Full Dark House Page 5

  In his eyes, there was a far deeper malaise eating into modern society, a moral turpitude that allowed slum children to die in squalor and innocents to be coshed in the streets. He considered most of his colleagues to be more stupid than the lads they were trying to catch. What kind of a world was it that allowed thieving to become more of a vocation than policing? He hated the lapel-thumbing swaggers, the beery airing of prejudices, the backslapping arrogance, the barely veiled contempt for civvies.

  Displaying an excessive devotion to duty is no way to make friends. Biddle’s colleagues singled him out for all the worst tasks. When he finally managed to get a transfer, it was to a unit so invisible to the rest of the force that he felt sure he would be safe at last. Nobody seemed to know what the new job would entail, but Biddle figured it had to be better than staying where he was.

  He was told that the new unit operated under independent financial status, and was answerable only to the Home Office. He had heard rumours: that a series of special squads was being set up to deal with crimes of terrorism, treason and misconduct, acts that were likely to cause social unrest, panic and the loss of that indefinable but essential wartime quality—public spirit. There were already the best part of a dozen services in place to cope with the physical needs of a nation at war. One unit was studying the psychological aspects of propaganda and misinformation, and another was to gauge the effect of continuous bombing on public morale.

  The PCU did not publicly recruit and had very few permanent staff. No one inside it was allowed to mix with regular members of the force for reasons of security. There were other stories: of an ongoing feud between the unit and the City of London police, and of a row with the Home Office over the cost of hiring a group of white witches to help with an investigation.

  Not since the country’s civil war had the rumour-mongering machine worked so adroitly. Adolf Hitler, many said, was consulting an astrologer called Karl Ossietz to help him formulate his invasion plans. There was a belief among shop girls in the north of England that German paratroopers were landing in Norway disguised as parsons, that they were coming for healthy English girls and would force them into German baby farms. When sensible folk started believing nonsense like this, clearly something had to be done, but solid information was hard to come by. Mail was censored. All sensitive details were excised. No weather forecasts were issued. Every time an offensive was launched the newspapers sold out in minutes, and you had to find yourself a wireless.

  Biddle expressed his views to Superintendent Farley Davenport at a lecture on law enforcement, and was invited to apply to the unit. A few days later, he was notified that his application had been accepted. He couldn’t stay where he was because his colleagues were making his life hell, and the PCU seemed to be the only other place left for him. He was exempt from conscription because the police recognized his zealotry as a useful tool in troubled times, so long as it could be controlled. And Davenport aimed to control it well.

  Which was how Biddle found himself in the chaotic offices above the tailor’s, in the alley beside Bow Street station one murky Monday afternoon in November 1940. He felt uneasy from the moment DS Forthright invited him to step inside. The unit didn’t appear to be attached to the police station, or anywhere else where real officers gathered. There were no incident, briefing or custody rooms, no communal areas of any kind. There appeared to be a secure property room and some kind of makeshift crime lab, which was odd, because they were usually tucked away in separate offices far from public view, or buried inside much larger buildings where protection could be assured. Such places were primed with red steel alarm bells because tons of evidence, including cash, jewellery, guns and narcotics, passed through them. This unit was beside a busy police station, right on a crowded public thoroughfare, and didn’t appear to be protected in any way that he could see.

  ‘You won’t have seen a place like this before because we’re an experimental unit,’ Forthright explained, reading his mind, ‘and at the moment it’s a one-off. We’re a bit short of space but at least we’ve still got a roof over our heads. I’d take you to your office, duckie, but it’s full of tea chests.’

  The detective sergeant seated herself on the edge of Bryant’s battered desk and studied Davenport’s latest recruit. Tough-looking, sturdy, hair cropped too close to the head. It gave him the appearance of being carved from solid bone. She’d heard a lot about this young chap. He sounded too good to be true, or at least, too good for the unit. He didn’t say much but his small grey eyes took everything in, and he was already starting to unnerve her.

  ‘I’m sure your mates have warned you about Mr Bryant,’ she said, more to break the silence than for any purpose of imparting information. ‘He’s the unit’s big thinker. You’ve probably heard he’s a bit potty.’

