John Creasey - The Toff And The Curate

The only consolation lay in the fact that they still seemed disposed to reason.

The taxi was driving through the back streets of the East End. It had turned round outside the station and was heading further east; he thought they were near the docks. He saw an occasional passer-by from the glow of a cigarette in the darkness. His breathing was easier and he was beginning to feel more capable of tackling the situation.

“You aren’t feeling so clever, are you?” sneered Gregson. “You think you’re a lot smarter than you are, Rollison. If there was anything in your reputation, you wouldn’t have fallen for this trick.”

Rollison said heartily: i couldn’t agree more!”

The man exclaimed “What?” and fell silent. The taxi was going over a cobbled surface which was a further proof that they were in the dockside area.

“You’d better agree with me again,” Gregson said. “You’ve gone far enough. Who told you about the whisky?”

“Whisky?” ejaculated Rollison.

“Come on, you know all about that,” said Gregson.

“Don’t you know about it?”

“Gregson, he—” began ‘Keller.’

“I didn’t know it was a whisky racket,” declared Rollison and then went on in a wondering voice: “I thought it was something big!” He gave a hollow laugh and wondered if he were overdoing it. There was a startled silence, followed by an oath from Keller.

“Then what the hell are you after?”

“I’m simply helping Kemp,” said Rollison, truthfully.

“You’re helping that—” Keller broke off, with an exasperated note in his voice. “He’s been fooling us,” he growled. “We needn’t have worried about him.”

“Who’s worried?” asked Gregson but he sounded uneasy. “All right, so you didn’t know. We hijacked a few bottles of booze,” he went on, too quickly. “We thought you knew about it.”

Rollison said ruefully: “I could do with a small crate myself.”

The taxi came to a standstill as he spoke.

Any hopes of breaking away were dashed at once for the door was opened by a man outside. As he climbed out, Rollison’s wrist was gripped and he saw other shadowy figures crowding round. The man already holding him took a grip on the back of his neck and pushed him forward. He stumbled over a doorstep and along an unlighted passage: there was a faint glow of light at the far end.

“Stop, cully,” ordered his captor.

He stopped. The front door closed and a light was switched on. Three men were in the passage, besides ‘Keller’ and Gregson. They were characteristic East Enders of the tougher breed.

The passage had green distempered walls, the floor was of unstained boards and it looked like part of a warehouse. Soon Rollison was in an office which might have been that of any  business firm; his eye was caught by a fine Mirzapore carpet with a round hole in the middle with its edges bound.

Gregson pushed past him and sat at a roll-top desk. Keller also sat down and one of the men stood by the door; the others went out. Gregson, his handsome face clear-cut beneath the light from an unshaded lamp, stared at him, tight-lipped. ‘Keller’s’ brown eyes were narrowed and he seemed much more on edge than the other.

“Well, Rollison?” Gregson spoke at last. “Are you going to be sensible about this?”

“That depends what you call sensible,” said Rollison.

“It’s none of your business. Kemp’s all right now, we couldn’t run him out of the district if we tried, so we won’t waste our time trying.” Apparently he took it for granted that Rollison had assumed the crane incident to be an accident. “You’ve done what you started out to do and we’re doing no one any harm. If you’ll undertake to go back to your flat and forget about us, we’ll let you go. And we’ll give you a dozen Black and White into the bargain!”

As he finished Gregson smiled, invitingly.

“Well, it’s an attractive proposition,” admitted Rollison. “But you aren’t fools, are you?”

“You’ll find out,” growled ‘Keller.’

“Be quiet,” ordered Gregson. “No, we’re not fools, Rollison.”

“So I imagined. What’s to prevent me from giving you a promise and then breaking it?”

“I told you—” ‘Keller’ began.

“Oh, be quiet!” repeated Gregson harshly. “We know you might do that, Rollison but, if you do—well, you know what happened to O’Hara.”

“Yes. Intimidating,” murmured Rollison. “The thing is, I’m not convinced that you’re resigned to Kemp staying on. I mean, what happened to O’Hara could easily happen to him.”

“Now look here,” said Gregson, still reasoningly, “if we were to kill Kemp, or even you, the police wouldn’t rest until they’d turned Whitechapel upside down. We don’t want them to do that. This is the reasonable way. You’re a man of the world. It doesn’t matter to you if a few cases of whisky get stolen and sold at a good profit. That’s what we’re doing—but it’s a dangerous game these days. We’d be charged with black-marketing and we might get seven years. That’s enough to make us careful—and to shut the mouth of talkers like O’Hara.”

