Find the Innocent by Roy Vickers Read Free Book Online Page A

it’s all laid on, you want to keep one eye open for a runaround.”
    â€œThere’s the problem of the woman,” contributed Benjoy.
    â€œProblem!” echoed Curwen. “That’s newspaper stuff. As a budding policeman you have a right to be told that we don’t use problems. Only facts. Big and little facts, mostly little ones. Prove a crook drank stout when he’s said he drank bitter and you shake him. Do it three times and he starts cooking up a new tale and it’s not long before he solves the problems without you having to bother.
    â€œTake this case, fr’example! We don’t know which of ’em was in this lockhouse with the girl-friend. Crooks begin by telling the same tale and giving us something to break down and so start ’em contradicting each other. These educated men are contradicting each other flat before we’ve had time to break down anything.”
    â€œAnd that was what you meant by the runaround, sir?”
    Curwen blinked.
    â€œShouldn’t be surprised!” he hedged, abandoning the bollard.
    The photographers were working in the kitchen. Curwen strolled into the general room, followed by Benjoy. He gazed at the overmantel, not without appreciation. He picked up one of the books lying against the skirting board and studied its title, which baffled him.
    â€œEggheads!” he scoffed. “And what good does it do ’ em? Any schoolboy knows more about how to commit a crime than they do.” His eye was caught by The Prattler , lying on the sofa. “That looks a bit livelier.”
    â€œAnti-egghead, sir! Might have been brought by the girl.”
    â€œQuite right, boy!” It had not been treated with powder. “They’ve missed it.”
    Benjoy knelt down beside it.
    â€œA page has been torn out.” Without touching the cover he inserted a pocket knife between the leaves and opened the journal.
    The left-hand page, opposite the page that had been torn out, showed William Brengast beside his helicopter.
    â€œGood boy!” said Curwen. “It’s all yours. Follow it up on your own.”
    Returning to Renchester, Curwen found enough desk work to occupy him until lunch time. An experienced detective learns to husband his own energy. Curwen husbanded his by choosing a comparatively obscure restaurant in a side street where no one would look for him. The food was adequate and he gave it his full attention.
    â€œSorry to interrupt you at lunch, sir!” Benjoy had bobbed up. “Rongarth Draperies. The traveller who gave that girl a lift from Diddington is working this town for three days. I caught him at lunch—”
    â€œAnd you said you were sorry to interrupt his lunch!” said Curwen.
    â€œWhen I mentioned murder he came clean, in a panic. It seems he tried his luck with the girl, and she turned his ignition and got out, about a couple of miles, he said, the Diddington side of the lockhouse. More!”
    â€œI thought so!” groaned Curwen. “Go ahead.”
    â€œDeceased and deceased’s widow. The page torn out of that glossy is a full page photo in colour of Mrs. William Brengast. Could be Miss England if she felt that way.”
    â€œWhat’s the link-up with the traveller?”
    â€œI don’t know, sir.”
    â€œBut you’re guessing fit to bust. All right, boy! When you’ve had your lunch you can go out to the lockhouse and find which of ’em has pinned her on the wall.”

Chapter Three
    â€œFirst lunches, please,” intoned the dining-car attendant.
    Jill Aspland folded the early edition of the evening paper with the front page innermost.
Murdered Tycoon’s Secret Mission
Wife’s Mystery Hitch-Hike
    That sort of thing would upset Veronica’s nerve, she decided.
    â€œD’you think you can face lunch, dear?”
    â€œI must !” said Veronica, looking up from a railway guide. “Whatever happens, it would be