Mr. Love and Justice (17 page)

Edward, having done his duty – no more, no less – by tracing Frankie to his Stepney hide-out, and after taking the routine precaution of warning the local station that a wanted man was now at large among them, had returned to his own headquarters to draw up a nil report and – an even more pressing matter – discover what had passed, if anything, between his girl and the all too astute Detective-Sergeant.

She was waiting for him in her eternally patient way amid the bleak décor of the junior officers’ canteen. He sat down opposite her beneath a single shaft of strip-light, and with two coffees in paper cups from the automatic urn. ‘Well, dear, let’s hear what,’ he said.

‘The Detective-Sergeant believes your story.’

‘How? What?’

‘The story you told him, Ted dear. That you were
going to hand in the box and hadn’t even had a chance to see it before it was stolen from me.’

‘And what did he say about the man who stole it?’

‘Nothing. No, we didn’t mention him at all.’

‘So he’s satisfied I’ve done no wrong.’

‘About that, he is … But, Edward. Now, dearest,
don’t
be angry with me – but he got it out of me.’ 

‘Got what?’

‘He said it was for your good in your career, and mine.’

‘What did you
say
? Tell me
what
.’

‘About Dad: he knows Dad has a previous conviction.’

‘Yes? Oh.’

‘He asked me if
I
had and I said of course not, and he said he believed me though he’d check, but there’s one thing he doesn’t like about it.’

‘That
I
didn’t tell him, I suppose.’

‘Yes: and that you
did
tell him I was a copper-hater and not that my father’s been in jail. Did you really have to do that, Ted?’

‘I’m sorry, dear. I’m very sorry – that was a big mistake. I was harassed and … well, I made a big mistake.’

‘Yes, Ted. Another one you made, it seems, was to tell
me
you’d told him that you had no girl at all.’

‘But he doesn’t know I said that to you …’

‘No, Ted, I know: it was only to me you lied.’

‘Yes. Dearing, I’m sorry – do try to understand! But him. Was he very vexed when he discovered?’

‘Not so much about that, Ted … about something else. That you made me pregnant before you got the whole thing settled.’

‘Well! What business is that of his?’

‘He said it was for two reasons, Edward. First, that he didn’t like it because it wasn’t right to me. Then …’

‘To you! What does he care about you?’

‘Well, Edward, I agree with him.’

‘Oh, do you!’

‘Yes – I do. I think he’s right. He was like a father to me, Ted.’

‘A father! If you only knew him! Well, what was the other thing?’

‘Well, dear, you won’t like this, but he says your application
may
go through if Dad leaves fairly soon, but it
won’t
if I have a child before we marry, and he doesn’t see us being able to do that before the application is approved.’

‘It takes that long?’

‘He says so.’

Edward looked at her. ‘Well, there’s only one thing,’ he said, ‘you’ll have to have a miscarriage.’

His girl looked back. ‘I don’t want to now, Edward.’

‘But you said you were willing to.’

‘I did, yes, but I’ve thought of it, and it’s got so much bigger here, and Ted, I’m going to have my baby.’

‘Oh, you are.’

‘Yes.’

He reached for her hands across the table, delved for them and held them. ‘Darling,’ he said, ‘do think of this. If you have the child it seems I’ve got to choose between the Force and you.’

‘I know,’ she said. ‘I’ve thought of that.’

‘And what do you expect me to do?’

‘You’ve got to decide, Ted. I suppose it all depends on how much you think you love me.’

Another shaft of the strip-light came on as an officer, entering suddenly, called out, ‘It’s okay, Ted – we’ve got him.’

Edward was now faced by that most exhausting and complicated moment in a copper’s life – the conduct of a full-scale interrogation of a prisoner. In this affair both parties have considerable tactical advantages, provided each knows what they are and how to use them.

First, the surroundings. The very word ‘cells’ has, to most ears, a sinister and forbidding ring. And these places are, to be sure, rebarbative enough … the nastiest thing about them being not that they have locks and bars, but that they are so utterly, fundamentally
utilitarian
. In them arrangements are made for prisoners to eat, sleep, and defecate: and for absolutely nothing else whatever. A man in prison is reduced to his physical essence.

