James Craig - The Enemy Within

‘Sorry,’ Holt said through a mouthful of toast, ‘couldn’t find any butter.’

‘It’s fine,’ Mullin grinned.

‘I need to do some shopping.’

‘As always.’ They had been going out for almost a year now. In that time, as far as she was aware, inspector Rob Holt had never once set foot inside the local Co-op. Despite not technically living here, Mullin seemed to buy all of the groceries. She washed down the toast with some tea from the chipped Bay City Rollers mug that a previous tenant had left in the cupboard and gestured to the remains of the Wonderloaf by the sink. ‘Want some more?’

Holt shook his head. ‘No, it’s okay. I’m fine.’ Getting to his feet, he shuffled round the table and squeezed behind her chair. ‘I’m sorry I got so grumpy,’ he mumbled, reaching forward and planting a kiss on the crown of her head. ‘I was just hungry.’

‘If sex takes that much out of you,’ she grinned, ‘maybe we’ll have to start rationing it.’

‘Hardly,’ he laughed. Reaching for the outsized red pot, he refilled his mug with tea, before adding a splash of milk from a carton in the fridge. ‘The job is really quite. . challenging right now.’

‘I know.’

‘I understand what you’re saying about Williamson,’ he continued, ‘and I know we’re skating on thin ice.’

You’re skating on thin ice, Mullin thought, saying nothing.

‘But I have to tread carefully on this one.’

‘Even if it means fitting up an innocent man?’ The words were out of her mouth before she had the chance to think about them.

A grimace passed across his face. ‘You don’t know he’s innocent.’

‘You don’t know he’s guilty,’ she shot back.

‘That’s not for me to decide,’ he said firmly, ‘as you well know.’

‘Do you even have enough to charge him? Really?’

He thought about it for a moment. ‘This whole conversation is fairly academic. There’s not really anything I can do about it. It’s out of my hands.’

‘Who’s in charge then? Billy Bunter?’

‘Martin Palmer? He’s just a kid sent up from London to report back about what’s going on.’ Outside in the darkness, the silence was interrupted by a car driving slowly past. Holt briefly wondered who could be out at this late hour, prowling his streets. Slipping back into his seat, he looked at her carefully. ‘You know you can never write any of this stuff, don’t you?’

‘You told me that already.’

‘I’m serious.’

‘Or what? I’ll end up like Beatrice?’ She tried to laugh but it came out more like a hollow squeak.

He took a deep breath. ‘Be serious, Fran.’

Placing her mug on the table, she gave him a reassuring pat on the arm. ‘Don’t worry. I won’t drop you in it. The usual rules apply, however big the story.’

‘Good,’ Holt exhaled. At the outset of their relationship the two of them had agreed that no ‘pillow talk’ could ever, under any circumstances, be used in any of Fran’s stories. At the time, it hadn’t been such a big deal; Inspector Holt didn’t have any newsworthy stories. But since they’d been caught up in the mineworkers’ strike, the agreement had been put to the test once or twice.

Mullin, however, had always kept her side of the bargain.

So far.

Did he trust her? He was forty-three years old, forty-four in little more than a month. This had become, more or less, the longest relationship he’d had in his life. He was beginning to think that he and Fran Mullin might even have some kind of long-term future together. If he couldn’t trust Fran, whom could he trust?

Sitting across the table in the middle of the night, he made a clear decision. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘you see, it’s like this: we have been told that the Slater thing has to be cleared up as quickly as possible.’

‘Told? By whom?’

Holt made a face. ‘Just told. This is a very unusual situation. We are kind of at war. The usual rules have been suspended.’ He thought about that statement for a moment, before correcting himself. ‘Well, maybe not so much suspended as blurred. It’s all very confused. Everyone’s making it up as they go along.’

She stared into her mug. ‘Including fitting people up for murder? That doesn’t seem like blurring the rules to me; that seems like breaking them.’

‘No one’s fitting anyone up,’ he protested, already wondering about the wisdom of his decision to come clean. ‘Williamson is a genuine suspect. Plus, don’t forget that he assaulted one of my officers when he was arrested. I saw that myself.’

‘Do you think he did it?’

Staring at the table, he sighed deeply. ‘Like I said, I don’t have to take a view on the person’s innocence or guilt. I just have to present the evidence.’

‘How very diplomatic,’ she replied sarcastically. ‘Even a half-decent lawyer will say this is a political prosecution. Ian Williamson is being hung out to dry because he supports the strike. It allows you to kill two birds with one stone. You can silence that dotty old woman who keeps saying embarrassing things about Thatcher and get an NUM yobbo off the street at the same time.’

Holt shook his head. ‘Williamson isn’t political. He’s just a little thug using the opportunity presented by the current situation to have a scrap every night. He isn’t a miner either. As far as I know, he’s never done a proper day’s work in his life.’

‘Still,’ Mullin yawned, ‘that’s not how he’ll be presented. Unless you have a totally watertight conviction. He’ll become a martyr to the cause.’

‘I know.’

‘And who’s to say, in twenty years’ time, he isn’t freed on a miscarriage of justice and they come after you?’

For a while, they sat in silence, each lost in their thoughts. Finally, Mullin got to her feet. ‘Time for bed,’ she said, pushing back her chair.

He raised his eyebrows hopefully.

‘To sleep,’ she said firmly. ‘You need your rest. I’ve got a feeling you’ve got a rough few days coming up.’

Feeling sorry for himself, Ian Williamson felt the large bump where his head had repeatedly hit the tarmac. The bleeding had stopped but it still hurt like a motherfucker. It was like the worst hangover he’d ever had, times ten.

Times a hundred.

He looked up at the young WPC sitting by the door. ‘Can I get some aspirin?’ He pointed to his forehead. ‘It hurts like a total bastid.’

The officer looked at him, but said nothing.

‘Hey!’ He pushed out of the chair, yanking at the handcuffs which kept him attached to the radiator on the wall behind him. ‘I’m talking to you. .’

The WPC gave her best inscrutable stare. She had a hawk nose and a bad case of acne.

‘I’m talking to you,’ he repeated, sitting down again. ‘All I want is a bloody aspirin.’

Still he got no response.

Stupid bitch, Williamson thought grimly, yawning. His body ached with tiredness and he needed a shit. He thought about having a crap in his trousers. That might force them to get him out of here. On the other hand, if the lads found out about it he’d never hear the end of it. That kind of thing could stain you for life, no pun intended. Grimacing, he kept his sphincter squeezed shut.

Where were Arthur and Eric? After bringing them back to the station, the police had split the three of them up. Williamson had been left in this interview room with the beaky bitch all night. What the hell was going on?

In his experience, this was not the way it usually panned out. This was the fifth time he’d been nicked since the coal strike had begun. Every arrest was a badge of honour. It was like everything; once you understood the routine you were fine.