DI Jack Frost 02 - A Touch of Frost

Get out!’
    Allen ignored Baskin and stared past him to the scruffy figure by the desk. ‘What are you doing here, Frost? I told you this was my case.’
    Baskin looked from one inspector to the other. ‘Blimey, you’re not going to fight over it are you? Just find the joker who robbed me and you can split the money up between you.’
    ‘Robbed you?’ cried Allen, his lips quivering as he fought back a smile. ‘Dear, dear, dear, what a tragedy! How much was taken? A not inconsiderable sum, I trust?’ He shook with silent laughter. Ingram, leaning against the wall, obediently joined in.
    ‘I’ve already had this patter from your number-two comic,’ snorted Baskin, nodding his head in Frost’s direction. ‘If you’re not here about the robbery, then what the hell do you want?’
    Allen folded his arms and rocked with smug satisfaction on the balls of his feet, biting his lip to stop himself from laughing too soon. How he was going to love telling Frost that the girl he had identified as a fifteen-year-old school kid was an old scrubber. What sort of idiot could make a mistake like that? ‘Do you know a girl called Paula Grey, Mr Baskin?’
    But, annoyingly, before Baskin had a chance to reply, Frost chimed in with, ‘Paula Grey? That name rings a bell!’ He knuckled his forehead in mock concentration, then snapped his fingers triumphantly. ‘Got her! Paula Grey, the stripping schoolgirl. She works for Harry. She’s the girl who was attacked in Denton Woods tonight. Didn’t you know that, Allen?’
    Allen, completely put out, stopped rocking. ‘Of course I damn well knew that. I’ve just taken a statement from her. But how did you know?’
    Frost shrugged modestly. ‘Intelligent deduction.’
    ‘Is this a private conversation, or can anyone join in?’ asked Baskin peevishly.
    Allen transferred his attention to the club owner. ‘Your employee Paula Grey was savagely attacked tonight. She claims you had threatened to sack her if she turned up late for a show.’
    ‘That’s right,’ nodded Baskin.
    ‘She overslept,’ Allen continued grimly, ‘so, to save time, she put on her stage clobber in her flat and took a shortcut through the woods, and that’s where it all happened. The bastard jumped her, chucked something over her head, then squeezed her throat until she passed out.’
    Baskin took his cigar from his mouth and shook the spit from the end. ‘If he was after a nice young bit of the other, he must have been broken-hearted when he took the cloth from her face. I think the poor old cow draws her old-age pension next month.’
    ‘You’ve got a heart as big and warm as Golders Green Crematorium,’ observed Frost.
    ‘He’s right, though,’ said Ingram, moving to the centre of the room. ‘We think that’s why he beat her up instead of raping her. He only likes young stuff, and Paula was a great big turnoff.’
    The malicious glint in Allen’s eye warned Ingram he would pay for having stolen his master’s thunder.
    Taking advantage of the situation, Webster thought he’d try a spot of ingratiation in the hope it would improve his chances of being transferred from Frost to Allen. ‘How’s the search in the woods going, sir?’ he asked, politely.
    ‘Search?’ shrieked Allen. ‘Don’t talk to me about the search. It’s a farce! I doubt if half of the search team are sober. I’ve called it off until tomorrow morning.’ His head moved from Webster to Frost. ‘I’m holding a briefing meeting tomorrow, at nine. You were there when the victim was found, so I want you to attend.
    ‘Sure,’ said Frost, wondering how he could fit in some sleep. ‘I’ll have to be away pretty sharp, though. I’ve got to go to a post-mortem.’
    Telling Baskin he’d be back in the morning after he’d taken statements from the two security men, Frost signalled to Webster, busily engaged in a silent scowling match with Ingram, that it was time to leave. They were almost through the door when Allen fired his parting salvo.
    ‘You will have the overtime returns done by the morning, won’t you? You know it’s the last day if we’re to catch the computer.’
    ‘Sure,’ said Frost automatically while his brain shrieked at him in horror. The bloody overtime returns! Was it time for them already? In the worry of trying to get the crime statistics off, he’d completely forgotten the damn things. Quickly he closed the door behind them before Allen could think of any more horrors he should have