Kent had taken an instant dislike to the man. He didn’t likethe idea of elected commissioners and this individual was a prime example ofwhy. He couldn’t believe that the public had elected this jumped-up little twatin his stripy shirt, ridiculous leather red tie and matching red-framedglasses. He was like some outdated, clichéd advertising executive from the 1990s.Even the man’s name was ridiculous: Gideon Summerfield.
The entire experience had been one of total humiliation. Thefinal straw had been when Summerfield had made all the delegates carry aroundsome rubber bendy dinosaurs all day, supposedly symbolic of their archaic policingstyle.
Kent had dealt with some pretty difficult people in hiscareer, on both sides of the law, but no one had ever pissed him off as much asGideon bloody Summerfield. He couldn’t decide whom he despised most,Summerfield or his brother-in-law, Ian. It was a close-run thing. Thankgoodness the two of them had never met; the idea of them ganging up on him didn’tbear thinking about.
“Look at it this way,” said Debs. “You’re still a relativelyyoung man. This is an opportunity to start again and do something completely new.”
He didn’t feel like a young man, especially having justreturned from his little sortie back into his past. “Like what?” he asked.
“Give it time,” she said. “We’ll think of something. I’llhelp you. Maybe we could even do something together, like open a restaurant.You know I’ve always wanted to do that.”
This was quite the nicest Debs had been to him for months,if not years. Perhaps he had done the old girl a disservice, neglecting herlike he had in favour of the pub. She wasn’t so bad underneath it all. Thenagain, she could just be being nice because she wanted to get her hands on hisredundancy money.
He dismissed this unworthy thought. She may have nagged him overthe years but she wasn’t a money-grabber. He thought about what she had saidand decided she was right, this was an opportunity and it was not the only onethat had come his way today. The police had given him a very decent pay-off, sokeen were they for him to go quietly. He hadn’t even had to work his notice, soofficially he was still employed for another three months. As for the exact amounthe was going to get, it would be substantial. A month’s wages for every year ofservice would amount to something like two years’ salary – tax-free. They weren’tabout to go hungry anytime soon.
And what Debs didn’t know was that he also had his friendlyangel along to help out. A nice pay-off from the police was all well and goodbut a little tinkering about in the past could net him a good deal more thanthat if he planned it well. He would have to think very carefully about where togo next. But for now, he was going to enjoy his beer and his steak and chips.
“Thanks, babe,” he said, almost embarrassed at using such aterm of endearment.
“It’s a long time since you called me that,” she said as shestood behind him and gave his shoulders a rub. “You know, these steaks can waita while if you want to pop upstairs.”
She gave him a knowing look, one he hadn’t seen for a verylong time. It left him in no doubt as to her intentions.
“The boys are out at five-a-side football,” she added. “I’vegiven them some money to get a pizza afterwards with their mates. They won’t beback for a couple of hours at least.”
He couldn’t believe his luck. He couldn’t remember the lasttime she’d wanted to touch him. Things were looking up. And barely an hour agohe had been planning to end it all. You really never did know what was just aroundthe corner. Fortune seemed to be favouring him at last, and he was going tomake damned sure he made the most of this.
As she headed for the kitchen door his eyes were drawn to herample behind, filled out from years of freebies from the bakery. She may havebeen on the large size but he was turned on by the sight as much as he ever hadbeen. His worries banished temporarily, he followed her up the stairs.
Cops and Robbers
April 2013
It was Tuesday teatime and Kent was back on the car parkroof, waiting for the angel. He had spent most of the previous evening loungingcontentedly on the sofa, basking in the afterglow of his unexpected earlyevening delight, with a belly full of steak and chips to boot. It had given himplenty of time to think about where he wanted to go next.
Two main topics had preoccupied his thoughts. Firstly, hehad continued to think about money. What could he do in the past that mightmake his current life more comfortable? Many people had made their fortunesinvesting in the stock market or in property, but he decided such schemes weretoo grandiose for his means.
For a start, he wouldn’t know where to start. He knew very littleabout the stock market, other than that there was something called the FTSEthat went up and down a lot. Even if he could figure it all out, he would onlyhave one day to set in place some sort of investment plan. That also ruled outinvesting in the property market. There was no way he was going to be able tobecome a property magnate in one day.
Quite apart from all of that, both property and shares wouldrequire having a lot of easily accessible capital available. At no time in hispast had he ever had anywhere near the sorts of sums at his disposal that hewould need to make it worthwhile. The only time a decent windfall had come hisway was after his parents had died and he and Annie had sold the house,splitting the proceeds. Most of the money from that had gone towards paying offhis own mortgage, unlike Annie’s half which had been spent on a new Jaguar forIan.
He certainly wasn’t going to risk that money on the stockmarket and even if
