John Creasey - Gideon’s Sport

Bligh was moody, these days; not far from being depressed -partly because he did not like being alone so much. He missed his wife much more than he would have imagined: had he known exactly how he would feel, he would probably not have agreed to a divorce so quickly. He now believed that his marriage had not been on the rocks, but merely, going through the doldrums, and he would have given a lot to know how she was getting on with her new husband. The second reason was the frequency with which, these days, cases he was investigating went sour on him. Every man at the Yard had bad patches; but this had lasted for nearly two years, and of late he had been given few assignments of any consequence.

Madderton’s had seemed his great chance. Moreover, within ten minutes of reaching the bank, which was near Piccadilly, off St. James’s Palace, he had been fairly sure who had committed the raid. Dynamite, the way furniture was piled up as a protection against flying debris, entrance forced by use of a key probably supplied by a watchman — it was a classic Chipper Lee job. Bligh had been so elated that he had nearly telephoned a report right away. Then, caution had stepped in. Supposing there were only similarities, and he was wrong? It would be much wiser to check, so there could be no possibility of mistake.

His eyes had glowed with sudden excitement. Supposing he could pick Chipper Lee up and charge him, before reporting? A quick, slick job on a prestige case was exactly what he needed. But before he could put this in hand, a director of the bank had arrived. Next had come a representative from the Bank of England, since much of the stolen currency was in United States dollars and German and Swiss francs.

He had delayed action until he had the total amount fairly fully assessed; it would be in the region of half a million pounds. Then, just when he was about to put out a call for Lee, he had been asked to go and see the Chairman of Madderton’s at his Hampstead Heath home. That had been too good a chance to miss.

Coming back, he had passed Lords cricket ground and wondered fleetingly whether he would have a chance to see the coming match against the South Africans. Then, as he was about to re-enter the bank’s strong-room, he had been called to the telephone.

“Report to the Deputy Commander at once.”

He could not imagine why, unless he was to be taken off this particular assignment. If that were so, it would be given to one of the Superintendents who specialised in currency thefts and smuggling, so it wouldn’t matter what he put in his reports: the new man would make the arrest. And it was Chipper Lee. What a damned fool he had been, not to go straight ahead!

There had been several newspapermen at the bank when he had left.

“Anything for us, Chief Inspector?” they chorused.

“No-sorry.” No, there would be an official hand-out, soon . . .

At the Yard, he pulled up too sharply and nearly scraped another car, the door of which was opening. A Superintendent, long-legged Gordon, looked at him sourly.

“In a hurry, Bligh?”

“Sorry,” muttered Bligh. And thought, despairingly: “Nothing goes right. Nothing ever goes right, these days!”

He went up in the lift and along to Hobbs’ office, reminding himself that if he showed any resentment at all it would only do harm. Hobbs always put him a little on edge, anyway. He would have to be bright, brisk and formal. He tapped, and went in — to see Hobbs at a telephone. Oh, God. Should he have waited? But Hobbs waved him to a chair. He sat deliberately well back in it, determined not to show the slightest sign of nervousness, a big, ruddy-faced, dark-haired man who, in spite of his inner feelings, had a look of aggressiveness about him — a go-getter of a man.

Hobbs was saying: “Yes, pick him up . . .  What’s his name? . . .  Corby? . . . Yes, pick him up as soon as you can.” He replaced one receiver, lifted another, said to Bligh: “I won’t be a moment,” then spoke into the telephone: “Fingerprints found at the chemist’s shop are those of a man named Corby, whom we’ve had in twice for drug distribution . . . Yes, I’ve given instructions . . . Yes . . .  Yes, in five or ten minutes — will that be all right? Thank you, sir.” He rang off, looked at Bligh blankly for a moment as if wondering why he was there: his mind obviously still on something else.

Bligh was thinking: “He’s just talked to Gideon, and something’s going to blow in five or ten minutes. Not me, I hope.”

When he did speak, Hobbs’ voice was pleasant and his manner direct. “How are things at Madderton’s?”

“About half a million was stolen,” Bligh reported formally. “And if it wasn’t Chipper Lee, I’ll eat my hat!” The moment he said that, he wished he hadn’t; supposing there was a remote chance that he was wrong?

“Picked him up?” asked Hobbs.

“No.” Bligh drew a deep breath, then took the bull by the horns. “I’ve goofed on so many cases lately, I thought I’d double-check.”

“But you feel sure?”

“Yes — and I can’t believe I’m wrong.”

