The Secret Fear by Solomon Carter

Author:Solomon Carter [Carter, Solomon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Solomon Carter
Published: 2019-05-19T22:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

Day Two.

Hogarth dressed it up as tea and sympathy – half a pastoral check into Palmer’s wellbeing, half a softly structured dressing-down. It was a far subtler tactic than Palmer would have normally given him credit for, which made it all the more upsetting. Palmer had messed up, and she couldn’t tell how far Hogarth knew she’d gone. Oh, he was easy to read in a lot of ways, but when it came to the deeper stuff, Hogarth’s gruff face was as inscrutable as they came. Palmer sipped her coffee. This was the good stuff, shipped in from the high street especially for the meeting – probably by their new deputy dog, PCSO Kaplan.

“So, come on then, Sue. Why did you do it? You wanted to prove something to me, is that it? As if you needed to.” They sat at the back of the police canteen with their shop-bought coffees like an insult to the staff behind the canteen counter. Not that they seemed to care.

“I already told you,” said Palmer.

“Yes, you said it was the Atacans,” said Hogarth. He sipped his drink with relish. “You thought I was panicking about nothing. So, I guess it’s actually my fault you risked your neck and pissed off Marris and Dickens to boot?”

“They’re pissed off?”

“Marris is pretty quiet, but I got the message. As for Dickens, if his puss got any more sour, I’d be asking the PDSA to put him down. He’s bloody fuming, Palmer, and who do you reckon he blames, eh?”

Palmer sighed and dipped a finger into the froth at the top of her cup.

“He doesn’t like you anyway,” said Palmer.

“And you’ve just given him another reason not to. He thinks I’m a rogue cop, now you’ve proved we all are. The guy is anal, a control freak, but we need him. We can’t jump all over the crime scene and expect him to like it.”

“Guv, I had to go – besides, Dickens must have done what he had to do by now.”

“Not quite. He wanted to double-check everything. It’s a murder. He has to be thorough.”

“Well, at least he’s got good reason now. The killer came back. It’s a good thing I was there, otherwise, he might have gotten what he was looking for.”

It was a selfish, childish argument, and Palmer didn’t feel good about it. But there was no way she was going to mention her other more personal motivations. It was better to blag and keep her mouth shut.

“I don’t know what you were up to. You went to the Yuksel place first, didn’t you? Talked to Miray...”

Palmer tried not to blush.

“Then you spoke to old man Yuksel. Miray said you’re a good egg, which is something. But why are you trying to work around me? We’re a team, Palmer. And ultimately, get this, I’m in charge. Because the buck stops with me, as does all the shit when it hits the fan. That’s the reality.”

“I wasn’t trying to undercut you, guv. I wanted to help.

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