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‘What the hell are you doing?’ he berated her. ‘You can’t make deals!’ The request should have come from Toby, if anyone.
Anjali made no attempt to contradict him. ‘I’m sorry. I had no right to do that.’ Yet this time she did equivocate. ‘But surely it’s just as important to contain crime.’
Her statement implied a question, although Toby was sure she knew the answer as well as he did. ‘That’s not what worries me.’
He had to confront her with the larger question, the underlying issue, although he was almost sure to be misunderstood. He tried to show his concern, rather than his own attitude toward those of Asian extraction.
‘Aren’t you identifying too closely with your own kind?’
The look in her eyes was the same as she had given the manager of the engineering works.
9 (#ulink_9f1a92e6-8305-5769-9e65-5f2a0862f3ce)
The view of Birmingham from the expansive windows of the ‘Pub on 4th’ – the purpose-built social club on the top floor of the Division ‘S’ headquarters – is transcendent and serene, far from the madding crowd below: one of the few material benefits of volunteering for public service as a Special. Restricted to Police, Specials and their guests, it allowed them to relax from the pressures and travails of their work and meet socially in a secure, private environment with all the comforts of home, including a bar, TV area and snooker room. Yet besides its exclusive, even privileged company the Pub on 4th was the same as any other perhaps, preferable only in its panoramic views and family atmosphere.
Tonight the pub was quite full and alive with shop talk and laughter. Not in the mood, Toby was sitting at a table with Anjali, the centre of attention, surrounded by young bucks, Specials and PC’s alike. Somewhat dispirited, he was just finishing his orange juice and getting up to leave.
‘Ah! Young love,’ one of the Specials remarked, obviously referring to Toby. ‘Bed calls.’
It wasn’t worth a sassy rejoinder, so instead Toby flicked his fingers at the guy’s head, though he missed by a long shot. He mouthed ‘goodnight’ and ‘see you’ to the faces around the table. Finally his gaze stopped, and stayed, on Anjali. He looked at her for what seemed like an eternity without turning away; yet she returned his stare, challenging him with her eyes, unflinching. Beginning to wonder if the others were watching them, Toby eventually decided it was time to leave.
On his way out, Toby watched Viv Smith and Sandra Gibson at another table engaged in serious discussion. Sandra was the Mother of all Midland Specials, the administrative secretary who knew, filed, remembered and took care of all the Specials in the Birmingham area. Toby would have liked to have stopped and say hello, but Viv was immersed in the conversation in a manner that suggested any interruption would not be welcome, so he decided to amble on by, acknowledging Sandra with a quick wave and smile.
Viv took the occasion of Sandra’s momentary distraction to knock back the rest of her vodka and orange. It wasn’t her first. When Sandra returned to their conversation, Viv was ready to continue her diatribe. ‘What really gets up my nose is what kind of a human being could leave kids wandering around a supermarket?’
Sandra nodded and pulled a quizzical face in agreement. Before Viv could continue her litany of complaints about the parentage of the lost children, Bob Loach wandered over to their table showing off the red-and-white badge of courage: his bandaged thumb.
Immediately Loach began to entertain the other PCs sitting at the table with Viv and Sandra. Although they had ceased following or even listening to Viv, they interrupted any semblance of civilized conversation by raising their glasses, voices and laughter in toasts to the valiant Loach. ‘Why didn’t you get Big Jess to kiss it better?’ asked one wag.
‘Been sucking your thumb, Bob?’ simultaneously suggested one of the others.
Loach smiled sourly and silently pleaded with Sandra for some sympathy. But Viv was having none of his interruptions.
‘Now don’t go giving Sandra a hard time with your problems, Bob Loach. She’s off-duty. Having a quiet drink,’ And busy with my problems at present, Viv wanted to add. ‘She’s not interested in discussing compensation tonight.’
The disappointment on his face was that of a disheartened little boy which, as ever, Sandra didn’t have the constitution to resist.
‘What happened?’ she asked innocently, at the same time automatically removing a secretarial pad and pencil from her shoulder bag.
Viv decided that the only way to cut this short was to speak up first. ‘A lady of the night called Big Jess bit it. I’d say Loach got off lightly.’
Loach ignored Viv and concentrated on Sandra. ‘I suppose it’ll mean a court appearance,’ he sighed. ‘As if I didn’t have enough on my plate.’
Just feeling sorry for himself, Viv reflected. ‘He’s a lot on his mind, has our Section Officer,’ she cracked.