“So O’Hara talked too much,” said Rollison.

“He couldn’t keep his mouth shut when he’d had a couple,” said Gregson. “It was a coincidence that Craik was there when he was killed.”

“And an accident that Craik’s knife was used?”

“It didn’t matter who’s knife, so long as it didn’t belong to the man who actually used it,” said Gregson. “O’Hara was nothing to you, Rollison. He was an Irishman who’s only been here six months and he’s a loss to no one. He wasn’t even married! Listen to me. We’ve heard a lot about you. Perhaps you’re good and you’ve just been unlucky this time. It doesn’t matter either way. You aren’t a fool, either. This job isn’t one you need worry about, so forget all about it and go home and enjoy yourself with free Black and White.”

“Genuine stuff?” inquired Rollison.

He wanted Gregson to continue to reason with him for it gave him more time to size up the situation. There was a snag, they surely wouldn’t let him go.

What would they do?

“Of course it’s genuine,” said Gregson. “I wouldn’t cheat—”

Heavy footsteps in the passage outside cut across his words. Rollison thought he heard a shout. ‘Keller’ glanced towards the door as it burst open and a man rushed in.

“Get away!” he gasped and paused for breath. “The cops are outside!”

‘Keller’ swung round towards Rollison and pulled a gun from his pocket.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE INTEREST OF THE POLICE

Rollison, expecting to be shot, dropped to the floor, keeping his eyes on ‘Keller.’ There was no time even to grab at one of the ledgers on the desk to use as a missile. It seemed like his last moment.

Then Gregson struck ‘Keller’s’ arm aside.

Gregson said nothing but simply grabbed ‘Keller’s’ arm and hustled him forward. The man by the door and the messenger were already in the passage.

Gregson slammed the door and turned the key on the outside.

Rollison picked himself up slowly, choked by relief. Gradually, he became aware of the footsteps. As soon as one lot faded, another drew nearer: the police were already in the building. He looked about the office and opened one of the ledgers. There were entries for various items of groceries, all neatly written up in a youthful hand. He resisted the temptation to look through the other papers on the desk, not wanting to be caught red-handed. He heard someone banging on a door not far away.

“I wonder how—” he began, then snapped his fingers. “Jolly, of course! He traced Gregson!”

He pulled the ledger towards him. The firm’s name was Mellish and Crow Limited and ccrtainly their business appeared to be genuine. He had a feeling that he had heard of them before but could not keep his mind on the book, just glanced through it, thinking:

“If Gregson hadn’t stopped him, Keller would have shot me. So I owe Gregson my life. Sensible thing to do—with a corpse on the premises he would have been for the high jump. But he was very quick—and Keller didn’t think. Strange metamorphosis, Keller seemed to be the big shot yesterday.”

He stopped, as an entry in the ledger caught his eye.

“Straker . . . £107.11.6d.”

Rollison remembered that was the name of the haulage firm which worked for East Wharf.

The police were making a long and careful job of the building. He wondered if they had found some of the men and whether a fight was in progress.

At last they arrived—and Jolly was with Chumley. Jolly’s eyes brightened at the sight of the Toff. He stepped forward swiftly.

“Are you hurt, sir?”

“Only a scratch and it wasn’t done here,” Rollison said.

“I’m very glad, sir.” Jolly glanced at Chumley whose red face was set, showing nothing of the affability which was his favourite pose. Jolly went on carefully: i knew you were being brought here, sir, and in the circumstances I thought it best to send for assistance.”

“In spite of arousing the interest of the police,” smiled Rollison. “You couldn’t have been more right.”

“I’m glad you realise that, Rollison,” Chumley said sarcastically. “Now perhaps you will stop lying to us. You’ve lied far too much.”

“Not really,” protested Rollison. “Afraid of guessing too much and misinforming you, knowing your dislike of doing the wrong thing! However, it’s a clear-cut issue for the police now. Two men tricked me into a taxi and threatened to kill me unless I withdrew from the district and went back home. They also said that they were indignant that I should try to interfere in a little matter of stolen whisky and its redistribution.”

“Whisky?” echoed Chumley. His interest, already keen, grew sharper.

“Yes. They tried to bribe me with a case of Black and White,” went on Rollison.

“Have you searched this place?” demanded Chumley.

