Free Ripped by Frederic Lindsay

know what he's like – he didn't think it would be right to tell me – he didn't think it would be safe for –'
    She stopped speaking suddenly as if at a signal.
    When the light came on, the room appeared momentarily not small but vast. Turning acres of light pinned him alone and isolated in the centre of an enormous room. Conscious of his nakedness, he covered himself with his hands.
    'I'm sorry,' he said.
    There were two women. Frances was naked like himself but without shame. The other woman was clothed and had dark hair, and it was to her he spoke as if she had come to judge him. 'I didn't mean any harm. I couldn't help hearing what you were saying. But Frances told me about her friend. I know what a terrible thing happened to him.' She was young and beautiful and passed judgement on him.
    'My sister doesn't fuck,' the dark haired woman said. 'But you can come to bed with me. And she'll help. You'll be surprised at the way she can help.'
    He wished that he could go home and Clare would be there, but she had abandoned him.
    Whatever happened now would be her fault.
     

 
    6 A Sense of Vocation
     
    FRIDAY, AUGUST 31 ST 1988
     
    There had been giants on the earth in those days, and two of them had been set naked on either side of the marble staircase. Approaching them, it annoyed Murray that he couldn't any longer remember which of them Purity was and which Honour. As he put his foot on the first step, a hand caught him by the shoulder. Turning, the movement with which he knocked the grip loose was instinctive.
    'Don't be a mug, ' Eddy Stewart said. 'I'm not here as a friend, they've made you a Councillor, it's not a joke. There's been a complaint.'
    They had to move aside as a group of visitors, smiling and jostling, white teeth in black faces, one or two of them in national costume, came towards the staircase.
    'I'm listening.'
    'You've been making a nuisance of yourself trying to see John Merchant.'
    'And he got in touch with the police?' Murray was puzzled.
    Stewart hesitated . 'There was a complaint.'
    'Heathers call you? What does that make you, Eddy?' As long ago as their time together on the beat, Murray had judged Stewart could be bought by someone some day when the price was right. Perhaps, it was possible; he had known that before Stewart did. 'Just another hard man for hire. I don't think you could stop me if I wanted to go up and try to see Merchant again . '
    'You're not an easy bloody man to help.' Stewart's heavy face flushed an ugly red. 'I'm trying to mark your card for you before you see Peerse . ’ Which made it a different proposition altogether.
    'He's here?'
    'You know Peerse. He makes it his business to hear anything about you. He takes a personal interest.' Stewart began to cross the hall to the entrance and Murray fell into step beside him. 'You want to watch that mouth of yours. One day it'll get you into trouble.'
    As they approached the car, the door swung open and a voice complained genteelly, 'Hurry it up.' Stewart went in front beside the driver, a pale fat man Murray did not recognise. Peerse was so tall that he had to bend his head slightly to avoid the roof. He sat in the farthest corner of the bench seat with his back very straight although he had to bend his head. A Detective Inspector, he had not finished climbing the promotion ladder. He had too much talent not to be a man with a future. Murray found that hard to accept. When they had been young policemen, he had regarded Peerse, beaten up twice in the early months, so ludicrously tall and thin, as a joke. He had been like one of those daddy-long-legs, appalling and fragile, that shed legs at a touch. Now, expensively suited, authoritative, with silver wings of hair that made him look more like an ambassador than a policeman, it was their shared misfortune that more than anyone else in the world, apparently, the sight of Murray reminded him of what he disliked about that past. He leaned across Murray and pulled the door closed.