Deadheads

'You'd swear to it?' said Pascoe.

'I told you!' protested Marsh. 'I'm dead certain.'

And now Pascoe didn't say anything but sat and regarded the young man quizzically. Puzzlement, doubt, and then dismay trailed each other across his face.

'No, what I mean is . . .'he began.

'That'll do, Marsh. For now,' said Pascoe.

The youth was removed. Wield nodded his congratulations.

'Nice admission,' he said. 'But . . .'

'Let's have the other,' said Pascoe.

With Feaver the approach was quite different.

'We know you and your mates damaged those cars, so you're not going to waste our time on that, are you?' snapped Pascoe.

'No, sir,' stammered the boy.

'What's that. Are you denying it?'

'No, I was meaning, no, I wasn't going to waste time, I mean . . .'

'You mean, yes, we did damage the cars? Say it!'

'Yes, we did damage the cars,' echoed the boy.

'That's better. Now I want you to help us. It'll all be taken into account.'

The pattern was then repeated, Pascoe going so far as the change from one to the other and Wield coming in on the second car. Feaver was emphatic that it was a BMW 528i. The colour was dark blue with silver trim. There'd been twin aerials and to the X and the 9 he'd given Singh he now added a possible 2. Finally Pascoe gave him a piece of paper and told him to write down the names and addresses of the other three youths involved.

When he'd gone, Pascoe said to the sergeant, 'Anything we missed?'

Wield said, if we're going to do them for damaging those cars, shouldn't we have got statements while they were in the mood? Not that I get the impression statements are what you want.'

He let a slight note of reproof come into his voice.

'No,' said Pascoe. 'Fetch 'em both in together.'

This time there were no seats for the young men. They stood at one side of the table while Pascoe regarded them grimly from the other.

'You've both admitted to unlawfully damaging property, to wit, four motor-cars parked in the bus station multi- storey car park. I said you've both admitted it,' he stressed, intercepting an accusing glance from Marsh to Feaver. 'I've checked with Criminal Records and there's nothing against you in the past, which is in your favour. And also I have an officer in this station who is willing to speak up for your known good characters. Now, because of these considerations, I'm going to take a risk. I'm going to recommend that we proceed no further at this time. This does not mean that the case is closed. The file will remain open for as long as I want it to remain open. You're on the record now, understand that. And this is the last favour you'll ever get from me or any other police officer, do you understand that!'

They nodded. Pascoe waited.

'Yes, sir,' stuttered Feaver.

Pascoe waited again.

'Yes,' said Marsh. 'Understood.'

'Right. Now push off. For ever!'

But Jonty Marsh was not so easily cowed. At the door he paused and said, 'What about all that other business, the cars and all that?'

'What other business?' said Pascoe stonily. 'There was no other business.'

After the door had closed behind the youths, he relaxed and pushed the list of names Feaver had provided towards Wield.

'See someone from uniformed has a word with these three, will you?'

'Yes, sir,' said Wield. 'And thanks, on behalf of young Singh, that is.'

'Thanks for what? What did I do?' said Pascoe in a surprised tone.

'Well, for a start you - ' began Wield, then he paused and smiled faintly. 'Why, nothing. You did nothing at all, sir.'

'Good. I'm glad that's settled,' said Pascoe.

'Yes, sir. What exactly was it that I was doing, if you don't mind me asking?'

'Sorry about that. But I wanted you to ask all the questions about the other car. I didn't want to risk directing them.'

'Towards what?' asked Wield.

'Towards details of the car that Daphne Aldermann transferred to. You see it occurred to me that I know somebody who drives an X-registered BMW 528i in dark blue with silver trim and tinted windows. I had a look at it recently. A garage door had fallen on it.'