“No. I haven’t been here for more than five minutes on my own.”

“You can do plenty in five minutes,” declared Chumley, darkly. “Sure you haven’t touched anything?”

“Frisk me,” invited Rollison, throwing out his arms in an exaggerated gesture. “I won’t make any complaint about illegal searching. Even if I’d had the time to touch anything,” he added, still standing with his arms stretched out, “I wouldn’t have had the inclination.”

“Why not?” demanded Chumley.

“I can’t imagine that they would have brought me to a place which, if afterwards located, might yield up its deadly secrets,” Rollison said lightly, it wouldn’t surprise me to find that the premises belong to some estimable firm, the management of which will be horrified to discover what’s going on at night.”

“We’ll find out,” said Chumley and ordered his men to begin searching.

Jolly found a first aid box in a cloak-room and dabbed iodine freely on Rollison’s scratch, fixing lint and adhesive plaster over it and rebuking him for not having attended to it before.

Chumley pressed questions and he told the simple truth, giving the names by which he knew the two men and omitting only that he had known before of the whisky motive. Had Chumley been his usual genial self, Rollison would have been tempted to be more frank. As it was, the policeman became more terse and nearly abusive.

Rollison, smoking and sitting on an upright chair, stared at him coldly.

“I’m beginning to understand why Kemp got such a low opinion of the police,” he said.

Chumley bit his lips and turned away.

Inside an hour, a representative of the management arrived. He was an old, grey-haired, mild-mannered man, at first indignant at the police invasion, then apologetic and obviously puzzled. Thus he laid himself open to some of Chumley’s ‘pressure.’ Rollison stood by and did nothing and Chumley began to raise his voice.

The grey-haired man stood it for some minutes, seeming to grow flustered but, when Chumley called him a liar, he spoke with unexpected sharpness.

“Are you a police officer, sir, or merely an ill-mannered ruffian?”

Rollison caught Jolly’s eye. Chumley calmed down but asked more questions. Nothing the man said and nothing that was discovered suggested that the warehouse was being used as a storage place for whisky and the indications were that it had been used, as Rollison had suggested, as a meeting place. The night-watchman stoutly maintained that he knew nothing about it but he cracked unexpectedly. ‘They’ had made him do it, he declared; ‘they’ had threatened him with violence unless he let them in. ‘They’ had been using the office from time to time over a period of six months. He did not know why and he did not know their names but he knew that a number of people called there to see them.

It was three in the morning before Chumley conceded that there was no need to stay longer.

Walking up the stairs to the flat, Rollison limped noticeably and, when they were inside, Jolly said:

“I think you’d better spend a day in your room tomorrow, sir. Your leg might get much worse.”

“Day in bed be—” began Rollison, then saw Jolly’s expression and grinned. “A day not in the office! Yes, that’s more like it! Are you forgetting that I’m a Whitehall Warrior deeply involved in the conduct of the war?”

“I would rate this affair somewhat higher than investigating the pilfering of Army depots,” murmured Jolly.

“Well, well!” exclaimed Rollison. “How did you manage to find that out? You’d located Gregson, I suppose, and managed to keep behind the taxi?”

“I was nearby, sir, and I heard someone mention the warehouse address, so I telephoned Chumley immediately and hurried there myself. I thought it unwise to try to prevent you from entering the taxi. Had I done so we might not have learned so much.”

“No,” admitted Rollison. “This is certainly your day. By George, I’m tired!” He stubbed out a cigarette. “It’s a pity but I must go to the office in the morning. There’s a Conference of Great Men.”

“At what time, sir?” asked Jolly.

“Eleven o’clock,” said Rollison.

It was ten o’clock next morning when Jolly called him. Rollison looked at his watch, stared at Jolly and was told mildly:

“I think you have good time for the Conference, sir.”

Although his leg was stiff, he felt rested and much more able to cope with the pretentious big brass who were to sit with him round a horseshoe-shaped table and discuss the matter of pilfering from Army depots. Although the pilfering reached alarming proportions and needed close investigation, Rollison disagreed with the attempt to solve it under central direction. As soon as the problem was solved in one place, it broke out in another. He did not agree that it was organised but that, being so spasmodic, it was purely local. Since his particular task was less concerned with stopping the trouble than with arriving at the totals of material and value lost, his heart was not in it and he made frequent attempts to get transferred to another Department; he had almost given up the hope of getting back to active service.