“Then pick him up as soon as you can,” said Hobbs, calmly, and Bligh had a feeling that the other man knew it had come as a kind of reprieve to him, even though he showed no sign of it as he went on: “The Commander wants to talk to you about a special assignment, but we’ve both got to attend an emergency conference and won’t be able to see you for half-an-hour. You can go down to Information and put out the call for Lee.”

Bligh’s eyes were very bright as he stood up.

“Thank you, sir.” He took an enormous stride towards the door, then stopped to look back: “Er- couldn’t give me a clue about the special assignment, could you?”

“Sport,” said Hobbs, and smiled faintly. “We need a man who is really familiar with all forms, especially those taking place in London this month.” His smile faded as he added: “This could be a chance in a lifetime, Bligh.” He left no time for comment: “Be at the Commander’s office in three-quarters of an hour, will you? That is, twelve noon,”

The meeting was of all Commanders and Deputy-Commanders, with Sir Reginald Scott-Marie in the chair. Gideon thought he looked more severe than usual, and was half-prepared for bad news. But this wasn’t bad, in the Yard sense.

“I’ve just had official but confidential information that the General Election will be held in the first week of July — that is, in a little over three weeks,” the Commissioner stated flatly. “It’s an unusual time, and I have no information about the reasons behind the summer date. We shall have to be at full strength  —  Uniform, particularly. I cannot send a memorandum at this stage but I wanted you all to know and begin to make plans.”

The Commander of the Uniformed Branch looked appalled.

“But this is impossible, sir! We’ll have to cancel leave, and—”

“I do realise that,” Scott-Marie interrupted crisply. “I know that it creates problems. That is why I have given you as much notice as possible. My greatest concern is to find a way of explaining such postponements without giving the true reason.”

Gideon, sitting at the big, oval conference table opposite the Commissioner, now believed he understood Scott-Marie’s manner; he was less troubled than angry that this should have been thrust upon them.

No one spoke.

“I suppose —” began Gideon.

“There’s no reason in it,” remarked Uniform, bitterly.

There was silence.

“Yes, Gideon?” prompted Scott-Marie.

“As there isn’t likely to be any change of date,” Gideon suggested, “should we say that we are expecting a State Visit? This would justify the cancellation of leave, and if the State concerned wasn’t named we should cause only speculation.”

“They’d plump for Russians,” the Yard’s legal chief objected.

Scott-Marie was pulling slightly at his upper-lip. No one else spoke, until one of the deputies said with quiet emphasis:

“No one seems to have a better idea.”

“Obviously not,” agreed Scott-Marie.

“There’s one thing, sir,” put in Hobbs.

“Yes?”

“The suggested explanation would cover London and possibly the Home Counties, but would it help the provincial forces?”

Everyone, including Hobbs, looked expectantly at Gideon, who pursed his lips and then began to smile.

“Didn’t Kruschev skip around the country quite a bit?”

“After all, it could be Nixon —” a man began, but stopped abruptly.

“I think the best thing is for all of you to pretend ignorance but to say that the instruction has come from me and presumably through the Home Office,” Scott-Marie decided, “You should state that you don’t know what’s behind it, but that a State Visit is an obvious possibility. What other possibilities are there?” He looked about him, and his gaze came to rest on Gideon, who kept silent.

“It could be another revolution scare,” suggested Uniform. “I know the one in November was a damp squib, but there could be another. There’s been a suspicious lull in demonstrations, lately.”

No one else spoke.

“Then take your choice, gentlemen,” said Scott-Marie. “The one guess you don’t make, obviously, is that a General Election is pending. I imagine that no one would believe that, even if anyone were to suggest it.” He was in a very much better mood when he pushed back his chair. “Thank you, gentlemen. I should add that no one but ourselves knows of this. I was told personally: not even my staff have been informed. If you discuss it at all, please be sure you do so only with someone who attended this meeting.”

As Gideon and Hobbs walked back to the Criminal Investigation Department, a number of things were happening in London, and sooner or later each was going to involve the Department.

The first draw was made at Wimbledon; games were due to begin soon on the sixteen grass courts. One of the first would be between the unseeded Barnaby Rudge and an unseeded British entrant who was not likely to extend the American too much . . .

Detective-Constable Juanita Conception, wearing light-brown jeans and a tight, lighter brown sweater and sandals, was sitting in a coffee bar with some members of the Action Committee. Among them, Kenneth Noble and Roy Roche. Roche was saying:

“No one has to know what’s being planned — understand? No one!”

