Cry of the Children Read Online Free

fools to get involved and you know that, whatever you try to trot out in the way of mitigating circumstances. I expect you’ll be happy to let your brief use all the arguments you find so contemptible when they’re used on behalf of common criminals. But that’s not the worst of it. That isn’t what will lose the two of you your jobs, is it?’
    â€˜No, sir.’ DS Padgett knew better now than to try to defend himself or Kennedy. He had caught the genuine anger that was driving Lambert’s tirade.
    â€˜No. You tried to cover up your role in this brawl. You put pressure on a witness to retract his evidence. The two of you sought out one of the men you had hit and used a combination of bribery and threats to try to get him to change the statement he had made in this station.’
    Kennedy said desperately, ‘We didn’t offer any direct bribe, sir. We simply suggested that—’
    â€˜I’m not interested in what you simply suggested, DC Kennedy. You know as well as I do that the CPS wouldn’t have charged you unless they thought they had a strong case. Contrary to what you might think, they don’t like bringing cases against the police. It’s tiresome, time-consuming and a waste of resources that should be applied to other things. I suggest you now get together with your brief and either refute the charge or produce the best “mitigating circumstances” plea the bugger’s ever heard.’
    â€˜Yes, sir. I think we can show that we—’
    â€˜I’m not interested in hearing what you think you can show or what you intend to cobble up. Consult your bloody brief about that, not me. I’ll take the verdict of the court on this, in due course. You’ve brought disgrace on the police service as well as yourselves with this. It’s that service that is my concern, not your miserable skins. Don’t expect any sympathy from me if and when the Crown Court finds you guilty! Now get out of here!’
    They shuffled to their feet and departed as rapidly as his fierceness indicated they should. John Lambert stared at the blank wall opposite his desk for a long five minutes. Police corruption always appalled and depressed him. Yet, despite what he’d said, he knew he’d end up doing his best for Padgett and Kennedy in due course. He’d be telling whoever would listen in the hierarchy that they were foolish rather than vicious young men, who would surely learn from this experience and give good service in the future.
    And yet … and yet. If they were found guilty of trying to pervert the court of justice, they would deserve no sympathy, so that he hoped his routine pleas would be ignored. It was a ridiculous contradiction. He slammed the door behind him and went home very depressed. He thought as he drove, ‘God give me some real crime and let me dispense with this sort of rubbish!’
    By the end of the weekend, he would be heartily wishing he had entertained no such thought.
    Lucy Gibson went to the fair that Saturday. She waited all day to go whilst she did other things that were boring.
    She was forced to go into Hereford with Matt and her mum. There she had to walk round shops, when she wanted to go to the cathedral or the castle. She wouldn’t even have minded a walk by the river, where there were lots of things to see and people to watch, but she had to trail round shops with her mother, holding on to her hand, whilst the adults tried to buy things that were of no interest to her.
    She had to sit and watch her mother try on winter coats and parade up and down for Matt to decide which one was best. Her mum was like a silly girl with Matt, prancing up and down and giggling at his comments. Lucy would never have thought of that, but she heard one of the mums at the school gates saying it about another woman who’d got herself a new man. So that’s what her mum was being, in this shop and in front of other people