Free Come Clean (1989) by Bill James

dialled by the button. Then, a few tenners to some telephone operator and they can work from a number to a name and
address.’
    ‘Yes, I wouldn’t be surprised.’
    Harpur became silent again for a moment, listening. ‘Jack, I don’t want to be hanging about here too long. They might have someone watching. Tell me, have you got an emergency exit
drill? Somewhere nice and distant, preferably abroad, where you can hole up for a little while, say three or four years?’
    Lamb had sounded very edgy earlier. Now, though, his traditional cockiness suddenly rolled back, as it always did when Harpur showed worry about him, a full quota of foolhardy, charmed-life
defiance. ‘You know, Col, this isn’t the first time you’ve asked me that.’
    ‘Might be the last, Jack, if you don’t use it now. These folk are obsessed about secrecy, aren’t they? It’s clear something enormous is hatching. Anyone endangering it is
liable to –’
    ‘We’ve had these scares so often. And abroad? How do I run my little show from abroad? It might not seem much to you, but it’s all I have and it’s all mine and it’s
taken a lot of devoted building over the years.’
    ‘Jack –’
    ‘Don’t fret. Think about that pill box, Col. Think about Britishness. How would it have been if this dear old country had panicked in 1940?’
    ‘Jack – I wasn’t going to say this, you’ll turn sour, but we’ve had other whispers that something pretty massive is on the cards.’
    ‘Whispers from where?’
    To suggest to Lamb that he was not the only one supplying useful information always confused and enraged him. ‘Where the hell from, these whispers?’ he insisted.
    ‘I can’t say now. Iles had some intimations. We’ve been sweating over them at his house, as a matter of fact. Trying to make some sense out of very little – hints and
rumours.’
    ‘Intimations? What sort of ponce word is that, for God’s sake? Does it mean anything?’
    ‘Not much at present, as I say. We’re trying to puzzle our way through. Iles is worried, and he’s not a worrier. Possibly some kind of gang battle building up?’
    ‘You’re inventing this lot, aren’t you. Col? All the mystery language, “intimations”, “on the cards”, “hints” – you want to scare me,
yes?’ Jack must be troubled, or he would never have allowed a telephone conversation to continue this long.
    ‘It’s vague, but something’s going on, Jack. We’re certain. You could be in the middle.’
    ‘But of what?’
    ‘Who knows? This is only an antennae reaction, so far. Christ, you understand that sort of thing – a feel that trouble’s around, before you have the facts.’
    Lamb did not answer for a while. Then he muttered; ‘Okay, Col. Yes, I know what you mean and I’m going to believe you’re not just teasing. You could be right about taking
cover, and I’ll think it over.’
    ‘Not for too long.’
    ‘Helen might not want to go.’ Again he began to sound assertive and sure. ‘She’s very fond of this property, you know. Says it cossets her personality. Cossets is the
word she uses. Nice? The rooms are large and with helpful, springy board floors, so she can practise her entrechats and so on.’
    ‘Persuasion, Jack. Tell her it’s your skin, and there’s so much of it to be disarranged.’
    ‘And how do you function as the golden boy detective if I’m not here to feed you?
    Now it was Harpur who did not answer.
    ‘Floored you, Col?’

Chapter Four
    ‘Everything we’re getting now, Benny – information. I mean about wiping out Leo Tacette and both his bloody sons – everything confirms what we had at
the beginning. It’s beautiful,’ Macey said. ‘What we’re seeing is just a grand testament to your careful planning. We all believe, unanimous, that what you deserve, Benny,
is congratulations.’
    ‘Congratulations, Benny,’ the rest said.
    ‘We’re not there yet,’ Loxton replied. ‘Nowhere near. But it could be shaping,