Dying Fall Read Online Free PDF

the job of questioning him for herself, but even before they’d properly sat down at the table in the interview room, he’d begun questioning
her
.
    â€˜Tell me about the big sod in the hairy jacket,’ he said. ‘What’s he like to work for?’
    â€˜Why do you ask?’ Paniatowski asked.
    â€˜Because I’m interested,’ Pogo replied. ‘Do I need any more reason than that?’
    â€˜I suppose not,’ Paniatowski admitted. ‘Well, he’s a hard task-master, but he’s very fair. He expects you to be at your best at all times, but if you deserve any credit, he’ll make sure that you get it.’
    Pogo nodded. ‘That’s the impression he gave me,’ he said.
    â€˜You’re about the same age,’ Paniatowski said.
    â€˜We probably are.’
    â€˜Which means, I suppose, that you will have fought in the same war.’
    â€˜How do you know I fought in any war at all?’ Pogo asked.
    â€˜You’re not going to deny you were a soldier, are you?’ Paniatowski said, smiling. ‘Because if you do, I certainly won’t believe you.’
    â€˜You seem very certain of yourself,’ Pogo said wonderingly.
    â€˜I am,’ Paniatowski agreed.
    â€˜And what’s that certainty based on?’
    â€˜It’s based on a lot of things. For example, it can’t be easy to keep clean, given the kind of life you lead, but you’re a lot cleaner than any of the other tramps we brought in.’
    â€˜So I’m fastidious,’ Pogo said. ‘That proves nothing.’
    â€˜When I told you my rank, you practically came to attention, which means that while you were undoubtedly in the army, you never rose above the rank of corporal. So is that what you were? A corporal?’
    â€˜No comment.’
    Paniatowski smiled. ‘Not even name, rank and number?’ she asked. ‘And then there’s the question of your possessions,’ she continued. ‘When I asked you to come to headquarters with me, you collected them all up.’
    â€˜Well, of course I did. I wasn’t going to leave them there for anybody who came across them to steal, was I?’
    â€˜But it was the way you picked them up which was interesting,’ Paniatowski continued. ‘You did it purposefully, and according to a pre-determined routine. Everything in your knapsack has a designated place – and you made sure that’s where it went.’
    â€˜You’re building something out of nothing,’ Pogo said.
    Paniatowski smiled. ‘If you say so,’ she said.
    Pogo was silent for a few seconds, then he said, ‘All right, it’s a fair cop. I was a soldier once. And now I’m a tramp. What of it?’
    â€˜What
made
you become a tramp?’ Paniatowski asked.
    â€˜Next question!’ Pogo said, with a vehemence which startled her.
    â€˜Can you think of any reason why someone would set a tramp on fire?’ Paniatowski asked.
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜Aren’t you worried that the same thing might happen to you?’
    â€˜It
won’t
happen to me.’
    No, it won’t, Paniatowski thought. You might not be the man you used to be, but you can still take care of yourself.
    â€˜I’d like you to help me,’ she said.
    â€˜I don’t see how I can,’ Pogo replied. ‘I told you back at ba— back at the place where you found me, that I don’t know anything.’
    â€˜But you could
find out
things,’ Paniatowski said.
    â€˜What do you mean?’
    â€˜I’m a bobby,’ Paniatowski said. ‘The moment I’m on the scene, it’s not the same scene any longer. My mere presence there
changes
things. But you can go to all kinds of places I couldn’t, and not be noticed.’
    â€˜So you want me to become a spy? A narc? An informer?’
    Paniatowski grinned. ‘I prefer the term “undercover operative”,’ she said.
    â€˜And