Death in Wild Boar Woods by P.F. Ford

Author:P.F. Ford [FORD, P.F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-04-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

The morning meeting had just dispersed, and Norman was obviously keen to grab Slater’s attention before he and Darling set off for the search site. As soon as Goodnews had left the room, he called Slater over.

‘Do you have a minute?’

Slater made his way across the room to Norman’s desk. It was difficult to tell anything from the state of his friend’s clothes because, frankly, he always looked a mess, but this morning his face seemed to suggest he had been there all night.

‘Have you been here all night?’

‘I did a bit of digging into the Crumps after you left,’ said Norman, ignoring Slater’s question. ‘You might be interested in what I found, although you might not necessarily be able to use it all.’

Darling had followed Slater over.

‘You make it sound like you’ve been dabbling in the dark arts,’ she said.

Norman looked embarrassed.

‘Jesus, Norm,’ said Slater.

‘I’ve just been trying to help with this investigation. Maybe my methods can save us some time.’

‘That’s fair enough, but it’s not going to help us if we can’t use it as evidence.’

Norman sighed and gave Slater a disapproving look.

‘Background information doesn’t necessarily have to be used as evidence in court,’ he said, ‘but it can be very useful in helping to figure out what makes people tick.’

‘What about procedure, Norm?’

‘You might be stuck in a box called procedure, but me? I’m a civilian. That gives me license to step outside the box.’

‘You could jeopardise the whole case.’

‘Okay, fine,’ said Norman, huffily. ‘I’ll just tear it all up and forget about it.’

‘Whoa! Hang on a minute,’ said Slater. ‘I didn’t say I didn’t want to read it.’

‘What about your precious procedure? I wouldn’t want to be guilty of leading you off the straight and narrow.’

‘Stop sulking and give it here,’ said Slater, holding out his hand. ‘Just make sure Goodnews doesn’t get to hear about it.’

Norman reluctantly handed over the notes.

Darling had been watching the exchange.

‘Listen to you two,’ she said, with a broad smile on her face.

‘What?’ Norman and Slater spoke in unison.

‘I’ll just say, hashtag: old married couple,’ she said, ‘and leave it at that.’

Norman looked suitably embarrassed, but Slater managed to remain expressionless.

‘Let’s have a look,’ said Darling.

‘I’m not sure this information has been sourced in the correct manner,’ said Slater. ‘And as senior officer, I have a responsibility to make sure you stick to proper procedure.’

Darling caught Norman’s eye. He winked at her.

‘Hashtag: power mad,’ he said, quietly.

Darling laughed out loud.

‘What’s that?’ asked Slater.

‘I said my writing’s bad,’ said Norman innocently.

Slater didn’t believe him for a minute.

‘Those notes are printed,’ he said.

‘Yeah,’ agreed Norman, ‘because my writing’s so bad.’

Slater scowled at the pair of them. He knew he was the butt of the joke he’d missed, but he also knew he’d be wasting his time trying to find out why. He waved the notes at Norman.

‘Is this going to be worth reading?’ he asked.

‘Yeah, I think so,’ said Norman. ‘That’s why I decided to pursue it.’

‘Oh come on,’ said Darling.

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