The Corsairs by Brian Cook

Author:Brian Cook [Cook, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-23T00:00:00+00:00

Repercussions

The muster was packed that first morning and Alec walked into a thick smog of acrid cigarette smoke, and the sight of every seat taken bar his own. He’d expected the usual raucous atmosphere, but instead there was an air of hushed expectancy as if waiting for a performance to begin. He sat and waited for the supervisors to arrive with a sense of unease he couldn’t quite place.

At seven precisely the Inspector entered, confident in her authority, smiling at the packed house. Fitzpatrick followed, folders under each arm, full of his usual self-importance. They sat, Fitzpatrick placing the files before him in their proper order and then with exaggerated solemnity opened the file that contained the shoulder numbers and the beats assigned to them. In preparation for the usual, Alec wrote Ronnie’s number in his notebook and was poised to enter the beat details when Fitzpatrick looked up for the first time and made an announcement.

“The Inspector and I have decided it’s time for a few changes.”

There was murmuring and shuffling in the chairs around him, but Alec was relaxed. This wouldn’t apply to him.

The new arrangements were read out to a rapt audience. A change of scene for Ricky and Sandy who were now ‘neighboured’ together. Some cursing from Sandy but it was apparent both welcomed the arrangement, though it was hardly good news for the residents of one and two beats. Three and four beats. Alec began to write the numbers down, but the numbers that followed were not his, but Ronnie and Stewart Duncan’s. Someone snorted.

Fitzpatrick read on, working down his list in monotone. More beat numbers and new partnerships, some welcomed with sarcasm, some with stoney silence. Charlie and Stevie kept the van but the other mobile patrols had new crews and as a consequence some beats had ex-drivers. An outbreak of hilarity when Harry was paired with Gerry who’d a reputation for doing things entirely by the book, something Harry deemed worthy of comment.

“Don’t worry Gerry. Ah’ll make a cop of you.”

Barbed comments from Gerry. Others joined the joust; this was the pairing of the day and there was something salacious about the neighbouring of two cops so different from each other. A pairing guaranteed to produce sparks and Fitzpatrick would know it. Alec wondered why he’d put oil and water together like that.

More beats, more shoulder numbers, but still no sign of his own. With growing unease Alec realised that of the beats as yet unallocated, two lay in ‘The Reservation’ the most deprived area of Summerhill. Four beats. Three cops. Who’d be his new neighbour? Who’d get the reservation? A puff of cigarette smoke wafted past his left shoulder and the voice of Harry whispered.

“Brace yersel.”

Someone sniggered and when Fitzpatrick announced the pairings for the next two beats, it was to confirm what Alec had begun to suspect in those final few seconds. With five months on the street, barely nine months in the job, he was the beat officer for the reservation, and he was on his own.

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