Free Dangerous in Love - Dangerous Davies 02 by Leslie Thomas

there. Holding up a part of the wall, actually. Thought the blessed lot was coming down.' He brushed himself ineffectually and handed the album, opened, to Davies. 'That's the team ’ he said. '1944. That's Lofty Brock at the back. See, his name's underneath.'
    Together Davies and Mod peered at the browned photograph. The man standing at the rear of the team, wearing the roll-necked jersey, was all of six feet six inches.
    6
    The journey to Botfield was less demanding. They left The Babe In Arms at noon, to the incredulity of drinkers and staff, and drove down into December Hampshire.
    "The New Forest",' read Mod aloud as they travelled. '"Established by William the Conqueror in the eleventh century as a hunting ground ..."'
    'Fascinating,' mumbled Davies, narrowly watching the unaccustomed motorway ahead. They rarely overtook anything. 'And there, in the Forest, is former Sergeant Major George Bing. Late of Silesia.'
    Mod grunted: 'About forty years late of Silesia.' He returned to his information cards. '"King Rufus met his untimely end a t Stoney Cross, near Lyndhurst, he recited. 'Arrow in the eye. Was it an accident? Now, there's a real mystery for you, Dangerous.'
    'I'd rather find out who shoved Lofty in the canal.'
    Mod sighed. 'Has it ever occurred to you that he fell in ... accidentally, I mean, really. He fell. Splash! The official version. Don't you think that sometimes these little whims of yours get a bit out of hand?'
    The lines deepened on Davies's face. He knew Mod had been waiting to say it. 'No, I don't,' he said.
    Kitty, who had so far slept through the journey, woke with a gaping yawn and blinked out of the window. They were chugging past trees and fields with red roofs showing between winter branches. The dog began to moan.
    'Shut up, you,' ordered Dangerous in the direction of the dog. He glanced acidly sideways at Mod. 'It's not a bloody whim.'
    'Dangerous,' insisted Mod. 'All I'm saying is that you might be wrong. When you get one of these bees in your bonnet nothing will stop you. But, there are times when the most obvious explanation is the right one. Lofty Brock fell in the canal. How, we don't know. But he just fell.'
    Grimly, Davies said: 'So you think all this investigation is just a waste of time?'
    'Not at all. It gets us out in the fresh air. Away from the pub ... Yorkshire ... Hampshire. It's very interesting.'
    'Like a hobby,' muttered Davies.
    'If you like. You've said yourself that everybody's got a past. Ordinary people have secrets. Dig into their history and something murky can turn up, a skeleton in the cupboard. Perhaps you're reading too much into Lofty's past.'
    'In 1944 ’ grunted Davies, 'Lofty Brock was six feet six inches. How come he was five feet one inch when he died? He didn't just shrink.'
    'That doesn't mean somebody killed him for his past. What you're doing, Dangerous, is getting all the circumstances and trying to make them fit the crime, which may not have been a crime at all.'
    The cracks in Davies's face grew darker. 'All this is the mad imaginings of a frustrated copper then ...'
    'No, no. Now wait a minute.'
    '... A copper who gets all the miserable, shitty little jobs that nobody else wants and which never get in the headlines. The last detective. So he's trying to make his own headlines. He's making up a crime to suit himself.'
    Kitty began a renewed howling in the back seat. 'And you can shut up too,' snapped Davies over his shoulder. 'There's sod-all you know about it.' * * *
    Former Sergeant Major Bing had gone to the golf club, his pink-pinafored wife said from their cottage door. 'I don't know why ’ she complained inadequately. 'He can hardly drag one foot after another. But he goes every day, rain or snow or shine. He says he likes to get out.'
    It was not far. They parked the Vanguard and the dog among the few vehicles in the gravel car park and went into the modest wooden club house. It was mid-afternoon and the early dark was moving in. There was a