Stars for the Toff by John Creasey

Author:John Creasey [Creasey, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, General, England, Mystery & Detective, Large Type Books, Private Investigators, Toff (Fictitious Character)
ISBN: 9780783819907
Publisher: Chivers Press
Published: 1968-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Friend Into Foe

Rollison looked blankly into Clay’s eyes, silently echoing “arrest.” Clay was hostile and in a way defiant. Slowly, Rollison began to relax; suddenly, he realised how lucky it was that he had left the stolen papers in the station locker; that was a break in a thousand. He saw the puzzlement in the Yard man’s eyes as he grinned.

“Well, well,” he said. “It’s quite a time since the Yard made that mistake. All right, officer, I’ll come quietly—but I’d like a couple of hours’ grace.”

“You’ll come with me, now.”

Rollison’s eyes were still laughing.

“Why not ask Grice for my grace?”

“Mr Grice is not concerned in this case.”

“He will be,” Rollison said. “Believe me, he will be. You know, this is the most remarkable tribute to Madam Melinska. She said my friends would become my foes, or words to that effect, but that I would get help from unexpected sources. I wonder where it will come from next. Chief Inspector—”

“I’m not here to talk,” Clay growled.

“No,” Rollison said. “Nor to slow down your rate of promotion.”

“If you’re threatening me—” Clay’s eyes flashed.

“Don’t be a fool, man,” Rollison said lightly. “Of course I’m not threatening you. But if you arrest me and the Court dismisses the case in the morning, won’t it count against you?” When Clay didn’t answer, Rollison went on: “You know damn well it would take years to live down. Yes, I realise you wouldn’t have got a warrant unless you thought it was justified, but events can make a clever man look foolish. What’s the charge?”

“Illegal entry.”

“What?”

“I needn’t keep saying it—the charge is illegal entry.”

“At Mrs Abbott’s?”

“Where else have you forced entry?” demanded Clay, sharply.

Rollison thought: “He certainly isn’t a fool.” He said: “So you’ll hold me on that for twenty-four hours and hope you can prove I murdered Mrs Abbott. Tell me, do you really believe I murdered her?”

Clay drew a deep breath.

“Mr Richard Rollison, it is my duty to—”

Rollison rasped: “Do you think I murdered Mrs Abbott?”

“That’s nothing to do with the matter in hand.”

Rollison thought: I can’t shift him, he’s as stubborn as a mule. They were staring at each other, hostility mutual now, until Rollison said abruptly: “May I make one telephone call?”

“Provided I know whom you’re calling.”

“My solicitor,” Rollison said shortly.

“Well—”

Clay was interrupted by a commotion at the front door, as Jolly came inside, ushering the stranger who had threatened Rollison on the stairs. Two detectives turned to Clay, not knowing what to do, as Jolly said in vexed tones:

“I’m sorry, sir, but this is Jones, who applied for the post as valet. Shall I interview him sir?”

Rollison nodded. “Yes, will you do that, Jolly? I may be out for a while.”

“Very well, sir. This way, Jones—” Jolly led the way to his quarters, the stranger followed bemusedly, and Clay appeared to be completely unsuspicious.

Rollison picked up the telephone and dialled a Temple Bar number. He could think of only one man who might be able to help him in this situation, a member of a firm of London solicitors with a big practice in criminal law.

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.