even OK-plus.
The Biro face incision was on the far side from Harpur and out of sight. Speaking generally, Harpur felt glad of that. Although he thought the damage had been necessary as a playful deterrent in case Iles went totally and murderously berserk from sex jealousy, he didnât want to spend much time looking at it, any more than heâd enjoyed hearing that wound lovingly try to hang on to the pen by flesh grip when Harpur pulled it out. Blood had rivuletted down the ACCâs face, soaking his shirt collar and jacket lapel. He looked like a fencing slip-up - sabre fencing as a sport, not the building site, Keep Out kind of fencing. In the sport, someone on the end of a hit would cry âtouchéâ to acknowledge token contact from the otherâs foil. The delve into Ilesâs face by Biro went several millimetres beyond a surface touch, though. The Assistant Chiefâs mucked-up clothes could go with Harpurâs suit to the cleaners in the morning, unless Iles objected to having his gear treated as a unit with Harpurâs. Heâd probably regard that as disgusting impudence, like being asked to use Harpurâs comb. The front passenger seat would need some scrubbing.
âWhat actual
type
of thing did we learn, or half-learn, sir - its ballpark category?â Harpur asked. âJust for clarification.â
âFuck ballparks. Thatâs not our lingo.â
âWhat actual type of thing did we learn, sir - its broad British category?â Harpur asked. âJust for clarification.â
âI knew youâd get there eventually, Col.â
âThank you, sir.â
âOff the beaten track, Harpur.â
âIn which respect, sir?â
âYes, off the beaten track.â
âNew methods of looking at things, do you mean, sir - methods off the beaten track, so to speak? Whatâs referred to, I gather, as â
lateral
thinkingâ? Escape the narrowness and clichéd response of the usual approach?â
âOff the beaten track,â Iles replied. âThis comes out of our little sojourn on the Elms Estate housing project tonight. You might ask, âWho is or was off the beaten track, and which beaten track?â Thatâs an entirely reasonable question in the present circs, and a sign of your not by any means negligible acumen.â
âWhich, sir?â
âWhich what?â
âWell, circs,â Harpur said.
âThese.â
âWho is or was off the beaten track, sir? I think thatâs an entirely reasonable question in the present circs.â
âInteresting, isnât it?â
âWhich?â Harpur replied.
âWhich what?â
âWhich beaten track?â
âThatâs the heart of it, in my view,â Iles said. âCertainly worth some consideration. Youâve put your finger on it, Col. I was convinced you would. People say all those things about you, but I think theyâre hasty.â
âWhich things?â
âMalign.â
âIn which respect, sir?â
âDonât let them depress you, Col. You have your positive aspects. Theyâre not on palpable show but theyâre there somewhere in you. I tell these critics itâs impossible and unfair to judge a man entirely by his slouch appearance and casual attention to hygiene.â
âThank you, sir.â
So, after their little charade on Elms, flitting in and out of their true selves, flitting in and out of their make-believe selves, alive and dead - Harpur and Iles went next evening to call on the real Jane and Gerald at their flat off Guild Square. It must be a weird experience for the ACC to, as it were, hand back their identities to this couple, Iles having been both of them less than twenty-four hours ago in very memorable conditions, voice bang-on for each, characters passably defined: she large-minded, bold; he cautious, sceptical. âBut surely the case is closed,â Gerald said,
Philipp Frank
Nancy Krulik
Linda Green
Christopher Jory
Monica Alexander
Carolyn Williford
Eve Langlais
William Horwood
Sharon Butala
Suz deMello