Nightwatch by Terry Pratchett

Author:Terry Pratchett [Pratchett, Terry]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2010-12-21T10:41:48.089000+00:00

After a few minutes of very small talk he stood up, strode round to the last occupied cell, unlocked the door, and grabbed Ferret, who was trying to squeeze into a corner.

'No! Please! I'll tell you whatever you want to know!' the man yelled.

'Really?' said Vimes. 'What's the orbital velocity of the moon?'

'What?'

'Oh, you'd like something simpler?' said Vimes, dragging the man out of the cell. 'Fred! Waddy! He wants to talk! Bring a notebook!'

It took half an hour. Fred Colon wasn't a fast writer. And when the painful sound of his efforts concluded with the stab of his last full stop, Vimes said: 'Okay, sir. And now you write down at the end: I, Gerald Leastways, currently staying at the Young Men's Pagan Association, am making this statement

of my own free will and not under duress. And then you sign it. Or else. Got it?'

'Yes, sir.'

The initials GL had been inscribed on the dagger. Vimes believed them. He'd met plenty of Leastwayses in his career, and they tended to spill their guts at the mere thought of spilling their guts. And when they did, you got everything. Anyone who had seen the ginger beer trick used on someone else would confess to anything.

'Well, now,' he said cheerfully, standing up. Thank you for your co-operation. Want a lift to Cable

Street?'

Ferret's expression, if not his mouth, said 'huh?'

'We've got to drop off your friends,' Vimes went on, raising his voice slightly. Todzy and Muffer. We'll drop the dead one off at the mortuary. Just a bit of paperwork for you.' He nodded at Colon. 'One copy of your helpful statement. One certificate of death from the pox doctor for the late mystery man, and rest assured we'll try to track down his murderer. A chitty from Mossy about the ointment he put on Muffer's feet. Oh ... and a receipt for six bottles of ginger beer.'

He put a hand on Ferret's shoulder and gently walked him round into the next cellar, where Todzy and Muffer were sitting gagged, bound and livid with rage. On a table near by was a box containing six flagons of ginger beer. The corks were heavily wired down.

Ferret stared at Vimes, who inserted a finger in his mouth, blew up his cheeks and flicked out the finger with a loud pop.

Waddy hissed between his teeth.

Fred Colon opened his mouth but Vimes clamped his hand over it.

'No, don't,' he said. 'Funny thing, Gerald, but Fred here just screams out loud at times for no reason at all.'

'You tricked me!' Ferret wailed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.