Standing by the Wall by Mick Herron

Author:Mick Herron
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Soho Press

“Benny Manors, John. What can you tell me about Benny Manors?”

Bringing him back to the present.

“Benny, well, Benny,” he said. “What can I say? Benny’s one of mine.”

“We know, John. Sole purpose of visit, as they say at passport control. Little more detail, eh?”

John searched what others might refer to as their mental database, or perhaps Rolodex, if they were of a certain generation. For John, it was more akin to opening an ancient filing cabinet he’d long stopped keeping in alphabetical order. Some of the papers were scribbles on envelopes. Benny Manors. That was a name he’d shoved to the back, in the hope he’d not have to deal with it again.

“Because I’ve been looking through your Ts and Cs, John. That an abbreviation you’re familiar with? Doesn’t mean tits and cooze, if you were wondering. No, it means terms and conditions. As in, of employment. You remember that, John, the job you do? The one you’re paid for? Remind me what they call you?”

“I’m a retirement needs evaluation counsellor—”

“You’re a milkman, John.”

John nodded.

“And what your Ts and Cs very eloquently state is that, in that role, you make contact with your clients, bare minimum, once a month. Which is handy for me, as I’m keen on having a word with one of those clients, the aforementioned Benny Manors, and on account of the terms and conditions of your employment, I’m in the happy position of knowing I’m talking to someone who’s had contact with Benny in the last four weeks. Bare minimum. Meaning that within the next two minutes I’m going to have a much clearer picture of our Benny’s current whereabouts than I do now. So that’s nice for me, isn’t it, John? Nice knowing I have you to paint that picture for me.”

It must indeed have been nice for him, living in that state of certainty, though it was a little less comfortable for John Bachelor. Because John hadn’t laid eyes on Benny Manors in well over two years.

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