Fatal Exposure by Dermod Judge

Author:Dermod Judge
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller
Publisher: Troubador Publishing
Published: 2024-02-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

“General Marston-Darby,” said the editor. “Ever heard of him?”

Who hadn’t? He was a part of the national landscape, irascible, indestructible, a hero to some, a blackguard to many. He had led the country through the war and subsequently inflicted his memoirs on the long-suffering public, ordering every public library in the country to stock a copy and initiating a flush of Christmas presents of the three-volume work signed – with a rubber stamp – by him. The monumental work had all the marks of bureaucratic cleansing. It was like all official histories: written by the victors; imbued with nationalistic fervour and righteous indignation; dense, almost impenetrable text, surrounded by copious footnotes, some up to half a page in length, justifying all actions by the supposed author, including those that subsequent events had proved manifestly bad judgements; fudging details of where, how and why the enemy had not succumbed, retreated or surrendered; insultingly dismissive of enormous losses of his own men and indecently gloating over the enemy’s losses. Plain facts were obfuscated by irrelevant minutiae and ponderous, intricate grammar was given precedence over clear communication. The maps offended against all rules of accurate cartography by exaggerating the distance attained, the massiveness of the obstacles and, instead of elucidating the manoeuvres, confused the movements of opposing forces, leaving the reader puzzled as to what, if anything, had happened. The reasoning was convoluted, the assessments slanted and the conclusions suspect. It was, in effect, a monumental, boring and shoddy act of literary onanism. Destined for the remainder bins of the printers.

“Well, he lives in seclusion in this suburb, in a mock Gothic mansion that no man of sensitivity can look at without laughing. He’s as pretentious as his house and carries himself with ponderous gravity. However, we must show our pride in our distinguished neighbour, so I am doing an article on him. I sent a copy of it to the general and when he sent it back it was twice the length and totally unpublishable. I want you to go there and get me a photograph that does him justice. OK?”

A day later, Derek and Jones found themselves at the ponderous front door of the mansion, introducing themselves to a mock Gothic butler who looked own his Gothic arched nose at them with a highly suspicious expression on his long face as he grudgingly let them carry their gear into the entrance hall where he left them and went off to inform his master of their presence. The hall was a splendid space with a sweeping staircase soaring aloft up two of the walls. This was bordered by a ponderous oak balustrade featuring pointed arches and trefoil roundels in the top. The rear wall was almost all windows, with trefoil, stained-glass panels running across the top above a row of pointed arches. A large, circular chandelier was suspended from an ornate fan-vaulted ceiling and the walls were covered in a shimmering… what was it? He crossed to touch one wall and discovered it was real leather printed with a convoluted pattern – trefoil again.

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