Innocent Blood Read Online Free

past beyond Cooper’s experience. ‘Still, it’s your operation. I won’t second-guess the officer in charge. I’ll see you and your men at oh-seven-thirty sharp tomorrow.’
    That evening, as he watched an unconvincing documentary on the Falklands War, Maidment unlocked the case that held his service revolver and cleaned the gun with care. He loaded six rounds, ignoring Hilary’s sceptical voice in his mind. It took him some time to decide where to conceal the weapon, before he chose the bread bin. If the blighter made a run for it, he’d be more likely to go through the kitchen to the back door than out of the front, which he would make sure was bolted. If that crook tried anything, he’d be ready for him, oh yes.
    He slept well, as he always did before a mission. None of the enemy he had killed rested heavily on his conscience. When he did have nightmares, and they were thankfully rare, they were triggered by the memory of private transgressions and of one gross sin. But that balmy July night, the major slept the untroubled sleep of a child.
    The dawn chorus woke him. He was showered, shaved and dressed before six. His shoes were already polished to a mirror finish, his trousers pressed. The prospect of seeing some action again excited him. He was about to help the police arrest a serial criminal and he was invigorated by a sense of purpose.
    That Sergeant Cooper seemed solid enough, though he had never liked elbow patches, and a Prince of Wales check jacket was most unfortunate given the man’s build. But he was old for a policeman, which gave Maidment added confidence despite the shabbiness of his clothes.
    Against his best intentions he started to fret about the arrangements. The gun was where he had left it – oiled, cleaned and loaded. He tested putting it in his jacket pocket, but of course it was far too big and he no longer had his holster. So he replaced it in the bread bin, finally deciding that he was ready.
     
    Cooper cast a critical eye over the team he’d been given. The two uniforms, Perkins and Lee, were all right – he’d worked with them before and knew he could rely on them – but he’d drawn the short straw with the detectives who would be undercover outside. DC Partridge was a twenty-year veteran with a drink problem that remained a secret only to the superintendent in charge of Harlden Station. DS Rike had been good until a knife incident the previous year, but he’d only been back at work two months, most of which had been spent safely behind a desk.
    Operations must have decided that this was a low-risk arrest, which would help their work records without being too difficult. They were going to confront a non-violent con man with no history of assault. Just the same, Rike looked pasty so Cooper assigned him to cover the service alley that ran behind the terrace gardens.
    He watched as the detective donned a council worker’s green overalls and yellow reflective jerkin, before wheeling a cart and broom behind Maidment’s cottage garden. Partridge he consigned to a car parked up the road at the front, where he opened the day’s paper and promptly pretended to fall asleep; at least Cooper hoped it was an act.
    The major was waiting for him inside, impeccably dressed in jacket and tie despite the early heat. He looked calm but Cooper sensed a tension about him that caused him a moment’s concern. The last thing he needed was a case of citizen’s heroics.
    Cooper, Perkins and Lee drank fresh coffee and waited. There was no small talk; it wasn’t Maidment’s style and Cooper had never mastered the art. Shortly after eight, the two uniformed men disappeared – Constable Perkins upstairs and Lee to the dining room, while Cooper sneaked into the downstairs cloakroom and perched on the lowered toilet seat. He heard Maidment washing their cups and clearing away. Rike and Partridge called in by radio on cue and he was relieved that they sounded alert.
    At half past eight Partridge