And Be a Villain (A D.I. Price Mystery Book 3) by Joanna Cannan

Author:Joanna Cannan [Cannan, Joanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lume Books
Published: 2018-08-08T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Price arrived at Headquarters with his customary punctuality, but Macleod was late, which was extremely annoying for Price had planned to get him going on the alibis of David Tarrant and Jim Redman, while Haddock was to interview the inhabitants of the tall Victorian houses which faced the Hallows’ where Kingsgate deteriorated into Station Road. He sent off Haddock and mustered his small patience, but was soon distracted by a summons from Pelly. Down in Pelly’s room, blissfully quiet after his dog-loud cubby-hole, he was introduced to a tall neatly dressed reliable-looking man — Mr Nichols, father of June Nichols. ‘Bob and I are old enemies — at the snooker table,’ said Pelly. ‘Now, Bob, you repeat to the Superintendent what you’ve been telling me.’

‘Well, it’s like this,’ said Nichols. ‘It was last night about ten to eleven and me and the wife were getting ready to go upstairs when we heard a screaming noise and running footsteps — you could tell by the screams and the short steps that it was a woman. I’m not one to sit on my behind and wait to see what I’m letting myself in for — I’m more apt to stick my neck out, so I makes straight for the door, opens it and there’s my daughter June come running up the path in hysterics. I took her indoors and her Mum made a cup of tea and presently she calmed down and could talk to us. The long and the short of it was that some chap had stepped out from behind a big old tree that stands at the corner of our road and caught hold of her, but she’s a strong girl and she fought him off and took to her heels and as far as I can make out he didn’t follow her, though he had a cosh in his hand which looks as if he meant business. Now at the first when she was still hysterical — I admit that — she kept sobbing out, ‘It was David,’ and David is the young chap who your Sergeant came to see about yesterday. The wife’s idea was that I should go down to the call-box and phone the police station and I was thinking that over when June said she wasn’t sure, it was dark, she hadn’t seen his face and wouldn’t swear to him. That being so I thought it best to wait for morning, and now she seems even less sure but whether that’s put on or not I couldn’t say — you can’t tell with women. With her like that, we’re in no position to make a complaint, as I told her Mum, so as Inspector Pelly’s a good friend of mine I thought it best to call in unofficial.’

‘A very sound decision, Mr Nichols,’ said Price. ‘My Sergeant questioned the young man after he had seen Miss June and summed him up as a violent unbalanced type, and I think it’s quite likely that

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