The Victoria Vanishes Read Online Free PDF Page A

Raymond s aid that your powers of observa tion were failing, but he was talking rubbish as usual, and I am absolutely not going to have this kind of self-pitying conversation with you,' May protested, holding up his hands. 'You're as tough as an ox. Your father was a weight-lifting champion, for God's sake. You told me his neck measured the same size as Victoria Beckham's waist. Your dentist reckons you have the strongest tongue in London. He has to put you out just to clean your teeth. You know how you always exaggerate your faults. You're hurting because you weren't here to save Oswald Finch, but there's no point in blaming yourself because you couldn't have done anything. A detective is someone whose life operates on a strict binary sys tem, Arthur; you're either work ing flat out and fully committed or completely off the case. If you stop now, you'll really see how many parts of your body can start to fail. It's the job that keeps you supple in mind and body, can't you see that? I'm going to find Land and take that damned envelope away from him.'
    'You'll do no such thing, Jo hn, not if you value our friend ship.' Bryant looked up at him with aqueous azure pupils. 'Don't you see? It's important to know when the time has come to stop, and Oswald's death has made me realise that I've reached that point. Back in that pub there are younger, more energetic members of the PCU who can continue our legacy.'
    'Wait a minute, what about me?' said May hotly. 'You may have decided that it's time to give up the ghost, but suppose I'm not ready to go yet? I'm younger than you—'
    '—only by three years—'
    '—and I'm certainly not ready to retire. We've been a team as far back as I can remember. How am I supposed to survive without you? We can't just walk away from everything we've built, not now, not after all the battles we've fought to keep it.'
    'We're not part of the Met anymore, remember?' Bryant rarely raised his voice, but was close to doing so now. 'There's no-one fighting for us, John. We're under the control of the Home Office, whether we like it or not. You've met that face-less little weasel Leslie Faraday. Worse, you've met his boss, the Phantom of Whitehall. They'll wear us down eventually.'
    'So that's it, you just give up and walk away? What do you think you're going to do at home all day, thumb through your scrap-books of past cases, stare vacantly out of the window jin gling the change in your pockets? Or worse still, phone the of fice offering advice until nobody wants to take your calls anymore? That's what happens when people retire, you know. Their colleagues tell them to stay in touch but they don't mean it. They'll just think you're too slow and out of the loop. They'll be too busy proving themselves to bother with you. You'll be nothing more than a nuisance to them. Ageism is the last real taboo.'
    May knew he had to make his partner see the truth, even if it meant being cruel. 'If you leave now, you know what we'll have wasted? All those years spent showing that we could hold our own against overpaid young hotshots, the bean-counters brought in by governmen t ministers eager to prove them selves. All our efforts to make Raymond understand why the unit needs to survive. Wait a minute—Raymond—' Why hadn't the chief mentioned Bryant's resignation to him? Could it be that he hadn't had a chance to read the letter yet?
    'Come with me.' Seizing Bryant by the arm, May dragged him back inside the crowded pub. Land was standing near the bar, talking to his wife. A thin band of white paper protruded from his top pocket. May could not tell from this distance if it had been opened. 'You are going to get that letter back right now,' he told his partner.
    'I most certainly am not.' Bryant stood his ground. And kindly take your arm off me. I am still quite capable of peram bulating around a room, thank you.'
    'Then stay here while I get it and tear the damned thing up.' May pushed his way through the clusters of