Policeman's Progress Read Online Free Page A

plain Edna Dodds in North Shields, she had started life as a barmaid, but her face, figure and disposition had soon brought her into the nightlife of the North. Jackie had met her in a nightclub in Doncaster and soon established her in the Rising Sun as the resident singer, a job about which she had no illusions, as sharing Jackie’s bed was as much a part of the contract as murmuring throatily into a microphone.
    She stalked past him now, on her way to do her second number of the evening. Laura was no great singer, but her slinky appearance and sexy delivery went down well with the virtually all-male audience.
    â€˜Ring for a taxi for me, Thor, please. About fifteen minutes.’
    â€˜I’ll take you home, hinny.’
    Jackie seemed set to make it up.
    â€˜Like hell you will – I want to sleep tonight. We’re all going down to Middlesbrough tomorrow – remember?’
    â€˜Not till the afternoon – come on, sweetheart.’
    â€˜Fifteen minutes, Thor.’
    She went out and slammed the door violently.
    Jackie dropped into a chair and glowered at the Dane. ‘See what I mean – if it’s that bloody Geordie Armstrong, I’ll kill him!’

Chapter Three
    Alec Bolam threw his hat into the ‘Out’ tray and sank morosely into his chair, staring with distaste at the full ‘In’ tray. Thank God, it can stay full until the morning , he thought. It was Sunday and theoretically he was off duty – as much as any detective chief inspector could ever be off duty , he told himself sourly.
    He was only in the office as an excuse to get out of the house. Last night, he’d had another flaming row with Vera. She had the sulks this morning and, rather than risk another flare-up, he had taken the car and come in to Headquarters. A couple of halves at the Corner House later on and get back by half past one for lunch – perhaps his wife might be talking to him by then. And maybe Betty, the cause of the trouble as usual, might have got up from bed.
    Angrily, he jumped up and walked to the window. What the hell is the matter with me , he wondered?
    He knew well enough, but didn’t want to admit it. He’d had a lifetime of authority – as a senior police officer, as a sergeant in the Military Police … he had always been the boss, the masterful one.
    Now he was up against a brick wall – a feminine, solid, unbeatable wall. His wife sided with Betty and he sensed that she was using the situation to get her own back for years of having to give in to him. Home, instead of being a place to run to, had become a good place to get out of – that was why he was hanging about Headquarters now.
    He turned back to the room with a sigh. Altogether too tidy , he thought, staring around. The few months of occupation hadn’t yet given it that patina of homeliness – the doors were still unscratched and the walls still perfectly clean. This new headquarters was all very grand and not even jerry-built. But it wasn’t the same as his worn cubby hole down in the old Newcastle City HQ, which now housed ‘A’ Division and the Forensic Science laboratory. Since the amalgamation of the police forces into one huge organization surrounding the Tyne, everything had been turned upside-down. This in itself had done nothing to help his unsettled frame of mind.
    Bolam dropped back into his chair and made an effort to feel at ease. Even his job didn’t help him settle down. He had been taken off regular CID work and given odd titbits that needed special attention. Fine from the promotion point of view, he supposed, but not the same as regular work, out with the old team. At present, he was helping on a long-term fraud investigation that had dragged on for over a year and also had this nightclub racket as his special pigeon.
    With the present state of affairs at home, the very mention of the word ‘nightclub’ was enough to make him grind his