The Toff Proceeds by John Creasey

Author:John Creasey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-04-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Vide Press

It was just after seven-thirty when the front door bell rang. Rollison stood up quickly from an easy chair and was prepared to greet Jolly eagerly. Instead, he saw a tall, rangy youngster, fair-haired, blue-eyed, and smiling.

“Hallo, hallo,” said the newcomer, and entered without being invited. “Any news?”

Rollison covered his disappointment, seeing in Lett, the Echo reporter, a way out of his more urgent difficulty.

“Nothing important,” he said. “Have you?”

“Yes and no.” Lett helped himself to an easy chair and stretched his legs out. He had long been a frequent visitor to the flat, which was Welcome Hall to a surprising diversity of types and characters. “I’ve covered the Arnold Crossfield angle, as advised. It’s a queer business, as you’ll have guessed. Apparently Crossfield persuaded the girl to withdraw her breach case.”

“Are you sure?” Rollison’s voice was sharp.

“Oh, there’s no doubt about it,” said Lett. “I managed to get friendly with a woman in Crossfield’s London office – not a big place, one used for convenience more than anything else. Anyhow, to cut a long story short, Crossfield told Iris Brent that he wasn’t prepared to continue employing her if she persisted with the suit, and so it was withdrawn. I couldn’t get any details, but the woman I saw heard a little of the conversation. She doesn’t like Iris.”

Rollison was not surprised; in fact, he had almost expected something like this. He would have been far more interested, however, but for the anxiety he felt for Jolly. He stood up and said, “Thanks, Lett. Are you busy this evening?”

The reporter grinned.

“Aren’t I always out for copy?”

“I mean, can you stay here for an hour or two? I’m expecting word from Jolly, and it’s late. I’ve a job I must do myself – nothing sensational, a mission of inquiry only. Will you stay?”

“Glad to. Conditionally, of course – that I get the first pick if and when the story breaks.”

“It’s yours,” said Rollison. “I’ll be back here within a few minutes of nine. Help yourself to anything that tempts you in the larder – you know where the beer is.” He went out, leaving Lett mildly puzzled by his obvious anxiety, and drove quickly to the East End. He was well known there.

So well known, in fact, that as the nose of the Frazer Nash reached Aldgate Pump, word began to go along Mile End Road and Commercial Road, until it spread to all corners and all places – word that the Toff was in the vicinity. Most people received the news with pleasure, for the Toff had made himself immensely popular, since he was always prepared to give the small-time crook a square deal; believing that the police did not, was the chief reason for the eagerness of the East End to bind itself together in defence of “wanted” inhabitants. The legends which existed about the Toff in that part of London were varied, but they had one thing in common.

You could trust the Toff if you played straight; and he was more dangerous than the police if you did not.

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