Juanita felt faintly disturbed, as his gaze seemed to rest on her much longer than on any of the others . . .

Chipper Lee was found at his home, asleep in bed — an indication at least that he hadn’t had much sleep overnight. Both he and his wife protested that he had been home since the previous evening but the Divisional Detective-Inspector who charged him thought that Chipper seemed very uneasy . . .

The assistant chemist who had stolen the heroin from Beckett’s shop was parcelling the drug up into tiny quantities. He was using a cellar in a house owned by a friend, and felt quite safe . . .

The Spratt brothers were putting the final touches to their Derby plot, and at the same time collecting information from all over the world in the best-known and most efficient results-service anywhere and assessing the odds they could safely give . . .

Chief Inspector William Bligh was waiting outside Gideon’s office, feeling much more on top of himself and the situation than he had felt for a very long time . . .

And Kate Gideon, at home alone, felt a stab of pain in her chest which made her gasp, stagger, and collapse into a chair. She was breathing heavily, had suddenly lost all her colour — and felt very, very frightened.

“Do you see what we want, Bligh?” Gideon demanded.

“I do indeed, sir.”

“You realise the urgency  —  we’ve left it too late already.”

“I see the urgency, sir.”

“How long will you need, to work out a plan of campaign?” Gideon asked.

Caution came to Bligh’s rescue, actually taking a word off the tip of his tongue.

“I’d like to try out one or two things this afternoon, sir. Will it be possible for me to have an office and some staff?”

“Yes. We’ll second you what staff you need, and give you all the communications facilities necessary. The possibility of trouble at Lords on Thursday is already being covered by Mr. Henry at the AB Division. We are working closely with him, you understand that?”

“I do, sir.”

“Very well.”

Gideon glanced at Hobbs, who immediately said:

“Rooms seven and eight on the third floor have been put aside for this, Commander.”

Gideon nodded.

“Right, Bligh. Take which one you prefer for your own use, and get someone else in the second room quickly.” Gideon studied the other’s face; a very intelligent, alert face, in which the blue eyes gave an indication of suppressed excitement. “This is an innovation, of course, but it could well become permanent. We need co-ordination of crowd control, larceny prevention, demonstrations handling, and the like. They’re usually regarded as separable, but we may find it will pay to regard each game and each playing-field or arena as part of an entity.”

Bligh was so eager to go that his hand was at the door.

“I do understand, Commander!” he assented. And as Gideon nodded, he strode out.

This was one of the moments when Gideon most liked Hobbs: found him much warmer, and more human than he often allowed himself to appear. They both watched Bligh disappear, both smiled, both chuckled. They were very close.

Then, in a strange, baffling way, Gideon seemed to find the other man drawing away from him; as if a kind of barrier were being deliberately erected between them. Hobbs’ face took on a woodenness which half-suggested that he regretted showing his feelings; that he was aware of a great gulf between himself and Gideon.

And suddenly, almost stiffly, he asked: “Can you spare ten minutes for a — personal matter, George?”

What the devil’s this? wondered Gideon, and said promptly:

“Of course!” He was acutely aware that Hobbs’ personal life had been savagely disrupted when his deeply-loved wife had died; and although that had been two years ago, it still seemed to explain the reserve, almost the aloofness of this man. “Like to sit down?”

“No, thanks,” said Hobbs. But he waited for Gideon to sit, and seemed to draw a deep breath. “George — you will probably say this is nothing to do with me. Please believe it is said with the best possible — ah — intentions.” He paused, bewildering Gideon still more, then almost blurted out. “Kate isn’t well — I’m worried about her. Penelope is very worried indeed. We both feel that you should know.”

CHAPTER TEN

Shock

For a long moment, Gideon simply sat there, Buddha-like in his huge chair, staring up at Hobbs. And-almost warily, hardly perceptibly — Hobbs moved until he was directly opposite him, so that they were like antagonists in confrontation.

Gideon was first aware of the shock — savage, painful, frightening. But his was a trained mind, and the shock did not make him miss the other significant thing Hobbs had said:

“Penelope is very worried indeed. We both feel that you should know.”

Slowly he picked up a telephone and as an operator came on the line, said in a clipped voice: “Get my wife!” Then he put the receiver down, over-carefully. He had to be extremely careful and slow-moving, the last thing he must do was to act impulsively. In a very calm voice, through lips which hardly moved, he asked: “And how long have you known about this?”