From the copper’s point of view the cells have the
advantage, obviously, of making escape impossible to the prisoner and of filling his soul with lonely terror and foreboding. But they have this psychological
dis
advantage that in one very real sense, they are the prisoner’s and not the copper’s home: yes, home. The copper may lord it in his office, and of course does so over any visitor he may entice there. But in the cells the visitor in one sense is
he
, the copper, even though he has put the prisoner inside them. And if the prisoner be a man of intelligence, will and courage, the very presence of these four confining walls does help to sustain his spirits. It is he who is on the defensive, he who is fighting back. And he may well detect in even the most arrogant aggression of the interrogating copper, a hidden fear of the place of a very different kind from his own: the fear of something with which in the most final sense, he is unfamiliar.

When it comes to the actual interrogation the copper has, of course, the enormous advantage of seeming to personify the fact of prison itself, and the whole vast Force of which he is the representative. He will also possess, through skill and long practice, all the interrogator’s essential arts in which the prisoner may be quite unversed. But: in this very unfamiliarity, there resides also a great strength. An adult questioning a child about a misdemeanour often finds himself exhausted by his own superior guile, and defeated by the instinctive simplicities of the apparently weaker party in the struggle. So it may be said to be with prisoners. And they also have – once
again if men of indomitable stamp – one absolutely unbeatable trump card which is the fact that they
are
, in this circumstance, alone. If you are alone, you can never be betrayed; and in dealing with the many others who may confront him, the prisoner is the only person among the whole assembly who really knows
all
that everyone has said and done.

Frankie’s opening gambit to his captor Edward, was in the finest tradition of the pugnacious victim: ‘You’re a nice bastard,’ he said, as Edward carefully closed the cell door behind him.

Edward smiled slightly and looked interrogative.

‘I gave you the way out,’ Frankie continued, ‘I gave your girl the box and all you had to do was to collect. And then you shop me. Why?’

‘It’s not quite as you think,’ said Edward carefully – doubly so because he was keeping an eye on Frankie for sudden violence, and had his whistle handy.

‘Oh, no?’ said Frankie. ‘Go on – tell me your fairy tale.’

‘What happened,’ Edward said, ‘is that a senior of mine who doesn’t like me got hold of the box and turned it in, and made things very awkward for me, too, I can tell you.’

‘For you! Well, listen to that! I dunno, son! You coppers really are a bunch of horrors.’

‘You think so?’

‘Yes, man, I do. A bunch of narks in uniform.’

‘Have a fag,’ said Edward.

‘“Have a fag! Have a fag!” Listen – skip it,
officer
. Now, tell me. What’s the charge?’

‘There may be several.’

‘Thank you! And there may be lawyers, too! And some bloody expensive ones! I’d just like to make that clear. And there may be an affidavit about your visit to me –
with
a witness present, don’t forget. No one will believe two ponces, I’m well aware of that, but it won’t sound very nice up in the Sessions – because that’s where we’re going, let me tell you, you’re not getting away with a magistrate’s court and no publicity.’

‘I understand how you feel,’ Edward said.

‘You kill me, son. Honest you do! And what about this tale of yours? Why
should
a
colleague
of yours do the dirty on you?’

‘Don’t you see?’

‘I think I do: you’ve invented the whole damn thing.’

‘No. No, I haven’t. The reason my colleague made it difficult for me was that he hoped you’d do exactly what you’re doing now – and that is attack me.’

‘You’re saying I’ve laid
hands
on you? Is that what you’re concocting now?’

‘This man hoped you would, once you thought I’d deceived you.’

‘You ask me to believe that?’

‘No, not particularly: I’m just telling you what happened.’

Frankie accepted, nevertheless, the ritual fag. ‘The Force!’ he said quietly. ‘The Force! I really feel pity for you all. And if all that’s so,’ he continued, ‘why
did you come down chasing after me to Stepney?’

