Hunts by J.L. Durnie

Author:J.L. Durnie [JL Durnie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Caprington Press
Published: 2024-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

She had assumed that he’d take the car for a quick spin. Who wouldn’t? And even if he’d come straight back, there was no way he could have read everything in the file in the time available. Presumably he’d shoved it into the waistband of his trousers to read it, undisturbed, in his room. As they walked towards the car park, she wondered how he would attempt to get it back in place. He certainly wasn’t as talkative as earlier. No doubt, he was also frantically thinking about how he was going to recover the situation.

She watched him carefully as he approached the passenger door to open it for her. No attempt to mask what he was doing. No distractions or subterfuge. In fact, he stood well away from the door as he opened it. She stepped forward and saw the envelope laying on the seat. The red stamp facing up, clearly visible. By the time Arran had settled behind the wheel, she had placed it on her lap.

“You’ve moved it. So, you’ve seen it.” A statement. Not a question.

“I did,” he replied.

“Did you read it? Any of it?”

“I thought about it. For a long time. Probably ten minutes. But, no, I didn’t.”

“Any particular reason?”

“If I can speak freely, ma’am.” She nodded. “Because I don’t like being messed around. You seem sharp and organised, so you didn’t forget it was there. But I’m not stupid either, so I knew I was meant to find it and read it. And, clearly, you never intended to get a cab to Rotherhithe. I didn’t realise that till two minutes ago but you obviously wanted to know that I’d read it and were hoping to catch me. Taking it up to my room, perhaps? And that has just validated my real reason for not opening it.”

“Which was?”

“Self-preservation. If I’d read that he’s a dodgy fucker, I could never plead ignorance in the future and I’d always be looked at as potentially culpable if there were things I should have picked up on with that foreknowledge. On the other hand, and I’m speaking hypothetically here, if I was ever going to be of use to any kind of investigation in the future, it would be better if I didn’t know too much so that I don’t react unnaturally. He’d pick it up in an instant. I would imagine.”

She was impressed. He was astute and logical. Her sources were right. They drove in silence for a while, both mulling over their next moves.

“Let’s go back to your hypothetical. If I had hypothetical sources close to Chief Inspector Girvan who had told me about a young officer who had recently emerged on the fringes of his team and I could register that officer as an informant to my investigation before he, or she, had taken part in any potentially criminal acts, how do you think that officer might respond?”

“Define ‘taken part’”.

“Fuck sake, Arran! Seriously?”

“I’d think, if I were to imagine the kind of enterprise that you seem to be thinking about, that I’d involve people as soon as possible.

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