A Fairly Dangerous Thing by Reginald Hill

Author:Reginald Hill [Hill, Reginald]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Published: 2019-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER X

‘Not Lines. LI-ONS,’ said Joe carefully.

He had chosen his moment. He wished to savour it to the full, a savour none the worse for being spiced with a dash of fear at the possible violence of Carter’s reaction.

It was three days since the last trip to Averingerett. He had expected to be summoned earlier and had been disappointed when Sunday and Monday had passed with no word. But he had come home about eight o’clock on Tuesday evening to find Lord Jim in the hallway discussing his whereabouts with a rather fearful Alice.

Now they were back in the pub store-room where the last meeting took place, only this time there were three others present. Two of them were the men Cess had joined in the bar on the previous occasion, the third he had never seen before. He assumed these constituted the complete Averingerett break-in team.

Soon to be dismantled, he told himself with relief.

They had listened in silence as he gave an outline account of his investigations, going out of his way to hint at real detail of information to come, which indeed he had. He wanted them hooked before he came to the high point.

But as he described the new developments in the controlroom, he saw that this in itself was spreading a great deal of despondency amongst those present. They took their cue from Lord Jim, who questioned him in detail about the system, making him repeat several pieces of information.

Seeing the effect he was having on his listeners, Joe racked his memory for details and dredged up a much fuller picture than he thought possible, certainly much fuller than he had intended giving to them.

‘You sure?’ asked Lord Jim for the fifth or sixth time. ‘Must have cost ’em a fortune. I don’t understand it.’

‘What’s the matter, Jim? Can’t we get in?’ asked Cess looking worried.

‘It’ll be a lot harder,’ grunted Jim. ‘And take a lot longer.’

Cess shot an anxious glance at the newcomer to the group, a little dark-skinned man.

‘We’ll have all the time in the world,’ he urged. ‘The place’ll be almost deserted. There’s next to no chance of anyone spotting the van parked in those grounds. You take all the time you like, Jim. We’ll stroll around and enjoy the view.’

He looked around with an unbecoming jocularity to which everyone except the little dark man responded. Even he relaxed a little, however, and Joe decided it was time to speak.

‘Yes,’ he said with a smile. ‘It’ll be nice wandering around the grounds at night. Except if you’re worried about lions.’

No one spoke for a moment.

‘Lines?’ said Cess. ‘What kind of lines?’

‘Not lines. LI-ONS,’ Joe articulated with great clarity. ‘Lord Trevigore’s lions. Now, what do you want to do next? Look at the ground-floor lay-out?’

He knew it was a mistake as soon as he spoke. Cess was across the room, holding him lightly by the lapel, in a split second.

He spoke softly.

‘I warned you before about playing clever buggers with me, Sir. Now just you tell us, slow and easy, what you’re talking about.

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