England Expects Read Online Free PDF Page B

all. The only reason I got the job when it came up at Wellington Road was ’cause I was good with the police dogs and I’d mind the desk on meeting days. They’d never have let me go when they did if I’d joined their stupid club, but I ain’t one for all that. I’m not a Papist either, mind. Secret languages – worse than Latin. Symbols chalked on walls like Guy Fawkes. Me and Julie are Church of England, see, and they say that’s fine. But Church of England ain’t full of secrets, is it? Church of England is up front. We’re normal.’
    Without blinking, Vesta folded the remaining crust of toast neatly into her mouth and took a swig of Camp coffee. ‘What exactly is a freemason?’
    ‘It’s a boys’ club,’ Mirabelle offered. ‘Like Bill says. They have meetings and dress up, and there are all kinds of ceremonies. If you’re a mason you have to help other masons and sign up to their code of honour. They call it a brotherhood.’
    ‘Like the Girl Guides? But for men?’
    ‘Sort of.’ Bill shrugged his shoulders. ‘With secret signals. Private handshakes. Codes. I had it up to here for years when I was in the force. I can tell when a copper’s got something going on with the masons and I could see it today the way they were all hush-hush about that body.’
    ‘Are you sure?’
    ‘Yeah. I know how it goes. Honestly, I get the knock with it. Drives me potty.’
    ‘The knock?’
    ‘You know. It gives me the creeps. Ain’t you heard of anyone getting the knock before?’
    Vesta shrugged.
    ‘I thought everyone knew that. Don’t they say it in London?’
    ‘Well, not in Bermondsey.’
    Mirabelle decided to interrupt their debate on the ins and outs of Sussex dialect. ‘So, what you’re saying, Bill, if I’m not mistaken, is that the police are hushing up certain aspects of Mr Gillingham’s death because he was a fellow mason?’
    ‘Yeah. I reckon so.’
    Mirabelle looked vexed. ‘But wouldn’t they be even keener to catch the killer if Mr Gillingham was one of their own? I mean, if one of their brotherhood was murdered, surely they’d want to make sure justice was done? What is it you think they’re hushing up?’
    ‘They removed the body sharpish, didn’t they?’ Mirabelle nodded and Bill continued. ‘Yeah. So that’s my question. Why did they whisk him off like that? It’s all them secrets – gotta be. I was thinking about it, and it can only be one of three things.’ Here Bill held up three fingers, folding them down one by one as he elucidated. ‘Either the dead man was a mason and they’re hushing it up because somehow they reckon he’ll bring dishonour to the brotherhood. Or, second, you got to consider what had the killer done to the bloke?’ Bill shuddered. ‘And, that, we’ll never find out. Once something like that’s disappeared inside the station, it’s not coming out again. So, they’re hushing it up because it’s a dishonour to the poor guy himself. Or,’ here he lowered his voice, ‘maybe it was them that killed Gillingham. Maybe he’d threatened to reveal something and they had to get rid of him to cover it up. A heart that conceals and a tongue that never reveals . That’s their motto. I’m saying that it might be the freemasons that did it, see? The police themselves.’
    Vesta laughed out loud. ‘Oh, come on! Policemen?’ Then her face dropped. The year before, her childhood friend, Lindon, had died in a police cell. No one had yet got to the bottom of what happened. Vesta’s voice trembled. ‘A white guy? A professional? With a proper job? And you think they might have knocked him off?’
    ‘I always said I should have joined the East Sussex Force, but Julie wanted to stay in town,’ said Bill. ‘So I joined Brighton and I found out pretty quickly it’s like coming up against a brick wall. They won’t let you in on nothing. That didn’t bother me. I had the dogs to see to. I prefer dogs to anyone. But, still, if you want to commit a crime in