"Pawson, Stuart - The Picasso Scam" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pawson Stuart)

be patient. Besides, I didn't want to go home. A fellow officer is
not my first choice for company on a Friday night, but at this hour it
was the best I was going to get.

"What the devil is the phone box doing up here?" asked Nigel.

"Saving lives in winter," I replied, 'and winning a few votes for the
councillor who put it there. It's supposed to be the loneliest box in
the country."

We got talking about the job. I told him about the old Heavy Woollen
District, and how the low property prices and fine old Victorian houses
seemed to be attracting a certain type of criminal who had an eye for
privacy. The area had also spawned a disproportionately high number of
multiple killers.

"Don't make the mistake of thinking this is the sticks," I told him.
"Crimewise, this is the land of opportunity. Every one of those lights
we could see from up the hill has a story to tell, and plenty of 'em's
illegal."

"Is it true you were the youngest-ever inspector?" he asked.

I laughed. "Probably not, but I was young. Now I am quite definitely
the longest-serving inspector."

"What went wrong?"

"Who knows?" I said. Apart from me.

Nigel was okay. I decided to expand a little. Maybe it would do me
good. "I started out as an art student but I didn't seem to fit in.
When I finished I decided I wanted a complete change, so I came into
the family firm. Dad was a Dixon of Dock Green desk sergeant at
Heckley for donkey's years. He died of cancer, but I made him happy in
the end. I'm glad about that. Now I'm beginning to think that I don't
fit in again. It's only taken me until now to realise it." This was
getting serious. I grinned at him: "Maybe I'm just shiftless."

We could see the lights of an occasional vehicle wind up the main road
and vanish over the Tops.

"I'd rather be here with the other new starter," I said. "No offence,
but she's better-looking than you."

"Helen Chatterton?" said Nigel. "She is good-looking. Got brilliant
marks at college. Pity about the halitosis."

"You're joking?" I winced at the thought of it.