  ‘Is he?’

  She paused to consider the idea. ‘Well, I suppose it depends upon your attitude towards clairvoyants, spiritualists, table-tappers and the like.’

  ‘Cranks and crackpots, society’s wastrels,’ said Biddle without hesitation.

  ‘Then yes, I reckon you’ll find he is a bit eccentric.’ Forthright sighed and looked at the floor, wondering if Bryant was on his way back yet.

  ‘I’m told he works long hours.’ Biddle crossed to the mantelpiece and studied the books piled there. Common Folk Remedies. A Comprehensive History of Occult Practices. The Complete Mythology of the British Isles. The Everyman Book of Wartime First Aid. The last one had several pages place-marked with playing cards, and in one case a haddock bone. He looked further along the shelf. Unnatural Vices—Their Causes and Cures. The Third Sex. Fifty Thrifty Cheese Recipes. Nachtkultur and Metatropism. How to Spot German and Italian Aircraft. A picture of a beautiful, melancholy woman looking out across the Thames at sunset, and a sepia print of a crazy-looking old lady, possibly Bryant’s grandmother, were balanced on top of a copy of Whither Wicca? The Future of Pagan Cults. What kind of madman read stuff like this?

  ‘He’s young, Mr Biddle. He doesn’t sleep much because he has a lot of energy and doesn’t want to miss anything.’

  ‘How old is he?’

  ‘Twenty-two, but don’t let his age fool you. When he’s awake and at the office he expects everyone else to be as well. You’ll soon get used to his funny ways.’

  ‘I was employed directly by Mr Davenport and ultimately report to him.’ Biddle looked around the shabby room and sniffed. Stale tobacco and something unhealthily perfumed. He sniffed again.

  ‘Incense,’ Forthright explained. ‘He reckons it helps him to concentrate.’ She folded her arms across her ample bosom. ‘If you think this is a step up to promotion, Mr Biddle, you can forget it. It’s a bleeding dead-end job.’

  ‘I’m not looking to make my name. I just want to see results achieved,’ Biddle told her.

  ‘Well, we all want to do our bit, I’m sure,’ Forthright agreed. ‘But if you keep an open mind, you can learn a lot.’

  ‘And Mr Bryant’s new partner is starting today? I’m surprised not to see him here.’

  Forthright found herself not wanting to volunteer any more information. She already liked John May. He looked logical and uncomplicated. Arthur was hoping he would handle the technical side of assignments, deal with the labs, tests, collation of evidence, procedural work. The DS raised her head at the sound of footsteps in the corridor.

  The door opened to reveal Bryant, wrapped in a huge, partially unravelled brown scarf, with his new partner in tow.

  ‘Stone the crows, Gladys, are you still here?’ Bryant pulled ineffectually at the scarf. ‘I thought you’d be gone by now.’ It was Forthright’s afternoon for working for the WVS in the Aldwych.

  ‘I was settling in your new colleague.’ Forthright rose from the desk corner and straightened her serge jacket.

  ‘Not ours, surely?’ asked Bryant, glancing vaguely at Biddle. ‘This can’t be the fellow. He’s as fit as a butcher’s dog. I thought we only got the halt and the lame. Welcome to the unit,
Mr Biddle.’ Bryant held out his hand. ‘I hear you’ve proven a bit too smart for your local constabulary. This is another new teammate, Mr John May.’ Bryant peered down into his scarf to find the knot, then glanced up at Biddle, studying his colleague with undisguised interest. ‘We’re certainly getting some young blood today. How old are you?’

  ‘Twenty-one, sir.’

  ‘We’d better find you a place to hang your hat,’ said Bryant airily. ‘I understand you’re Davenport’s man.’

  ‘I report to him.’

  ‘So am I right in assuming you’re here to keep an eye on us?’

  ‘I wouldn’t put it like that, sir.’

  ‘Really?’ Bryant smiled cheerfully. ‘How would you put it?’

  Biddle had never taken such an instant dislike to anyone in his life. There was something about Arthur Bryant that made him want to punch him in the face. The other, taller man had not yet said a word. Perhaps he felt the same way.

