Dying Fall Read Online Free PDF Page A

possibility,’ Shastri said warily, ‘though, without proof of any kind, I am reluctant to suggest it.’
    â€˜Go on,’ Woodend urged, ‘let’s hear it.’
    â€˜It could have been the mods,’ Shastri said quickly, as if she were in a hurry to get the words out of her mouth before she changed her mind.
    â€˜The mods?’ Woodend repeated. ‘Them lads with puffy haircuts an’ sharp suits, who ride around on scooters?’
    â€˜Not the
peacock
mods,’ Dr Shastri said. ‘The
hard
mods. The ones with the short hair and big boots.’
    â€˜Are
they
mods, an’ all?’ Woodend asked. ‘Because they don’t look like the other lot at all.’
    â€˜That is because they can’t afford to look like “the other lot”,’ Dr Shastri said. ‘The peacock mods work in offices, and come from prosperous homes. The hard mods are working-class boys who labour in the same factories as their fathers. And since they do not have the money to compete with the peacock mods successfully in terms of style, they have stopped competing altogether.’
    â€˜Which is why, given the kind of town this is, we’ve got more of the hard mods in Whitebridge than we have the other kind,’ Woodend said.
    â€˜Exactly,’ Dr Shastri agreed.
    â€˜I’ve got two more questions for you,’ Woodend told her. ‘The first is, how come you seem to know so much about these lads? An’ the second is, why do you think they might have been involved in the murder?’
    â€˜That is not two questions, but two parts of the same question,’ Dr Shastri replied. She paused for a second, then continued, ‘Though I have not sought out the position, I seem to have become a person who many in the Asian community of Whitebridge come to for advice.’
    That was hardly surprising, Woodend thought. Most of the Asians in the town were recent immigrants who held low-paid jobs. Dr Shastri, who, in addition to holding an important post, was brimming with assurance and self-confidence, would be the natural person for them to turn to for help.
    â€˜Quite a number of these poor people have either been threatened or abused by the hard mods,’ Shastri continued. ‘Several of them have been beaten up.’
    â€˜An’ have they reported it to the police?’
    Dr Shastri laughed scornfully. ‘Of course they haven’t reported it. They remember the brutality of the police in their own countries, and steer well clear of authority whenever possible.’
    â€˜So what
are
they doin’ about it?’
    â€˜They are avoiding the places where the attacks are most likely. They feel that is all they
can
do.’
    â€˜You should have reported it to me yourself,’ Woodend said accusingly.
    â€˜They would not have thanked me for doing so,’ Dr Shastri told him. ‘And the next time they had a problem they would take it to someone else, who might not be able to deal with it as well as I could.’
    â€˜I still don’t see why you think these hard mods should have had anythin’ to do with the victim,’ Woodend said.
    â€˜I told you from the beginning that the link was tenuous,’ Dr Shastri pointed out.
    â€˜Aye, you did,’ Woodend agreed. ‘But let’s hear what you think it is, anyway.’
    â€˜It seems to me that what mainly drives these young men is anger,’ Shastri said.
    â€˜Anger at what?’
    â€˜At a world that seems to be offering so many opportun­ities to other people, while all it shows them is a dead end. And this anger they feel makes them want to strike out at something different to themselves. The Asians offer them a perfect target, but so do the tramps. After all,’ she concluded, with a bitter edge entering her voice, ‘we are both parasites – and we both stink.’
    Her initial contact with Pogo had so intrigued Paniatowski that she’d reserved