The Death of the Elver Man by Jennie Finch Read Free Book Online

different ideas, coming from London.’ Again the sneer in his voice. ‘But I hope you will settle down soon and start to do things our way.’
    He reached into his desk and pulled out a pile of folders, thrusting them over the desk at her.
    ‘You’ve been here six months now, seven I think it is, so we will be increasing your case-load until you reach the norm. As you know, we try to break new officers in gently.’
    Alex took the files and tried to hide her dismay. She was already struggling to cope with the twenty or so probationers allotted to her, especially as she was now on the court rota and expected to attend, suitably dressed of course, for one full day a week.
    ‘There are a few old hands in there – see what you can do with them but don’t get your hopes up,’ said Garry, waving his hand in dismissal. ‘Oh yes, and a transfer from Exeter office. We’ve no details yet but there’s an address. I’d like you to make contact with him at once. Thank you.’
    He had turned his attention back to his desk before she reached the door leaving her to struggle with the folders and the handle, which was sticking as usual. One of the joys of an old and poorly converted building she had decided.
    Well, that was not one of his best pep-talks she thought as she hurried back to her room. He really should work on his motivational skills. She dropped the folders on her desk, sankinto her chair and surrendered to the misery that flooded over her. Lauren found her, damp eyed and hunched behind the desk, having failed to get an answer on the internal phone.
    ‘It’s too soon to expect you to carry a full case-load,’ she said. ‘You’re supposed to have a year before you build up to that. What’s he given you?’ She rummaged through the files sorting them into three piles as she went.
    ‘Hopeless cases,’ said Lauren tapping the first stack. ‘Give them a month with weekly calls and take ’em back to court. No point in wasting time ’cos they’re not going to attend and they’ve probably already breached their parole. They’ve just not been caught yet.’
    She turned to the second pile. ‘These are your real work. Mainly young lads on first or second offence, a few come up from Social Service nannying like Brian.’ She caught sight of Alex’s face. ‘They not all like Brian, you know. And actually I do think you’re doing him some good. He’s been quite polite since you had a little word with him and he’s actually come in almost sober a couple of times.’
    She turned her attention to the last folder. ‘This ‘ent right,’ she said, opening it to show a single piece of paper with a note attached. ‘This is supposed to be a transfer, some bloke from Exeter out on licence from Dartmoor, but there’s nothing but a name, address and this scrawly old signature. It’s not even on proper paper so I can’t tell which office it’s from.’
    Alex took the page and examined it. There was a name – Andrew Michael Hinton – and an address she did not recognize . Someone had scribbled something at the bottom which looked like ‘Agg B. P/L?’ She couldn’t make it out properly as there was a bold, clear stamp across it saying ‘TRANSFER TO: with ‘Highpoint’ written in pencil.
    ‘I’m not sure you should just go out there,’ said Lauren. ‘’Tis out on the Levels, way past the Mallorys’ place. Used to be Ada’s family home, way back. I thought it’d fallen down years back. Maybe you should get him to visit first. We don’t even know what he was in for, nor how long he got.’
    Alex knew she was right, but Garry had practically orderedher to see this Andrew Hinton as soon as possible and she was reluctant to question his instructions any further.
    ‘I’ll be okay,’ she said. ‘I worked shifts in some of the nastiest hostels in London. I know how to take care of myself and how to avoid trouble.’
    Lauren looked unconvinced. ‘Well you go during the day and let us know when so we can