The Custom House Murder by Mike Hollow

Author:Mike Hollow [Hollow, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Published: 2020-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Jago strode briskly into the CID office and hung his coat, hat, and gas mask on the coat stand. Cradock, who was standing on the other side of the room and staring out of the window, spun round to face him, instinctively straightening his tie as if interrupted by an unexpected inspection.

‘Morning, guv’nor,’ he said.

‘Morning, Peter,’ Jago replied in a cheery tone. ‘Busy day ahead of us. I’ve got to pop up to Scotland Yard this morning, but I’ll be back early afternoon. But before that, do tell me – how did it go?’

‘With Mr Hunter, you mean?’ said Cradock, reaching for the desk to pick up his notebook.

‘No, not that. First I want to know how your big night out went, of course – the cinema.’

‘Oh, that. Well, I didn’t think much of the film. It was called Turnabout, some American thing, and it was supposed to be a comedy, but I didn’t think it was funny at all. There was a husband and wife. He worked for an advertising agency and she hung around at home all day in their luxury apartment doing nothing, then some peculiar old oriental statue they just happened to have in the bedroom magically switched their bodies, so she became him and went to work, and he became her and stayed at home. Something about the two of them always arguing about wanting to be in each other’s shoes, so the statue granted their wish. Ridiculous. I preferred the B film – that was The Saint Takes Over. More my cup of tea, that – at least it was a bit more like real life.’

‘Real life? The Saint?’

‘I mean it had crooks, cops, fast cars and guns.’

‘I see. Sounds like a busman’s holiday for you.’

‘A what, sir?’

‘Never mind. But listen – I wasn’t asking about the films. I meant how was your company, the young lady you were escorting?’

‘Oh, that.’

‘She has a name, Peter.’

‘I know. You mean Emily? Well, she was laughing all the way through – beats me what she found so entertaining about it. Do you think women have a completely different sense of humour to us?’

‘I couldn’t say. But apart from her taste in films, what about the girl herself? What did you think of her?’

‘Well, er – she was very nice, actually.’

‘Did you hold hands?’

Cradock looked shocked.

‘Certainly not – I’d never met the girl before. But I enjoyed being out with her.’

‘Rita was right, then. She seemed very confident that you two would hit it off.’

‘Laid a trap for me, more like. How did she talk me into it?’

‘Women can be very persuasive, Peter. And Rita is a woman among women. Would you like me to tell her off?’

‘No, I don’t think so.’

‘In that case, the question is did you ask Emily whether she’d like to go again?’

‘No. I wasn’t sure whether I should.’

‘Do you think she was disappointed?’

‘I don’t know. I mean I couldn’t tell. How can you tell what a girl’s thinking?’

‘If I knew that, Peter, I’d be a rich man.

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