Asking for the Moon by Reginald Hill Read Free Book Online Page B

looked at Dalziel still double marking time, and thought it would mean another trip to the kitchen for the poor sod.
    'No, thank you, Mr Trotter,' he said.
    'Right, sir. Thank you, sir. Prisoner, HALT! Stan' atease. Next inspection in thirty minutes.'
    Then he was gone. Dalziel waited till they heard the key turn in the lock before subsiding slowly onto the bed.
    'You OK, sir?' said Pascoe.
    The great grey head turned slowly towards him.
    'What's up, lad? Worried in case I snuff it and there's nowt between you and Tankie but your fancy degree? Rest quiet. There's nothing wrong with me that a good woman and a bottle of Highland Park wouldn't put right.'
    'Glad to hear it, sir. Talking of a good woman, was Mrs Dalziel expecting you to drop in at home before you went back to Wales? If so . . .'
    'Forget it, lad. There is no Mrs Dalziel now.'
    'I'm sorry,' said Pascoe. 'Dead?'
    'No such sodding luck,' grunted the Fat Man. 'Just divorced. You married?'
    'No sir.'
    'Good. First thing I've heard in your favour so far. Not engaged or owt like that? Girlfriend filling her bottom drawer?'
    'No sir. There was a girl at university . . .'
    'Oh aye. The one got you auditioning for An Inspector Calls? She still hanging around?'
    'No sir. Not the type who hangs around. Not the type who likes her boyfriends joining the police force either.'
    'One of them? Then you're well rid of her,' growled Dalziel. 'Ee, that weren't half bad. Wouldn't like to fetch me another helping, would you?'
    He'd been demolishing his stew as he talked and now he thrust the plate towards Pascoe who took it and half rose before he remembered.
    'Nice to see that being an officer for five minutes hasn't spoilt your manners,' grinned Dalziel.
    Angrily Pascoe threw the plate onto the bed. It skidded off the mattress, hit the stone-flagged floor and shattered.
    'Clever,' said Dalziel. Tha knows who'll get the blame for that?'
    'Why the hell aren't we talking about how to get out of here instead of exchanging dull details of our domestic lives?' demanded Pascoe. 'Everyone seems to think you're so bloody marvellous, why don't you do something to prove it?'
    'Got a temper, have you?' said Dalziel not disapprovingly. All right. Here. Take hold of that.'
    He reached down and picked up two long sharp shards of china, one of which he handed to Pascoe.
    He went on. 'First chance we get, we jump 'em. You grab the lass, get a hold of her hair, stick that into her throat or her eye, any bit of her you can get at that'll do a lot of damage. Think you can manage that, lad?'
    Pascoe looked at the fragment of plate and imagined sinking it into one of those pale grey eyes . . .
    'I'm not sure, sir . . .' he said.
    'Oh aye? So while I'm doing the business on Tankie, Jude's turning my spine into bonemeal? No thanks. We need another plan. Your turn.'
    He tossed the plate shard back onto the floor and looked expectantly at the younger man.
    'I don't know,' cried Pascoe. 'I meant something more like escaping . . . this isn't a prison, I mean it wasn't built to keep people in. Surely we can find a way to get out. . . ?'
    'Like the Count of Monte Cristo, you mean? Now that were a good movie. Robert Doughnut, weren't it? Only they had to dig for about twenty years, didn't they? About the same amount of time you spent in school, learning fuck all. Tell you what, why don't you take the first shift, lad?'
    It wasn't so much the words as the Fat Man's more-in-pain-than-in-anger expression that got to Pascoe.
    He said, 'You're forgetting something. It wasn't the tunnel that got him out, it was the old sod dying and being dumped in the sea in a sack. Our only problem is going to be, where will we find a sack big enough?'
    He'd gone too far. If Dalziel looked big before, now he seemed to swell monstrously like the genie let out of the bottle in The Thief of Baghdad.
    He tried to recall how Sabu had got him back in again. By persuading him he couldn't get back in again!
    He forced a smile and said, 'You