spotted Police Constable Robb going in the hotel’s front door, quite handsome in full uniform; blue tunic, bucket helmet, dark tie and all. Robb saw him at the same time and came over for a friendly hello.
“I’m glad to see you, Dr. Oliver,” he said after he’d been introduced to Julie. “I was hoping to have a chance to speak with you. I’m in for a quick sandwich. All right if I join you?”
“Sure, pull up a chair.”
“I’ll just order inside. Faster that way. Back in a tick.”
“He seems as nice as you said,” Julie remarked as he disappeared inside.
“Oh, a good kid, very nice. It’s Clapper that’s the hard case. I’m telling you, I’d have slugged the guy if he’d treated me the way he treated Robb.”
“Yeah, right,” Julie said, and they both laughed.
When Robb returned with a ham sandwich and a can of English lemonade, the first thing he did was strip off his coat and helmet and lay them neatly on an unused chair.
“Ah, that’s better.” Glaring at the helmet, he massaged his temples. “That thing is like wearing a pail on your head.”
“You can’t wear the soft cap?” Gideon asked. “I saw a couple in your office.”
“Oh, generally, we do, when we wear a cap at all. But I’ve only just come up from quay duty-seeing in the ferry-and the tourists, you know, they like to see them. Well-” He smiled and shrugged. “‘A policeman’s lot is not a happy one.’”
“‘Taking one consideration with another,’” Julie recited, which pleased him, and together they sang a few more lines of patter from Pirates of Penzance.
While he ate they engaged in small talk. What did Julie do? (She was a park ranger. “How interesting!”) Where was Robb from? (Bournemouth, on his last three months of a two-year assignment to St. Mary’s.) What was life like in the Scillies? (Quiet.) But Gideon could feel him edging closer to whatever it was he was anxious to talk about, and finally he got there.
“I hope you’ll come by and see the sergeant about that bone again,” he said as he finished the first half of the sandwich and used a napkin to pluck a crumb from the corner of his mouth. “I’m sure you could be a great deal of help on the case.”
“What case?” Gideon asked. “He didn’t seem very interested in opening one yesterday.”
“I grant you, his manner can be a bit, er, unfortunate at times. Sometimes I have to step in and smooth the waters a bit.”
“As you’re doing now?” Julie asked.
“As I’m doing now. But underneath his rough exterior, you see-”
“There lies a heart of gold,” Gideon said.
Robb laughed with patently real amusement. “Well, no, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that, but four out of five days he’s quite approachable, quite genial, even.”
“Obviously, then, I hit him on day five.”
“In a way, yes. Exeter had been nagging him all morning. That always puts him in a foul mood.”
“I see. It wasn’t my personality that set him off, it was just my rotten timing.”
“Very much so,” Robb said, nodding eagerly. “His attitude is entirely different today, entirely. You’d hardly know he was the same man. He’s had me open a case log on the matter, and he’s been hard at the computer, searching for possible leads on that bone ever since.”
Gideon was astonished. “He has? What brought about this change?”
“Well, you see, he telephoned headquarters about it, as required in possible homicide cases. The usual procedure would be for them to send a detective constable from St. Ives to determine if foul play is really a possibility. If so, a detective inspector or perhaps a chief inspector, from Truro or possibly from Plymouth, would be assigned as SIO-that is, as senior investigative officer-”
Gideon hadn’t remembered that Robb was so talky. “I’m afraid I don’t see-”
“Well, the thing is, I gather they pretty much laughed at him-‘ One piece of bone from who knows where, with a few marks on
“I’m glad to see you, Dr. Oliver,” he said after he’d been introduced to Julie. “I was hoping to have a chance to speak with you. I’m in for a quick sandwich. All right if I join you?”
“Sure, pull up a chair.”
“I’ll just order inside. Faster that way. Back in a tick.”
“He seems as nice as you said,” Julie remarked as he disappeared inside.
“Oh, a good kid, very nice. It’s Clapper that’s the hard case. I’m telling you, I’d have slugged the guy if he’d treated me the way he treated Robb.”
“Yeah, right,” Julie said, and they both laughed.
When Robb returned with a ham sandwich and a can of English lemonade, the first thing he did was strip off his coat and helmet and lay them neatly on an unused chair.
“Ah, that’s better.” Glaring at the helmet, he massaged his temples. “That thing is like wearing a pail on your head.”
“You can’t wear the soft cap?” Gideon asked. “I saw a couple in your office.”
“Oh, generally, we do, when we wear a cap at all. But I’ve only just come up from quay duty-seeing in the ferry-and the tourists, you know, they like to see them. Well-” He smiled and shrugged. “‘A policeman’s lot is not a happy one.’”
“‘Taking one consideration with another,’” Julie recited, which pleased him, and together they sang a few more lines of patter from Pirates of Penzance.
While he ate they engaged in small talk. What did Julie do? (She was a park ranger. “How interesting!”) Where was Robb from? (Bournemouth, on his last three months of a two-year assignment to St. Mary’s.) What was life like in the Scillies? (Quiet.) But Gideon could feel him edging closer to whatever it was he was anxious to talk about, and finally he got there.
“I hope you’ll come by and see the sergeant about that bone again,” he said as he finished the first half of the sandwich and used a napkin to pluck a crumb from the corner of his mouth. “I’m sure you could be a great deal of help on the case.”
“What case?” Gideon asked. “He didn’t seem very interested in opening one yesterday.”
“I grant you, his manner can be a bit, er, unfortunate at times. Sometimes I have to step in and smooth the waters a bit.”
“As you’re doing now?” Julie asked.
“As I’m doing now. But underneath his rough exterior, you see-”
“There lies a heart of gold,” Gideon said.
Robb laughed with patently real amusement. “Well, no, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that, but four out of five days he’s quite approachable, quite genial, even.”
“Obviously, then, I hit him on day five.”
“In a way, yes. Exeter had been nagging him all morning. That always puts him in a foul mood.”
“I see. It wasn’t my personality that set him off, it was just my rotten timing.”
“Very much so,” Robb said, nodding eagerly. “His attitude is entirely different today, entirely. You’d hardly know he was the same man. He’s had me open a case log on the matter, and he’s been hard at the computer, searching for possible leads on that bone ever since.”
Gideon was astonished. “He has? What brought about this change?”
“Well, you see, he telephoned headquarters about it, as required in possible homicide cases. The usual procedure would be for them to send a detective constable from St. Ives to determine if foul play is really a possibility. If so, a detective inspector or perhaps a chief inspector, from Truro or possibly from Plymouth, would be assigned as SIO-that is, as senior investigative officer-”
Gideon hadn’t remembered that Robb was so talky. “I’m afraid I don’t see-”
“Well, the thing is, I gather they pretty much laughed at him-‘ One piece of bone from who knows where, with a few marks on
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