‘I didn’t.’

‘Listen …’

‘
You
listen, please. I didn’t
chase
after you. I checked at your address because it was the very least I could do. Then I came back here and made no further enquiries. It’s
you
, isn’t it, who’s got yourself foolishly arrested through no fault of mine.’

‘You didn’t send that bastard out looking for me?’

‘I sent no one. It was your own carelessness that caused it, as you must know.’

‘Thank you! And what happens now? You still holding my girl?’

‘Yes.’

‘And you’re going to bring charges against us both – is that it?’

Edward now sat down on the bench-cum-lavatory and said to Frankie, ‘Please do listen to me. I’m not asking you to do anything I say because that’s your business, obviously. But I am asking you, please, just to listen.’

Frankie sat down too. ‘Very well,’ he said. ‘I’m listening.’

‘From my point of view,’ said Edward carefully, ‘– and I
do
wish you’d realise this – the lighter you and your girl get off the better I’ll be pleased.’

‘Why? You like us?’

‘Do please just
listen
. Because now that the box has been turned in, the less said about my part in trying to recover it the better.’

‘Yeah. Corruption and bribery. Very nasty. My heart bleeds for you.’

‘On the other hand,’ Edward continued, ‘if you and your girl
don’t
want to help me, well, in for a penny in for a pound, I may as well help press the charge hard and get you both sent away as long as possible.’

Frankie looked sideways at Edward. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘if you’d had any sense you’d have offered to split the price of the box with me, and just said you couldn’t trace it.’

‘I might have done,’ said Edward, also looking sideways, ‘if you’d seen me alone and not been so damned unpleasant and suspicious.’

‘Yes, I see what you mean. It’s a great pity. You could have bought yourself a nice new fridge, and I’d have bought myself some valuable protection.’

‘Well, there it is,’ said Edward. ‘The thing’s now as it is. Now, I’m asking you for no promises: I’m not a fool. But all I will say to you is
if
you leave out the part about my not wanting to turn it in – which no one will believe much anyway – then I’ll say I believe your girl thought she had it as a present, and that you offered to co-operate with the authorities.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Yes. Now, I don’t ask you to credit this, of course, before you see it happen. But I would point out this. I’m willing to take a chance on you that you don’t have to at all on me. Prosecution evidence comes first at any trial and can’t be altered afterwards. When your turn comes
to speak, you can make it dependent on whatever it is you hear me say.’

Frankie threw his fag-end in the pan and pressed the automatic flush which sounded off like six Niagaras. ‘Well obviously,’ he said when the waters had subsided, ‘I’ll think that over. And that’s really all I’m going to say just now.’

‘I can’t ask for more. Another fag?’

‘Well, I don’t mind. What about bail? What are the chances?’

‘Oh, quite good, I’d say, for
one
of you at any rate …’

‘What does that mean?’

‘Well, we’ve got to bring a charge of theft: you do understand that, don’t you? Unless we hear the owner – the original owner of the thing – saying to us it was a gift, then a charge must lay. But it needn’t necessarily be on both of you.’

‘Who will it be on?’

‘The girl.’

‘Why?’

‘Look.
You
didn’t sleep with this man, did you?’

‘Take it easy, son, or I may smack you. And what about me?’

‘Aiding and abetting – but
with
, of course, my favourable statement, in certain circumstances, coming later … and a charge against you might even not be made.’

‘And no bail for my girl: is that it?’

‘Well, it’s up to the magistrate: but I’d say probably no.’

‘I see.’

They smoked a moment in silence. Then Frankie said, ‘You’re shacked up with one too, aren’t you?’

‘Yes … You know I am.’

‘I might have something to say to the court about
that
as well.’

‘You’d be wasting your breath. She’s already told everything to my superiors.’

‘Why?’

‘It came up as a result of all this: on account of you giving
her
the box, and not me as you should have done if you’d had any sense at all.’

‘Dear, dear, dear. So I’ve landed
you
in the shit, too! Well, well. You like that girl?’

