through the streets of Elmhurst, an attractive Essex market town — which even the grey day couldn’t make ugly — to the police station’s back entrance in Bacon Lane.

    The car park was full; even the super had beaten him in he saw, as he took in the shining, top of the range, Lexus, parked in the bay nearest to the station’s rear entrance, a space sanctified as his by God and the superintendent. Rafferty had once or twice trespassed on its holy space and been roundly rebuked for his presumption.

    He opened the door to the station’s rear entrance and dripped his way up the concrete stairs, depositing little slippery droplets to catch the unwary with each squelching step upward. He could only hope the sainted super had reason to come down again shortly and slip and injure his fat dignity on the Rafferty-dropped rainwater. At least it would be one satisfying result for the day.

    He walked along the second floor corridor to his office, wringing out his hair and his raincoat as he went, and wishing, in spite of their differences over the wedding arrangements, that Abra would even now be in the midst of organising, that he was still at home and in bed with her, her let down hair and silky nightie. He quelled the thought of this appealing prospect as inappropriate to the beginning of another working day, and opened the door to his office.

    His sergeant, Dafyd Llewellyn, had beaten him in as usual. He was sitting at his corner desk, looking both industrious and bandbox smart, also as usual, with a workspace that was as neat as conscientious industry could make it.

    After fighting his way through the wind and rain across the car park, Rafferty felt like something the cat had dragged in. He smiled to himself as he realised that, like Llewellyn, he, too, was a good match for his desk.

    He smoothed his unruly auburn hair into some sort of order, and sat down behind the towering piles of files and other impedimenta to a well-ordered day. ‘So what have we got, Dafyd?’ he asked. ‘Anything new come in?’

    ‘No,’ Llewellyn replied evenly. ‘Unless, of course, there are any further muggings, it looks as if we’ll have a quiet day.’

    ‘Less of the fate tempting, if you please.’

    ‘Oh, and there’s still that report on your desk that Superintendent Bradley wants you to read and initial.’ Llewellyn’s voice had the slightest tinge of disapproval as he added, ‘It’s been there nearly a week.’

    Rafferty, heard the disapproval, pulled a face, and said, ‘I suppose you’ve read it?’

    Llewellyn nodded.

    ‘Give me the condensed version, then. You know how wordy these bloody reports are. Not the way for a man to start the day by ploughing through a load of bumf.’

    Llewellyn proceeded to explain the report. But as he proved almost as wordy as the report itself, Rafferty stopped him when he got to Section 2 Subsection ivc. ‘That’s enough. Just nod if the powers that be are ordering yet another meeting on the subject to discuss their preliminary findings.’

    Llewellyn nodded.

    ‘Thought so. Meetings, and yet more meetings. It’s a wonder we ever get time to solve any crimes at all. I’ll just initial it. They’ll still be meeting to discuss it come Doomsday. Anything else?’

    ‘Superintendent Bradley said for you to pop in to see him if you haven’t arranged a prior engagement.’

    Rafferty groaned. ‘What does he want?’ Sarky, git, he thought. Trust the super to make it sound like he was given to making spurious appointments so as to avoid him. He’d only done it twice before. Or it might have been thrice. But even so... ‘Not to discuss this with me, I hope.’ He thumped the weighty report in disgust.

    Llewellyn’s lips twitched slightly. ‘No. I think not. I understood him to say that he wishes to speak with you about the spate of muggings against the local moneylenders’ collectors.’

    ‘And he wants to know what I’m doing about it I suppose?’ Truth was, he wasn’t doing a lot. Some, if not most, of the local loan sharks’ collectors, were no more than thugs, adept at putting the frighteners on little old ladies who got behind with their payments. Mugging was too good for such people. ‘Put a few grand-sounding phrases together for me, Daff. You know I’m no good at that sort of thing. Something that’ll impress the super. You know the drill. Sentences with lots of long words and loads of Politically-Correct bollocks. He’ll like that.’

    Llewellyn raised dark eyebrows that were as neat as the rest of him and said, ‘Something along the lines of: We’re proceeding with our enquiries and have a number of promising leads, you mean?’

    ‘That’ll do for starters.’ He threw a coin across the desk. ‘Get the teas in, will you? While you’re doing that, you can think up a few more bunches of bullshit. One of the muggers was thought to be Asian, so I’m sure you can work in something about ethnic sensitivities while you’re at it. A few such lines should keep him off my back for a while.’

    ‘Wouldn’t it be easier to investigate the muggings?’

    ‘Probably. Tell me when you run out of the right lines in PC speak to say to him and I’ll think about it. Oh,’ he shouted just before the door closed behind his sergeant. ‘Get me a hot cross bun while you’re at it.’

    Llewellyn’s head reappeared. ‘I think you’ll find it should be called a hot lined bun, now. Religious symbolism also being on the veto list.’

    ‘Veto my arse. Not by me, it’s not.’ But Llewellyn had gone, shutting the door firmly behind him.

    Rafferty sighed. Because no matter how many politically-correctly worded explanations for his lack of progress on the muggings Llewellyn came up with to appease the super, he supposed he’d have to do a little something about the case no matter how limited his taste for it. He pulled a thin file on the investigation towards him and began to read.

    He was interrupted by the ringing of the phone. It was the superintendent.

    'Ah. Rafferty. You're in, then?'

    The intimation that he had been late wasn't lost on Rafferty. He crossed his fingers in protection against the fates as he uttered the white lie, 'Here, bright, shining and ready to go, Sir, after putting in a couple of hours’ working from home.'

    This brought a stunned, disbelieving silence, then he was told, ‘Right. You can start by coming along to my office. I’m sure Llewellyn told you I wanted to see you first thing.’ Rafferty kept shtum. ‘I want to talk to

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1