Least of Evils Read Online Free Page A

Grange, Mr Barton. What were you doing there?’
    â€˜Thorley Grange. Where’s that?’ Eddie was rather proud of the furrowed brow of puzzlement he contrived for this.
    â€˜It’s on high ground at the western edge of Brunton, Mr Barton. It’s our belief that you know that perfectly well. So what were you doing there?’
    â€˜I don’t know how I got there – I never go up there.’ He managed to look genuinely puzzled. ‘Perhaps that’s why I don’t remember anything. Perhaps I was shot in the town and then dumped up there after a good kicking. Lucky for me that someone found me and got the ambulance, I suppose.’
    Murphy regarded him steadily for a moment, as if challenging him to further ridiculous speculation. He said tersely, ‘You’ve been very lucky indeed, Mr Barton – so far. I’ve a feeling your luck is going to run out any second now.’ He reached towards the heavily plastered bicep beside him. Barton winced away, but Murphy merely put it back under the bedclothes with exaggerated solicitude. ‘Why were you in that lonely spot beside Thorley Grange?’
    Barton stared straight ahead and spoke as if repeating a mantra he had memorized. ‘I’ve no idea why I was found there. I don’t even know where the place is. Someone must have dumped me up there.’ Then he said with more animation, ‘You lot should be trying to find who attacked me, not harassing a wounded man.’
    Lucy Peach said quietly, ‘That’s exactly why we’re here, Eddie. But unless you’re prepared to help us, we don’t stand much chance.’
    â€˜You don’t stand much chance anyway. You’re a waste of fucking time.’
    DS Peach held her hand up as Brendan Murphy leaned over the bed again. ‘We’ve wasted enough police time on you, Eddie Barton. There’s been a uniformed copper outside the ward all the time you’ve been in here, to make sure no one could get at you. You’ll be out of here soon and no one will protect you then. You’ve strayed out of your depth, but unless you’re prepared to help us, there’s nothing we can do to keep you safe. You should think about that, while there’s still time.’
    â€˜Fuck off, pigs!’ The reaction was automatic. Eddie Barton was no grass, was he? And the pigs didn’t protect you, once they had what they wanted. He enjoyed his obscenities more because they were directed against a woman, and a pretty one at that – some vestige of ethics still told him it was more shocking to direct these things against a woman, even one who seemed to be as unshockable as this one.
    She stood up now. The tall DC who was her sidekick stood too, between him and the window, blocking out some of the light, making the man in the bed feel suddenly more vulnerable. Lucy Peach said, ‘If you want to help yourself, let the uniformed officer outside know and someone will be down here immediately to take your statement and initiate enquiries. I strongly advise you to do that. Please note that I made that quite clear to Mr Barton, DC Murphy.’
    The two of them were gone then, without a backward look at him. They issued some instructions he could not distinguish to the invisible man in uniform who defended him against unwelcome visitors.
    After they’d gone, Eddie lay for a long time looking at the high ceiling above the fluorescent lights. Out of his depth, they’d said. They were right about that, even if they were stupid. He was a small-time burglar, however expert he pretended to be in that. He’d strayed way out of his depth and he still felt a long way from the shore. Not waving but drowning, the poem he remembered from school said. He felt some of the panic that poor sod must have felt.
    Eddie Barton felt more alone and more frightened than he had ever felt in his life.

THREE
    A t Thorley Grange, the repercussions of Eddie