Unfortunately Loach took the opportunity to venture off on one of his pet peeves. ‘Damned right. I’ve been Acting SDO for about three months. And doing all skiver SDO Barker’s paper work …’
Viv tried to head him off at the pass. ‘Loach …’
But it was already too late. ‘Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind doing the job. But how long am I supposed to act as an Acting?’ Now that he was off and running, there would be virtually no stopping him. ‘I wouldn’t care, if I got a word of thank-you from our invisible SDO for the time I’m putting in.’
Loach’s tirade against SDO Barker was having an unintended effect on Sandra, although he took no notice of the time-bomb he could be about to ignite.
‘Change the channel, will you?’ Viv implored, though her voice probably revealed her sense of futility.
As expected, Loach barely paused to catch his breath before running on again. ‘Why can’t the sod phone and say: “Thank you, Bob.” It’s not much.’
Loach seemed completely oblivious to the devastating effect the lambasting of his immediate superior, Sub-Divisional Officer Rob Barker, was having on Administrative Secretary Sandra Gibson. Obviously he didn’t realize the connection.
‘If you want my opinion,’ Loach offered, although no one had solicited his views, ‘he’s got his leg over some bird, or maybe broken it getting off.’
That did it. Without a word, her face set in a bleak expression, Sandra got up and walked out.
Loach was dumbfounded, the puzzled look on his face asking Viv: What’s that all about?
‘You really are a daft egg,’ Viv remonstrated.
‘What are you on about?’
‘Rob Barker this, Rob Barker that. You’re as sensitive as a Harpic.’
‘I’m only telling it the way I see it,’ Loach tried to rationalize self-defensively.
Viv wasn’t letting him off the hook. ‘Well, I’ll be glad to tell Rob Barker the next time I see him.’
‘Fine. Do that,’ Loach concluded. To hell with the gent. But then he started to replay her comment and reconsider what it meant.
‘What d’you mean “next time?”’ he inquired suspiciously. ‘When did you see him?’
Abruptly Viv corrected her course, becoming a bit more evasive in her tone. ‘I’ve seen him a couple o’ times in the last week.’
Loach was surprised by her answer. ‘Where?’
‘Where I work,’ Viv replied: ‘The Bromsgrove.’
A frown settled on Loach’s brow. ‘The Building Society? What for? A mortgage?’
The conversation was leading in the wrong direction, but there wasn’t much Viv could do about it.
‘No. He’s got a mortgage already. I’m not sure, but I think he was talking to the manager about selling … selling his house, that is.’
Luckily at that moment Viv spotted Freddy Calder standing in the doorway. Smiling, she turned to Bob Loach to cut off his line of inquiry.
‘Oh, oh! There’s Freddy. Gotta go.’
Loach remained in some confusion as to what was going on while Freddy motioned Viv to join him, bringing Loach back to the present. ‘That reminds me …’
As Viv got up, Loach joined her, and together they crossed the room to meet Freddy.
‘The woman from social’s here,’ Freddy informed her. ‘A Miss Brownlow. I thought you might want to meet her.’ Apparently, Freddy was happily impressed with Miss Brownlow. ‘She’s a smashing girl. And the kids like her …’
Freddy turned to leave with Viv to meet Miss Brownlow. Loach made a weak waggle with his hand in an attempt to stop him, then waved both of them away. No use trying to drag Viv back for further questioning at present.
Surveying the crowded Pub on 4th last time, Loach noticed someone else he wanted to see . Weaving his way through the maze of people and chairs, he arrived at Anjali Shah’s table as she, too, was trying to extricate herself and say her goodbyes. But the other Specials and PC’s at her table were teasing her unmercifully and refusing to let her go.
‘You want a lift home, Anjali?’ suggested one with a sly smirk.
‘I go past your way,’ another mock-chivalrous Special chimed in.
‘Forget it, he’s only got a motorbike,’ scoffed the latter’s partner.
Still another pseudo-knight stepped into the fray: ‘If Anjali’s going with anyone, it’s with me.’
His challenge was met by a chorus of birdsong from the fellow rivals for Anjali’s company.
‘You can all sit down,’ she ordered them, a trace of a smile on her lips. ‘The man who’s taking me home is …’
She kept them panting, awaiting the maiden’s fair choice.
‘… the nice man who drives the 44 bus.’
A series of muted boos greeted her announcement. Anjali left the table laughing, passing Bob Loach on her way out.
