The Ring of Death by Sally Spencer

was conscious that somebody had sat down in the chair to his left, but kept his eyes firmly focused on the entrance to the restaurant.
    â€˜Mistake Number One,’ said a voice he recognized.
    Crane turned. ‘Mistake, Sarge?’
    â€˜If you were an ordinary member of the public, instead of a bobby involved in surveillance work, you would have at least given anybody who sat down beside you a quick glance.’
    â€˜Any more mistakes?’ Crane asked, rattled.
    â€˜A couple,’ Cousins replied easily. ‘For a start, you’ve been focusing your attention exclusively on the target.’
    â€˜And what should I have been doing, instead?’
    â€˜You should have been on the lookout for anybody else watching him, or for anybody watching you watching him .’
    â€˜Do you think there is anybody doing that?’
    â€˜No, or I wouldn’t be taking the risk talking to you now. But the only reason I can say that with any certainty is because I’ve been checking out this bar for the last ten minutes myself.’
    â€˜You said there were a couple of things.’
    â€˜So I did – and the second is the way you’re turned out.’
    â€˜My suit, you mean?’
    â€˜Yes.’
    â€˜It’s a good suit, this, Sarge,’ Crane protested. ‘It’s as good as the ones that everybody else here is wearing.’
    â€˜Not quite – at least not to the trained eye,’ Cousins said gently. ‘But you’re right – it is a good suit. What’s wrong is the way that you’re wearing it.’
    â€˜So how would you prefer me to wear it? Upside down? With the trousers wrapped around my head, and the jacket covering my legs?’ Crane asked. And then he felt guilty, because what Cousins was offering him was not a rebuke but constructive criticism. ‘Sorry, Sarge,’ he added.
    â€˜Think no more about it,’ Cousins said easily. ‘The problem is, you see, you look as if you’re on the way to a wedding.’
    â€˜And how should I look?’
    â€˜As if it’s not a suit you reserve for special occasions, but your normal working clothes – the rising young executive’s equivalent of a pair of overalls. You need to look at home in it, and you could start by loosening your tie a bit.’
    Crane grinned, and loosened his tie. ‘Thanks, Sarge.’
    â€˜I’ve got another piece of advice for you, lad, totally unrelated to this surveillance,’ Cousins said. ‘Well, maybe two pieces, if I’m being strictly accurate. But since they’re not related to your duties, you don’t have to hear them, if you don’t want to.’
    â€˜Go right ahead, Sarge,’ Crane said, though the words were edged with uncertainty.
    â€˜The first is that if you keep trying to cover your lies by pretending to be a babbling idiot, there’s a real danger that people will start thinking that a babbling idiot is just what you are.’
    â€˜I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Crane said.
    â€˜Now that’s better!’ Cousins said, with approval. ‘No babbling there – just a blatant straightforward lie. But you might like to consider the other possibility, which is not lying at all .’
    â€˜You’re talking about the Latin thing this afternoon, aren’t you?’ Crane asked, miserably.
    â€˜I’m talking about the Latin thing,’ Cousins agreed. ‘Just how educated are you?’
    â€˜I’ve got a university degree.’
    â€˜A good degree – or a bare pass?’
    â€˜A good degree.’
    Cousins nodded, as if there’d been no surprises so far.
    â€˜And you’re keeping it quiet because . . .?’ he wondered.
    â€˜Because most bobbies don’t trust anybody who they think has had too much education.’
    â€˜ Somebody on the Force must know.’
    â€˜Somebody must. But nobody who I come into