The Graveyard Shift. Jack Higgins

on the same car. They tell me that Billy says he can use himself and that’s praise from a master.’

      ‘Fancy tricks, big words,’ Brady said contemptuously. ‘Can he catch thieves, that’s the point.’

      ‘Charlie Parker seems to think so. He wanted him back in “E” Division.’

      Brady frowned quickly. ‘Where’s he going, then?’

      ‘He’s joining us,’ Grant said. ‘The old man gave me the word this afternoon.’

      Brady took a deep breath and swallowed back his anger. ‘Roses all the way for some people. It took me nineteen years, and at that I’m still a constable.’

      ‘That’s life, Jack,’ Grant said calmly. ‘Miller’s supposed to be on leave till Monday.’

      ‘Can I roust him out?’

      ‘I don’t see why not. If he’s coming to work for us, he might as well get started. His phone number’s on the file. Tell him to report in straight away. No excuses.’

      A slight, acid smile burned the edges of Brady’s mouth and he turned away with his small triumph. As the door closed, Grant lit another cigarette and walked to the window.

      A good man, Jack Brady. Solid, dependable. Give him an order and he’d follow it to the letter which was why he was still a Detective Constable, would be till the day he retired.

      But Miller was something different. Miller and his kind were what they needed – needed desperately if they were ever to cope with a situation that got more out of hand month by month.

      He went back to his chair, stubbed out his cigarette and started to work his way through the mountain of paper work that littered his desk.