‘If you want to change your mind …?’ Loach offered politely, not teasing her any more.
Anjali simply smiled shyly and walked by with her head lowered to avoid his eyes.
Shaking his own head, Loach watched her departure, then joined her former suitors at the table.
‘Well, George?’ queried the first one: ‘You blew out there.’
‘You want me to really try?’ responded the PC named George. ‘Show me the colour of your money.’
One of them turned to Loach. ‘What d’you think, Bob?’
‘What do I think what?’ he countered.
‘Has she got a heavy boyfriend, or what?
‘Nah!’ his partner scoffed again. ‘Maybe she’s cheesed off giving massage all day.’
The others laughed at the lewd suggestion, but Loach turned on them sourly.
‘Only dipsticks like you would make an NHS physio sound like a nymphomaniac,’ he lectured them.
But his sobriety only spurred the others to lower depths.
‘Hey!’ one pseudo-knight interrupted as an idea popped into his head: ‘Did someone mention my hobby?’
10 (#ulink_45770b92-bdd9-5064-8125-4d019a01b1a1)
Still in uniform, Anjali Shah walked up to the door of the modest terraced house where she lived. Retrieving the key from her shoulder bag, she unlocked the door and went in.
In the sitting room, her brother Sanjay was playing carom – a form of table billiards – with several of his ‘friends’. One strong main light was beaming down on the playing surface, so that several of the players’ faces were in deep shadow.
When Anjali removed her coat in the doorway, her Specials uniform was revealed. From the corner of her eye she noticed that the sudden sight of her uniform made some of Sanjay’s nervous ‘friends’ scatter their winnings across the board, in effect ruining the state of play.
Sanjay was livid. ‘Look what you have done, Jelly Baby! Go to bed.’
A trifle amused at his attitude, Anjali stopped a moment to look around the table. One face moved out of the shadow into the light. It was the young man, the young thief, she had earlier seen on the other side of the perimeter fence at the engineering works.
Sanjay turned to his ‘friends’ to apologize for his sister’s presence. ‘I have a snoop for a sister, you know.’
Her face hardened, as a sneering smile played around the lips of the young thief. Without another word she left them and went into the kitchen.
While she was making herself a cup of coffee, the young thief opened the door, came in then closed the door behind him. From the sitting room, she had heard one of the others call him ‘Dev’.
This Dev moved alongside Anjali. He picked up a sharp piece of cutlery and played with it, perhaps trying to appear more menacing.
‘So the little police lady is Sanjay’s sister,’ he began slowly. ‘Don’t you think that’s funny? I think it’s funny.’
‘I’m sure Raj finds it very funny in hospital. He broke his leg,’ she replied calmly.
Dev seemed unperturbed, and still fingered the cutlery. ‘He’s a good kid. He’ll keep his mouth shut.’ A sneer curled his lip. ‘Just as you will, Jelly Baby. Is that what Sanjay calls you?’
She tried to remain unruffled, continuing the task of making her coffee while contradicting his assumption that all was well. ‘I wouldn’t bank on it,’ she warned.
Dev moved closer to her. ‘Listen, police lady. All I need do is ask your brother to say I’ve been here all night.’
Deliberately the young thief began to stroke Anjali’s hair. Although she was immediately alarmed, there wasn’t a thing she could do about it, which Dev obviously realized, so he continued. For the time being, she told herself, she would have to suffer and endure the indignity.
‘What do you do then?’ Dev asked. ‘Have the police bring your own brother in for questioning? You’re not that stupid, are you?’
11 (#ulink_ef277a62-6fba-57af-965a-8565fc413b0d)
At five minutes past nine, Viv Smith rushed in through the front door of the small suburban branch of the Bromsgrove Building Society, late for work again. As she quickly hung up her coat, out of the corner of her eye she noticed Maynard, the manager, holding his office door ajar, watching her. He checked his watch with a jaundiced look.
She was just settling into her position at the counter and unlocking her till when she felt someone touch her shoulder. It was only Madge, the young trainee.
‘There’s a call for you, Miss Smith,’ she said politely, yet with a bit of a frown. ‘A Miss Brownlow. From Social Services?’
‘That’s right. Thanks, Madge.’
Viv stood up and walked back to the telephone with the young trainee. Meanwhile Madge’s face was assuming a pained expression.
‘Mr Maynard told me to tell you about personal calls during office hours.’
Her duty done, Madge melted away. Viv reached for the waiting phone.
