‘I can imagine she would after hearing what that big ape had to say,’ Miller said. ‘One other thing, did anyone pimp for her?’

Gilda chuckled contemptuously. ‘Little half-baked kid with a face like the underbelly of a fish and black sideboards. Harold something or other. Christ knows what she saw in him.’

‘You saw her give him money?’

‘Plenty of times – mostly to get rid of him from what I could see.’

He nodded. ‘All right, Gilda, I’ll be seeing you.’

‘Oh, Mr Miller,’ she said reprovingly. ‘I hope you don’t mean that the way it sounds.’

Her laughter echoed mockingly from the vaulted ceiling as he turned and walked away.

11

When Brady and Harold entered the general office at Central C.I.D. it was bustling with activity for no man might reasonably expect to see his bed on a night like this. Brady left Harold on an uncomfortable wooden bench with the Saturday sport’s paper and went in to Chief Superintendent Mallory who was using Grant’s office.

Mallory was shaving with a battery-operated electric razor and reading a report at the same time. His white shirt was obviously fresh on and he looked crisp and alert in spite of the hour.

‘I’ve got the girl’s boyfriend outside,’ Brady said. ‘Phillips his name is – Harold Phillips.’

‘What’s your first impression?’

‘Oh, there’s something there all right. For a start, he’s an unpleasant little bastard.’

‘You can’t hang a man for that.’

‘There’s a lot more to it than that.’

Brady gave him the gist of his conversation with Harold and when he was finished, Mallory nodded. ‘All right, let’s have him in.’

When Brady called him, Harold entered with a certain bravado and yet his nervousness was betrayed in the muscle that twitched in his right cheek.

Mallory greeted him with extreme politeness. ‘Good of you to come at this hour, Mr Phillips. We appreciate it.’

Harold’s confidence received a king-size boost and he sat down in the chair Brady brought forward and gave Mallory a big man-of-the-world smile. ‘Anything I can do, Superintendent. You’ve only got to say.’

Brady offered him a cigarette. As he was lighting it, there was a knock on the door and Miller glanced in. He was about to withdraw, but Mallory shook his head and beckoned him inside. Miller closed the door behind him and took up a position by the window without a word.

‘Now then sir, just to get the record straight, you are Mr Harold Phillips of 10, Narcia Place?’ Mallory began.

‘That’s me.’

‘I’m given to understand that you and Miss Grace Packard were engaged to be married. Is that correct?’

‘I suppose you could say that in a way.’ Harold shrugged. ‘I bought her a ring a couple of months back, but nothing was really official. I mean we hadn’t set a date or anything.’