The Enemy Within Read Online Free PDF

she died.’
    ‘We had a very nice chat over a cup of tea and some French Fancies . . .’
    Ross shot Holt a look. French Fancies?
    ‘It was all done in line with standard operating protocol,’ Palmer explained. ‘I was simply conducting a preliminary engagement interview.’
    Charlie frowned. ‘What the hell’s an engagement interview?’
    Palmer looked at the inspector.
    ‘It’s okay,’ Holt reassured him, ‘you can tell Charlie.’
    The young man looked doubtful. ‘Have you signed the Official Secrets Act?’
    ‘Of course, son,’ Charlie lied without missing a beat, ‘many times.’
    ‘Me too,’ Holt nodded, trying not to grin.
    ‘Well,’ Palmer looked at them both doubtfully but pressed on, ‘like I said, we had a chat and a nice cup of tea. Mrs Slater talked about her roses—’
    ‘What’s that got to do with anything?’ Charlie snapped.
    ‘Again,’ Palmer said patiently, ‘it’s what we’re taught to do.’
    ‘In spy school?’ Charlie let out a loud guffaw that broke the deathly hush in the room and caused the barman to look over in their direction.
    ‘In our basic training, yes,’ Palmer nodded, lowering his voice even further. ‘We are supposed to discuss topics of interest to the suspect, in order to put their mind at ease and get them to open up.’
    Ross looked at Holt. ‘She was a little old lady. How was she a suspect?’
    ‘Mrs Slater is . . . was a person of interest to my employer,’ Palmer said primly, ‘that is to say, a potential source of antisocial behaviour. From our discussion, it was clear that she was very hostile to the elected government and to Mrs Thatcher in particular.’
    She was a seventy-eight-year-old rose grower, Charlie reflected. Who cares what she thought? She was hardly going to start a bloody revolution. Keeping his thoughts to himself, he began playing with his moustache, wondering when Holt was going to offer to go to the bar. It was the inspector’s round, after all, and the more this boy opened his mouth, the more another whisky seemed desirable, not to say essential.
    ‘Or, to put it another way,’ Palmer’s voice was barely audible by now, ‘Slater was deemed a credible threat to national security.’
    ‘Fuck me,’ the sergeant grumbled. ‘We really are in big trouble then.’ He had to resist a sudden urge to give the kid a slap. Compared to Palmer, his constables, Silver and Carlyle – Silver in particular – were bloody geniuses. Even the spank mag king Trevor bloody Miller would have been able to hold his own in MI5 if this was the standard of recruit.
    ‘Ha!’ Holt laughed.
    Palmer looked hurt. ‘I’m only doing my job,’ he pouted.
    Charlie shook his head. He prided himself on being a true blue, a man who would happily put his body on the line for Queen, country and Rangers FC but, even so, there were times when the stupidity of the powers that be – and the foot soldiers doing their bidding – left him almost speechless with rage.
    At last, Holt finished his pint and gestured at Charlie’s empty glass. ‘Bell’s?’
    ‘Yes,’ the sergeant nodded. ‘Make it a double.’
    Getting to his feet, the inspector turned to the youngster. ‘And what,’ he asked, ‘did you put in your report?’
    ‘That’s the thing,’ Palmer said sheepishly. ‘I haven’t got round to writing it yet.’
    ‘Ah, I see,’ said Holt, heading for the bar. ‘That’s not very good, is it?’
    ‘No, my boss back in Gower Street is jumping up and down, wanting to know what’s going on.’
    ‘I thought he’d be delighted,’ Charlie said as he watched Holt pull a fiver from his wallet. ‘After all, it’s one less threat to national security for him to worry about.’
    Nodding, Palmer took a mouthful of his Coke. ‘Yes, but you know what it’s like. The woman was quite well-known in . . . particular circles. All the lefties and conspiracy theorists will now say we did it. And we didn’t!’ His eyes widened in horror at the very