DI Jack Frost 02 - A Touch of Frost

here,” he said. “Who is that?”
    “It’s Sadie - Sadie Eustace.”
    Frost slid back in his chair. Sadie! The wife of Useless Eustace! “What do you want, Sadie?”
    “Can I talk to you in confidence?”
    “Of course you bloody can’t,” said Frost. “Your old man’s wanted for murder.”
    “He didn’t do it, Mr. Frost.”
    “Of course he didn’t, Sadie. He didn’t do any of the jobs he was sent down for. He’s a model citizen.”
    “But he didn’t kill that copper. He swears it. Listen, Mr. Frost, this is for your ears only. Stan’s been in touch with me.”
    Frost sat up straight. “No, you listen to me, Sadie. First of all, I’m not on this case, so you’re wasting your time talking to me. Secondly, whatever you tell me goes straight on the record - every word. If you don’t want that to happen, hang up and I’ll forget this conversation ever took place.”
    “Stan wants to talk to you, Mr. Frost. He says you’re the only one he can trust.”
    “Then let him come to the station and give himself up. I’ll talk to him then.”
    “No, Jack, please. I don’t want to speak over the phone. Can you come over to the house?”
    “Just a minute.” He put down the phone and wandered outside so he could see the lobby. The desk phone was on its rest and Sergeant Johnson was taking details from a woman whose cat had been locked in a neighbour’s shed. Satisfied that the sergeant wasn’t eavesdropping on the conversation, he went back to his desk. “Listen to me, Sadie. I can’t come to your house. It would be more than my job is worth. I shouldn’t even be talking to you now.”
    “The cafeteria in Woolworth’s in the High Street.”
    “What about it?”
    “I’ll be there in five minutes. Corner table. Meet me.”
    “No!” said Frost firmly.
    “Please,” said Sadie as she hung up.
    “No,” said Frost even more firmly to the dial tone. He hung up, then spun around guiltily as Webster pushed in with the teas. “Shut the door, son.”
    Webster backed against the door to close it. He put one cup of tea on the inspector’s desk.
    “Ta,” said Frost, stirring it with a pencil, still not certain what to do about the phone call. “I’ve just had Stanley Eustace’s wife on the phone. She wants me to meet her in five minutes.”
    Webster raised his eyebrows. “Have you told Mr. Allen?”
    Frost shook his head. “She doesn’t want me to tell anyone. Says it’s to be off the record. What do you think?”
    Webster drained his cup and parked it on the window’s ledge. “I think you’d be mad to go.”
    “That’s what I think, too,” said Frost gloomily. “Stark, staring, bleeding mad.” He stood up and shuffled on his mac. “If anyone wants me, you don’t know where I am.”

    With the lunch-time rush the cafeteria was a cacophony of crockery, cutlery, and raised voices. Sadie was hunched up in the corner, staring at the brown plastic table top, which was puddled with spilt tea. Frost bought two coffees from the quick-service counter and carried them over.
    “Anyone sitting here?” he asked, dropping down on the padded vinyl bench. He slid one of the coffees over. She raised her head, forced a smile, then began to stir her coffee mechanically.
    “Thanks for coming, Jack.”
    “That’s all right,” replied Frost. “I felt like getting kicked out of the force.” He tore open the little plastic bag of sugar and tipped it into his cup. “So what have I risked it all for?”
    She leaned forward. “He didn’t do it, Jack.”
    “The jeweller identified him, Sadie.”
    She brushed that aside with a flick of her hand. “I know he did the jeweller, but he didn’t shoot that copper.” She covered her face with her hands. “I wish he’d never bought that bloody gun. I told Stan right from the start it would only lead to trouble. He said it would only be a prop, a frightener. He said he would never pull the trigger . . . but . . . but I knew different. Stan never meant to hurt the jeweller. He only meant to frighten him.”
    “He did that all right,” said Frost. “He frightened the shit out of him.”
    “He panicked,” she said.
    “Yes, and he panicked when he was stopped by the constable. He panicked so much he blew half his bloody head off.”
    She continued to stir her coffee, then pushed the cup away, untasted. “Stan swears to me that he didn’t do that policeman.”
    “If I had killed someone, Sadie, I’d swear I hadn’t done it.”
    She looked him