A Time to Kill: An unputdownable British crime thriller (DI Nick Jellicoe Series Book 1) by Jack Murray

Author:Jack Murray [Murray, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2021-06-02T06:00:00+00:00

22

Jellicoe, Yates, and Wallace walked three abreast out of the police station like the Earp brothers going to face the Clantons in the movie Jellicoe had seen the previous year. The ice-cold air stung their faces as they emerged from the station. The OK Corral had looked warmer.

‘Where to first, sir?’ asked Wallace climbing into the driver’s seat of the police car.

‘I don’t know about you but there’s only one choice right now,’ answered Jellicoe.

A few minutes later, Jellicoe stood in front of a man, dressed in white, who was sweating profusely. He had something Jellicoe needed. The man seemed eager to give him what he wanted. Jellicoe waved a few pound notes in the air.

‘Three fish and chips, please,’ said Jellicoe.

‘Three fish and chips coming up, Mr Jellicoe.’

There was no one else in the chippy. While they were waiting, a thought occurred to Jellicoe. He held up photostat pictures of the missing boys.

‘Have you seen these boys around recently?’

‘No, Mr Jellicoe. That boy with the dark hair, he was in the paper.’

‘Yes,’ acknowledged Jellicoe. ‘Have there been many new faces in here over the last week or two?’

‘There’s always new faces. They come for a while then you don’t see them again.’

Yates reached inside his coat pocket and took out his wallet to pay. Jellicoe waved them away.

‘These are on me.’

The fish supper arrived, and the three policemen walked down the hill and round the corner to the sea front. The street was deserted. Saturday night and it was empty. A clue as to why this should be so was blowing in from the sea.

‘Bloody hell,’ said Yates as the breeze hit the three men. They decided to retire to the car. It would be someone else’s problem in the morning when they entered a car literally humming with the smell of fish. The windows stayed firmly shut.

‘Do we know anything about Solomon?’ asked Yates.

‘He deserted in 1944. They found him in Paris. He spent the next fourteen years in jail.’

‘For desertion?’ exclaimed Yates.

‘They shot quite a few in the Great War,’ chipped in Wallace.

‘I think they stopped this during the last war but many of the deserters were involved in crimes outside of desertion. Masterson told me to read the file. I still think he’s being evasive but at least he’s saved us a job.’

‘You mean he’s saved me a job,’ said Yates with a grin.

Jellicoe laughed, ‘Yes, I daresay that’s true. You can use the time tomorrow to follow up on the father. I’m worried we haven’t done any background checking on him.’

‘Yes, sir,’ replied Yates unenthusiastically. If Wallace hadn’t been there, Jellicoe might have said something, but he decided against it.

‘Right, hurry up and finish these,’ said Jellicoe. ‘The sooner we’re out the better.’

‘Shall we split up?’ asked Wallace.

‘Yes, good idea. Wallace, you’re most familiar with this area. Can you suggest where we go?’

-

The front was not quite a mile in length. In the middle was a pier that extended three hundred yards out onto the sea.

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