  ‘Mr Biddle will need to be released for his forensic course,’ Forthright reminded him.

  ‘Oh yes? What are you studying?’

  ‘Blood and tissue typing, gas chromatography, perishable evidence,’ Biddle replied.

  ‘Hm. Anything more—intuitive?’

  ‘Sir?’

  ‘Interested in forensic psychology at all? Like to get inside the perpetrator’s mind rather than studying the mud he leaves behind on his boots?’

  ‘Not sure about that, sir.’

  Bryant grunted disapprovingly. ‘Well, with Mr Davenport’s permission, we’ll have to see if we can whip you into shape. I suppose you’ve been hearing a lot of rubbish about the unit.’

  ‘No, sir.’ Biddle stared blank-eyed at him. He appeared to be studying a point on the wall somewhere above Bryant’s head.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’ve heard the rumours too. All I ask is that you’re here when I’m here. If your classes clash, we’ll have to work something out.’

  ‘I’d prefer to let Mr Davenport decide my priorities, sir.’

  ‘Oh, I see,’ said Bryant, seeing all too well. He thought for a moment, then brightened up. ‘In that case, you can start by making us all some tea. Sweet and strong. I won’t ask where you get the sugar from although there’s a shifty-looking chap on the corner of the alley who does a nice line in demerara, and use my mug, not a cup, they’re for visitors. Make one for Mr May as well. Do you take sugar, Mr May?’

  Biddle glared more fiercely than ever at the spot on the wall. ‘That’s not a duty covered in my job, sir.’

  ‘Nor’s cleaning the lavatories, but that’s what you’ll be doing if you don’t learn to make decent tea. I’m timing you. Tick tock, tick tock. Off you go.’

  Biddle reluctantly retreated, and Bryant booted the door shut behind him.

  ‘So, it seems we have a cuckoo in the nest,’ said Bryant with a sigh. ‘He looks a bit of a Jerry, don’t you think? It must be the haircut. Oh, bugger.’ A siren had begun to wail in the street, rising in tone, then dropping. ‘We have to go down to the cells next door. Biddle can bring our teas over, but he’d better not spill any.’

  9

  PECULIAR CRIMES

  ‘I wouldn’t make too many jokes about Davenport in here if I were you, Arthur,’ warned Gladys. She glanced at John May hovering awkwardly beside them in the cell, anxious not to appear to be listening. ‘I won’t always be around to protect you.’

  The green and cream corridor of the underground cell sheltered the entire staff of Bow Street. The PCU personnel were granted their own cell during air raids, either out of respect for their privacy or because Sergeant Carfax had been saying unpleasant things to the others about them. The lights were off, and the acrid stench of the hurricane lamps made everyone’s eyes water.

  ‘You’re not talking about marrying old Longbright again, are you?’ asked Bryant with a grin. ‘I thought you’d put your wedding plans off until after the war.’

  ‘Not wishing to sound morbid, Arthur, I could be an old maid or a widow by then. Eight years I’ve been at Bow Street, eight years of late nights and ruined weekend plans, and what happens? Hitler invades Denmark and all leave is cancelled. Not only do I have to do my job, but I also get to be your nursemaid, placate your landlady, arrange for your laundry to be collected, fend off reporters and lie to everyone who’s trying to have this place closed down. Now I’ve been given one weekend in which to get married and sort out the rest of my life. Is it too much to want a little happiness before we’re all blown to smithereens?’

  ‘Perhaps you have a point,’ Bryant admitted. ‘I wish you a long and happy marriage to the bounder Longbright. Listen.’ From somewhere above them came the muffled thump of a bomb. The next one would reveal whether bombers were heading towards them or away, like the forking of thunderstorms. ‘We may emerge from here to find the unit gone. Give us a cuddle.’

  ‘I most certainly will not, you dreadful man.’

  Bryant was going to miss DS Forthright. He had felt a passion for her from the morning he had seen her standing in the queue of the Strand Lyons, adjusting her stockings in plain view of the staff. As she hitched up the hem of her skirt, he had become so distracted by her shiny dark thighs that he had emptied a jug of milk down the front of his trousers. When Gladys looked up and saw Bryant staring at her she seemed genuinely surprised. ‘What?’ she had asked loudly in Bow Bells elocution. In the manner of British gentlemen across the centuries, everyone had looked away, embarrassed.

