Trust No One by Alex Walters Read Free Book Online

authority.
    â€˜Guv,’ Salter acknowledged. By contrast, his own brand of cocky superiority suddenly appeared slightly gauche.
    The older man peered at the two SOCOs, his expression suggesting that, though he hadn’t met them before, he would remember them in future.
    â€˜Keith Welsby,’ he said. He gestured towards Salter. ‘From the Agency, like my colleague here.’ Somehow he succeeded in conveying the relative seniority of his own role compared with Salter’s. ‘All done?’
    The lead SOCO nodded. ‘On our side, sir.’
    â€˜Thanks very much, then. We’ll be in touch in due course.’ He was still holding open the front door, and the tone of dismissal was unmistakable. The SOCOs needed no further prompting.
    Welsby closed the front door behind them, and then turned slowly back to Salter and Hodder. ‘Right, lads,’ he said, his face expressionless. ‘So what the fucking fuck’s been going on here, then?’

Chapter 3
    Her head aching, her mind still in some other place, Marie Donovan sat at her large wooden desk, trying to smile at the young man opposite. She hadn’t chosen the office furniture herself and it was all too imposing for her taste. Perched in the leather swivel chair, the young man looked like a mouse caught in a boxing glove.
    â€˜It’s still not right, is it, Darren?’ she said at last, knowing that she had to go on with all this, despite everything. She glanced down again at the document. She was trying to find the right words. With Darren, she was always trying to find the right words. Simple ones, that he could follow.
    â€˜Darren?’ she prompted.
    He blinked. ‘Miss?’
    â€˜It’s Marie,’ she said. ‘You can call me Marie.’ Christ, she thought, it’s as if he’s never left school. She imagined he’d been the same there – meek, compliant, fundamentally useless. ‘I was saying that we still haven’t got the printing right here, have we?’
    â€˜I did my best, miss.’
    â€˜Marie,’ she repeated. ‘I’m sure you did, Darren. But you need to concentrate. Let’s have a look at this, shall we?’ She held up the printed document. ‘What’s wrong with it?’
    Darren gazed at the handful of sheets, a brief shadow of panic crossing his face in response to the direct question. He leaned forwards and squinted. ‘It’s a bit blurred,’ he offered finally.
    She nodded. ‘It’s very blurred. You let the original move while it was printing. OK, what else?’
    Darren looked dismayed that the inquisition was not yet finished. ‘Um. It’s a bit, well, wonky.’
    â€˜It’s very wonky,’ she agreed. ‘You didn’t square up the originals. Anything else?’
    He gazed silently at the document, then back up at her. The look of panic had returned. ‘Miss?’
    She leaned forwards and picked up the paper again. ‘It’s printed on both sides of an A3 sheet, right?’ She paused. ‘A big sheet.’ She stretched it out to show him exactly what a big sheet looked like when it was stretched out. ‘And each side is divided into two halves?’
    Darren was staring at her now with an expression of abject misery. She’d lost him at the first mention of paper size.
    â€˜OK,’ she went on, ‘so it’s a big sheet that’s supposed to be folded in half to make a four-page A4 – that’s a littler sheet – booklet.’ She carefully folded the sheet to demonstrate. ‘Like that, see?’
    Darren made no response. Knackered as she was, she was momentarily tempted to lean over the desk and give him a violent shake. She had a fear that she might actually hear what passed for a brain rattling around in his skull.
    â€˜So that means,’ she persisted, ‘that both sides need to be printed the same way up. Right?’ She was determined not