Read the Savage Day - Simon Vaughn 02 (v5) for Free Online

thing,' I said. 'Dr Murphy wouldn't like it and we can't have that now, can we?'
    She settled the matter for us by reappearing at that precise moment. She sensed that something was wrong at once and paused.
    'What is it?'
    'A slight difference of opinion, that's all,' I told her. 'Binnie's just discovered I'm related to a piece of grand old Irish history and it sticks in his throat - or didn't you know?'
    'I knew,' she said coldly.
    'I thought you would,' I said. 'The interesting thing is, why didn't you tell him?'
    I didn't give her a chance to reply and cut the whole business short by moving off into the fog briskly in the general direction of Lurgan Street.
    The hotel didn't have a great deal to commend it, but then neither did Lurgan Street. A row of decaying terrace houses, a shop or two and a couple of pubs making as unattractive a sight as I have ever seen.
    The hotel itself was little more than a lodging-house of a type to be found near the docks of any large port, catering mainly for sailors or prostitutes in need of a room for an hour or two. It had been constructed by simply joining three terrace houses together and sticking a sign above the door of one of them.
    A merchant navy officer came out as we approached and clutched at the railings for support. A girl of eighteen or so in a black plastic mac emerged behind him, straightened his cap and got a hand under his elbow to help him down the steps.
    She looked us over without the slightest sense of shame and I smiled and nodded. 'Good night, a colleen. God save the good work.'
    The laughter bubbled out of her. 'God save you kindly.'
    They went off down the street together, the sailor breaking into a reasonably unprintable song and I shook my head. 'Oh, the pity of it, a fine Catholic girl to come to that.'
    Binnie looked as if he would have liked to put a bullet into me, but Norah Murphy showed no reaction at all except to say, 'Could we possibly get on with it, Major Vaughan? My time is limited.'
    We went up the steps and into the narrow hallway. There was a desk of sorts to one side at the bottom of the stairs and an old white-haired man in a faded alpaca jacket dozed behind it, his chin in one hand.
    There seemed little point in waking him and I led the way up to the first landing. Meyer had room seven at the end of the corridor and when I paused to knock, we could hear music clearly from inside, strangely plaintive, something of the night in it.
    Norah Murphy frowned. 'What on earth is it?'
    'Al Bowlly,' I said simply.
    'Al who?'
    'You mean you've never heard of Al Bowlly, Doctor? Why, he's indisputably number one in the hit parade to any person of taste and judgement, or he would be if he hadn't been killed in the London Blitz in 1941. Meyer listens to nothing else. Carries a cassette tape-recorder with him everywhere.'
    'You've got to be kidding,' she said.
    I shook my head. 'You're now listening to Moonlight on the Highway, probably the best thing he ever did. Recorded with the Joe Loss orchestra on the 21st March, 1938. You see, I've become something of an expert myself.'
    The door opened and Meyer appeared. 'Ah, Simon.'
    'Dr Murphy,' I said. 'And Mr Gallagher. This is Mr Meyer.' I closed the door and Meyer, who could speak impeccable English when it suited him, started to act the bewildered Middle-European.
    'But I don't understand. I was expecting to meet a Mr Cork, commanding the official IRA forces in Northern Ireland.'
    I walked to the window and lit a cigarette, aware of Binnie leaning against the door, hands in his pockets. It was raining harder than ever outside, bouncing from the cobble-stones.
    Norah Murphy said, 'I am empowered to act for Michael Cork.'
    'You were to provide five thousand pounds in cash as an evidence of good faith. Where is it, please?'
    She opened her case, took out an envelope and threw it on the bed. 'Count it, please, Simon,' Meyer said.
    Al Bowlly was working his way through I double dare you as I reached for the envelope