  There was something peculiarly unselfconscious about Gladys. She didn’t seem to care what anyone thought of her. Bryant was aware of other people every second of his life. What women thought of him mattered to a punitive degree. It was to do with being young, of course. After he adjusted to the idea of being undesirable, life became easier. By the time he hit forty, he no longer cared about the effects of what he said or did, which was good for him and bad for everyone else.

  Forthright had put a highly promising pathology career on hold in order to gain field experience in the unit, and planned to continue her studies at night, but the war had come along and changed everything. The last thing she had wanted was to have some lovesick young man mooning over her, especially one as callow as Bryant. She knew it was only infatuation, and told him so. Worse was to follow when it became apparent that she was in love with a much older man. Utterly fed up, Bryant had allowed work to fill his waking hours, and tried not to think about Forthright and her fiancé spending their weekends locked away in some bedroom retreat, at it like knives while bombs fell around them. Now she was going, to hearth and husband and probably loads of children, leaving them stuck with the ghastly sneak Biddle. Was it any wonder he felt frustrated?

  ‘I can’t imagine why Longbright wants to get married at his age,’ complained Bryant. ‘Harris is old enough to be your father.’

  ‘Not in the legal sense. Thirteen years, if you must know. We can still have children.’

  ‘Vile thought. I’m surprised he still has the ability after working in the radiography department for so long. They all get tired sperm. And you’ll be working for him, which won’t be healthy.’

  ‘I’ve worked for him before. He’s the best there is.’

  Bryant pulled his scarf over his ears and threw it onto the bunk by the door. Atherton, Crowhurst and Runcorn were seated glumly beside one another, reminding May of a Victorian souvenir brought back from an unfashionable resort. ‘Do sit down and relax, John. You’re going to be seeing a lot of this place.’ Bryant turned to Forthright. ‘You’ll have no one to take you to the flicks, old sausage. I hear Longbright hates picture palaces.’

  ‘You might as well face the fact,’ she ran a crimson fingernail over the permanently windswept tufts of Bryant’s hair, ‘you’ve run out of ways to stop me leaving.’

  ‘You’re the only one who knows how I like things,’ Bryant wheedled.

  ‘Mr May will soon learn to cope with your foibles. He can be the other half of your brain from now on, can’t you, Mr
May?’ She patted a smudge of soot from Bryant’s collar. There was a dull smokiness to the afternoon air of London that hung in the clothes these days, as though someone was constantly lighting bonfires. ‘It’s about time you treated yourself to some new shirt cuffs. I’d have sent you a formal invitation to the wedding, but it’s in a register office and I know you don’t approve.’ Forthright’s eyes twinkled. ‘It’s a pity. There wouldn’t have been anything nicer than to see your funny little face peering over the top of a hired morning suit.’

  Bryant flopped back his hair and gave her a helpless look.

  ‘He’s all yours, Mr May.’ Forthright pulled off her police sweater, and nearly took their eyes out. ‘I have to get changed. That’s the all-clear. Arthur, why don’t you go and keep an eye on your other new recruit?’

  Bryant brightened a little. ‘Making his life a living hell might cheer me up. He’s taking a long time with that tea. You don’t suppose he’s been flattened? This is for you, by the way.’ He produced a badly wrapped package from his coat and passed it to her. The red ribbon slipped from the brown paper the moment Forthright touched it.

  ‘Oh, Arthur.’ She looked down at the dog-eared copy of Bleak House. He had brought it with him from the office, the only item he felt was worth protecting. It was Bryant’s favourite book, the ancient edition his father had bought for him in Paternoster Row, the one he always kept above his desk. She knew how much it meant to him. Curling the ribbon round her fingers, she slipped the roll into a pocket without thinking. ‘I am going to miss you, you know.’ She reached over and tugged the top of his ear.

  Atherton had a camera with a flashbulb, and suddenly took a picture. Everyone looked surprised.