‘I want to marry her.’

‘You do? Now why? Is that a thing coppers do?’

‘Because I love her.’

‘You believe in that crap, son?’

‘Yes.’

‘Not just sex?’

‘Without love there is no sex.’

‘Well! And you tell
me
that!’

Edward paused then said, ‘You won’t mind my saying so, I hope, but I think what you do is just disgusting.
Not
because it’s illegal – don’t misunderstand me. But because it destroys the best thing there is in any man and woman.’

‘“Not because it’s illegal”! You don’t believe in the law, then?’

‘Of course I do. But the law isn’t perfect and entire like love can be.’

Frankie arose. ‘Well, are you
sure
of that?’ he said. ‘Because me I’ve found it’s women and sex that are imperfect – just a game. But as for the law – if it’s a
real
law, a true law like you get on board a ship, why! then it’s really something! A thing you can respect and live for.’

‘I don’t know about ships,’ said Edward, ‘naturally. But here on land it’s all made up of human beings struggling with one another, and that means imperfection. There are rules, of course, and they’re mostly very clear: laws that have been laid down for centuries, I mean. But there’s no such thing as
law
, like there is love.’

‘Well, son. You may be right, of course, but I think you’re wrong. There’s three laws in the world here as I see it: the rules you speak of, the way you bastards alter and interpret them, and then – way on beyond and right in the centre of things – there’s just … the
law
.’

Edward got up too. ‘I don’t really know,’ he said, ‘what you’re talking about.’

‘You may not,’ said Frankie Love. ‘Because if you did, you wouldn’t be a copper.’

‘Well,’ Edward said, smiling a bit sourly. ‘I may
not
be one before all that long, any more.’

‘Oh? You retiring on your winnings?’

‘No. My girl’s pregnant, and the Force may not let me marry her.’

‘You’ve not thought of an abortion?’

‘She doesn’t want one.’

‘Good for her! She’s too good for a copper – tell her so from me. And to marry her you’d have to resign?’

‘It looks like that.’

‘You’re a fool, mate. No woman’s worth a job – even yours – if your heart’s in it.’

‘Well, I don’t know. I may stay on.’

‘And if you do, and she has the kid, she loses you?’

‘Yes.’

‘And she cares for you, this woman?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well yes, she’s quite a girl! She really is. I must try and get her away from you when I get out.’

‘You’d better look after your own, hadn’t you? It’s she who’ll be needing you – not mine.’

‘What does that one mean?’

‘If you get bail I suppose you’ll try to skip, won’t you?’

‘
You
ask me to tell
you
that?’

‘Yes, but I don’t ask you for an answer …’

‘So what should I do, according to you? Stay and try to take the rap for her? Say I forced her to pinch the thing or something lunatic like that?’

‘That’s what she’s quite ready to do for you.’

‘What d’you say?’

‘When I saw her earlier on she said she was only prepared to make a statement if you weren’t implicated.’

‘
She
said
that
?’

‘Yes.’

‘Look – I don’t believe you.’

‘Ask her some time.’

‘She really did say that?’

‘I’m telling you.’

‘Well, I’ll be fucked! Well, I bloody well never!’

In the surprise of his emotion Frankie turned, spontaneously, to make brief use of the adjacent pan. This action transmitted (as is its wont) a similar desire to Edward, who after a casual ‘You don’t mind?’ followed his prisoner’s example.

‘Well, well, well, well!’ said Frankie. ‘These chicks! They’re packed with surprises!’

‘They certainly are,’ Edward said reflectively. ‘They do things that impress you – even the worst of them.’

‘You’re not referring to my girl, I hope – I mean, when you say “worst”?’

‘No … she’s still a woman.’

‘She’s very much one, let me tell you.’

‘I don’t doubt your word …’

Frankie, in his dishevelled garments, looked at the neatly uniformed cop and said, ‘I suppose you think that they and we men are a lot of anti-social parasites.’

‘Yes. As a matter of fact I do.’