Child's Play

Chapter 2

Neville Watmough banged the receiver down, not displeased that the fat superintendent had already contrived to anger him. A good head of fury was the best preparation he knew for an interview with Dalziel.

So far it hadn’t been a happy morning. The news of Sharman’s murder had caused deep personal distress. The Selection Committee weren’t going to be impressed by two unsolved killings on his patch at the same time. He had worked out a strategy which would involve discovering from Dalziel where the greatest progress had been made, then taking over the investigation himself with a public statement including a modest passing reference to the Pickford case.

Then Ike Ogilby had rung.

‘Just to keep you in the picture, Nev,’ he said. ‘This chap rang again last evening. Same business. Henry Vollans, that’s the young chap you met at the Gents, set up a meeting with him for first thing this morning, but he didn’t turn up. Must’ve got cold feet, but he’s obviously working up to it. Or maybe he got a better offer.’

‘Offer?’

‘Oh yes. Money was mentioned. He said he could tell us things which would tear Mid-Yorkshire CID apart, but he wanted well paid. Well, maybe he’s just trying it on, Nev, but I promised I’d keep you in the picture.’

‘Bastard!’ said Watmough as he put the receiver down. ‘Thanks for nothing!’

He had no doubt that if Ogilby had got a story and it was a good one, he’d have planned to run it with little reference to himself. This way, the smart bastard was able to put Watmough under an obligation without really doing anything.

It was time that he, Neville Watmough, took control of the situation and became once more master of his own fate.

There was a gentle tap on the door.

‘Enter,’ he called.

Another tap. Again he called, ‘Enter!’ but all he got was another tap.

Sighing, he rose and opened the door. Dalziel stood there, smiling nervously in a grotesque parody of the naughty schoolboy summoned to see the headmaster.

‘For Christ’s sake, come in and sit down!’ snarled Watmough.

Dalziel advanced and sat. The chair creaked like an old ship in high seas. Watmough sought for the best approach and opted for man-of-the-world directness.

‘OK, Andy,’ he said crisply. ‘It’s been brought to my notice there may be a practising homosexual in the CID. I want to know who it is.’

Dalziel looked unhappy rather than shocked. He glanced around the room, then leaned forward across the desk and said confidentially. ‘You really want to find out, do you, Neville?’

Watmough found himself drawn forward irresistibly until their heads were almost meeting.

‘Yes, I do, Andy,’ he said.

‘Then give us a kiss and I’ll tell you!’

Dalziel rocked back in his chair, roaring with laughter. Watmough remained leaning forward, every muscle spanned to breaking-point, knowing that the slightest relaxation might send him hurtling across the desk to strangle the fat man.

Dalziel’s laughter finally subsided, then faded away completely.

‘Here,’ he said. ‘You’re not serious, are you?’

‘Deadly serious,’ said Watmough, slowly straightening up.

‘Well, bugger me. What do you want me to do?’

‘Track him down. Surely I don’t need to spell out the implications?’

Dalziel said, ‘I think that mebbe you do, sir.’

‘Very well. Perhaps you’re right. I’d like us both to be quite clear what’s involved. If there is a gay in CID and you don’t know about him, Andy, presumably he reckons it’s best that you remain ignorant. Now in my book, that makes him a security risk, right off. Gays, by the very nature of their needs, can find themselves moving in pretty shady areas. Even those who are most open can find themselves mixed up with some pretty dicey characters. As for the ones who try to keep up the pretence of being straight, they are natural blackmail victims. You follow me?’

Dalziel said, puzzled, ‘What would you threaten a gay cop with?’

‘Exposure, of course. It would ruin his career.’

‘Being gay would?’

‘Not having admitted it might,’ said Watmough confidently.

‘But if he did admit it, would that ruin his career too?’

Watmough turned aside from this line of argument.

‘It’s not just the job, though it would make things hellish difficult. A gay is susceptible in so many ways. Suppose he’s married and his wife and family don’t know …’

‘A married gay?’ said Dalziel.

‘Oh yes,’ said Watmough, safe with the support of Sexual Deviancy on the shelf behind his head. ‘Didn’t you know that Oscar Wilde, for instance, was married with two children?’

‘No. I didn’t know that,’ said Dalziel. ‘Would that be Chief Inspector Wilde at Scarborough?’

Watmough said in the very quiet voice of a man who knows there is nothing on his diapason between softness and uncontrolled explosion, ‘Just do as I ask, Mr Dalziel. Just do as I ask.’

‘Of course, sir,’ said Dalziel formally. ‘But just so I know for sure what that is, could you mebbe put it down on paper?’

Watmough regarded him speculatively for a moment, then he smiled. Dalziel thought he was being clever asking for a written instruction, but written instructions worked both ways.

He pulled an internal memo pad towards him, inserted a carbon and began to write rapidly.

To: Detective-Superintendent Dalziel A.

Further to our discussion of today’s date concerning allegations of sexual deviancy against an unnamed CID officer, you are instructed to investigate same allegation and report with all reasonable speed.

He read it through. It was direct without being over-detailed; firm evidence, if the worst happened and there was any kind of scandal, that he had been on top of his job. Dalziel, he was pretty certain, would do nothing. Well, that was his lookout. It would be his failure, either through negligence, incompetence, or a cover-up!

He signed the memorandum and passed it over.

‘I think that ends all ambiguity,’ he said.

Dalziel read the sheet of paper carefully, folded it once and put it in his wallet.

‘Thank you, sir,’ he said. ‘I’m not sure, though, how I should go about this. I’d be grateful for any ideas.’

Watmough smiled. He knew that Dalziel distrusted above all things psychiatrists, particularly when they affected to be helping in police affairs.

‘Why not have a word with that chap Pottle from the Central’s Psychiatric Unit? He’s helped us in the past. Maybe he can give you a few pointers what to look for.’

Dalziel considered, then grunted noncommittally. He did not look happy. It was rare to have the fat man at a disadvantage and Watmough decided to ride his luck.

‘Now, Andy,’ he said. ‘Back to real policing. I’d like a full rundown on progress in these murder investigations. Two in less than a week. It’s not good, not good at all.’

He made it sound like Dalziel’s personal fault and to his delight the Superintendent rose to the bait.

‘That’s nowt to do with me,’ he growled. ‘The buggers don’t consult us when they’re going to do a killing, do they?’

‘No, Andy,’ said Watmough silkily. ‘They don’t. But the Police Committee consults us when they want to know what we’re doing about it. People get worried, Andy. The public voice. We must liaise closely with them. Public relations is the name of the game nowadays. You’ll have studied my directives on this matter?’

‘Oh aye,’ said Dalziel unconvincingly.

‘Good. Then you’ll know that information and consultation are what the Committee require and what it’s our duty to give them. I can’t perform my part in that duty unless you consult and inform me too, Andy. You’d do well to remember that.’

‘Consult and inform,’ repeated Dalziel as if committing two important phrases in some strange language to heart.

‘That’s it. All right. What’s the latest on your investigations? How can I help, Andy. That’s all I want to know. How can I help?’