Gently Floating Read Online Free PDF

there?’
    ‘I don’t see how,’ Parfitt said. ‘Nobody saw the launch going anywhere. It’s got nav lights and a big searchlight and there were lots of people around to see it. There were boats all down the quays and Reuben’s fair at the bridge. We talked to a score of people who were there. Nobody saw the launch take off.’
    ‘Perhaps he didn’t use his lights,’ Glaskell said.
    ‘He always used them,’ Parfitt said. ‘He used the launch as a sort of car to drive between his home and the yard. It’s a very swish launch. Everyone knew it. He used to annoy people with using the searchlight. I talked to the manager, Archer, about it. French never drove it at night without the lights.’
    ‘Say just this once,’ Glaskell said.
    ‘I think it very unlikely, sir,’ Parfitt said. ‘But even if he did, someone must have seen him. And they’d have heard the engine if they didn’t see him.’
    ‘You mentioned somebody’s fair,’ Gently said.
    ‘Yes, Reuben’s fair,’ Parfitt said.
    ‘What sort of a fair is it?’ Gently said.
    ‘Oh, just a small one,’ Parfitt said.
    ‘Any music?’ Gently said.
    ‘Yes, plenty of that,’ Parfitt said.
    ‘Pretty loud, is it?’ Gently said.
    Parfitt nodded, didn’t say anything.
    ‘I’d call it bloody loud,’ Glaskell said, ‘if it’s the one I know. And it is. What’s upstream of Haynor Bridge, Parfitt?’
    Parfitt hesitated before saying: ‘There’s a shed of French’s. Speltons’ yard. The Bridge Inn opposite. The bungalows.’
    ‘A shed of French’s?’ Glaskell said.
    ‘Where they keep their half-deckers,’ Parfitt said.
    ‘Where they keep their half-deckers,’ Glaskell said. ‘That’s a bloody alternative for you, isn’t it? Suppose he’d gone there to meet his son coming back from this moonlight sail of his, and there was a row, and the son bonked him. That’d cover the facts, wouldn’t it?’
    ‘Yes,’ Parfitt said.
    ‘With the son admitting being out in a half-decker,’ Glaskell said. ‘You don’t have to break his story. You have to build it up, Parfitt.’
    Parfitt didn’t say anything.
    ‘Is that the idea?’ Glaskell said to Gently.
    Gently grinned at one and the other of them. ‘I wouldn’t know that,’ he said. ‘Your inspector’s the man who’s been on the job. He’ll know the feel of things best. He’s got a very good grasp on the situation plus the local knowledge that counts.’
    Glaskell stared at Gently, chuckled. ‘All right,’ he said. ‘Stop buttering him up. He’s a good man. I’d back him anywhere. Just don’t give him a swelled head.’
    ‘I’m not saying I’m right, sir,’ Parfitt said.
    ‘Shut up, Parfitt,’ Glaskell said.
    ‘Yes, sir. Certainly, sir,’ Parfitt said.
    ‘You son of a bitch,’ Glaskell said.
    They laughed.
    Gently said: ‘That’s about all till I’ve had a look round. I’ll take your statements to read over and drive out after tea.’
    ‘Come home with me,’ Glaskell said. ‘I’ve got orders from Marion to invite you. The town stinks. We’re up the coast. Give you a look at the sea. What are you doing, Parfitt?’
    ‘I’ll have a meal here,’ Parfitt said.
    ‘Oh, to hell with that,’ Glaskell said. He put his hand on the phone.
    Thus: Superintendent Gently went to tea with Superintendent Glaskell and Inspector Parfitt, and tea was provided by Marion, Mrs Glaskell, on a paved terrace, under a sun-awning. So that when Superintendent Gently had washed and begun to feel comfortable, he was invited to sit at a table which looked across a lawn and over some sand dunes to the North Sea. The sand dunes were fawny yellow and stippled with marram grass, which was chalky green, and the North Sea was a high wall of emerald, purple, straw and heliotrope. On the edge of this wall, very bluish, tiny ships moved north and south, and from it blew a soft breeze which smelled of seaweed and the marrams. They ate lobster salad. The lobsters had been caught and boiled locally