"Quintin, Jardine - Autographs in the Rain" - читать интересную книгу автора (Quintin Jardine)

taking on, falling out with Bob Skinner?'

Ruth shrugged. 'If he does, he doesn't care. You're not going to believe
what the latest is. Chase has written a paper for the police board; no one
asked him to do it, he just did. In it, he argues that the executive structure of
the force is wrong, and that given the nature of the Chief Constable's duties,
his designated deputy from among the officers within the command ranks
should be someone with extensive experience across the board.'

'Meaning him?'

'You guessed it. He also pointed out that he's been twice as long in the
Chief Officer rank as Mr Skinner has.'

'He's after Big Bob's job?'

'Correct. But I think that ultimately, he's after the Chief's.'

'The man's mad, then. Mind you, who's going to take any notice of

him?'

'The Joint Police Board might, for a start. The DCC has his enemies on
that body; more than that, he thinks that Mr Chase has a direct route to
them. He's found out that he has a cousin back in Cumbria who's a Labour
MP at Westminster.'

'What's the Chief saying about it?'

Ruth pursed her lips and glanced at him. 'Nothing,' she said. 'He's playing
it by the book; when Mr Chase wrote his paper, he sent it to him formally,
with a covering memo asking him to put it to the Board. The Chief replied
on paper, asking whether he was sure he wanted to do that. Mr Chase replied
and said that he was.

'A couple of days later, the three of them ... the Chief, Mr Skinner and
Mr Chase ... discussed it in private. Afterwards the Boss told me that the
Chief thanked Chase and said that he would consider at some length whether
it should go to the Board. It's on the shelf for the moment, as far as I can
gather.'

'Has the Big Man said anything to you?'

'Only that if Chase thinks he's taking orders from him he's crazy.' She
grinned. 'That wasn't quite what he said; I've left out the adjectives.'

Sammy whistled and restarted the car. 'I see what you meant about stress
levels in your corridor. ACC Chase is either very brave, or very stupid.'