Cameron White was
relieved to find standard issue wooden chairs in the director's
personal office, as opposed to the uncomfortable Swedish ones in the
waiting area. He dropped heavily into one and unbuttoned his jacket.
“It was good of you to see us, Mr Hunt.”
“Jim, please,
Inspector. We've known each other long enough to dispense with the
formalities. You were the first copper ever to give me a caution.”
“Didn't do much good,
did it?” White looked around the plush office. One wall held a huge
picture window overlooking the valley with Laverstone nestled neatly
in the middle. “You still grew up to be a tosser.”
Hunt's eyes narrowed as
much as his lips. “I'll overlook that, shall I? Seeing as I've
agreed to see you without an appointment and everything.”
“How did you manage
to wind up with this number then?” White rose and crossed to a
bookshelf holding a display of scale models. “Last time I saw you,
you had trouble stringing enough words together to make a sentence
and even that was generally 'Pass me a doobie'. How does a moron like
you become director of a multinational company, eh?”
“Are you being
deliberately abusive, Inspector? Or is it your default conversational
ability? Was there something in particular you wanted to ask me or
shall I have someone show you the way out?”
“Oh no, sir.”
Sergeant Peters stepped forward, his confusion etched across his
face. “It's been a long day already. We wanted to ask you what you
know of the recent disturbances in the town.”
“No we didn't.”
White crossed to the desk and leaned forward until he was all but
nose-to-nose with little Jimmy Hunt. “We wanted to ask the man in
charge, not the errand boy.”
Hunt's eyebrows arched
but he held his position, staring into White's eyes as if his balls
were made of steel. He drew back at last. “I'll admit I was in the
right place at the right time to get this position, Inspector, and I
had to learn a lot of subjects very quickly because of it, but there
is only one organ grinder here, and I don't need any dancing
monkeys.” He pressed a button on his intercom. “Security? See the
inspector out, would you?”
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