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    The Missing Gun
    The Missing Gun
    The Missing Gun
    Ebook91 pages1 hour

    The Missing Gun

    By W H Oxley

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    About this ebook

    London in the autumn of 1939: the early months of World War 2.

    Hitler has just conquered Poland, but life in London continues much as it did in peacetime, albeit a little more restricted since the introduction of petrol rationing. No bombs have been dropped on the city as yet, but the population go about their daily business under the constant threat of German air raids, and a blackout remains in force at night.

    For Scotland Yard and the criminal fraternity, however, it is business as usual. When a pawnbroker’s assistant is wounded by a gunman wearing a gasmask, it appears to be a straightforward case of a bungled armed robbery, but as Detective Inspector Hawker of the Flying Squad proceeds with his investigation, the more facts he uncovers the more confusing the affair becomes. A red-headed soldier, a missing gun, a dead cat, an empty violin case and a damaged violin are only a few of the threads that have to be unravelled before he can wrap up the case.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherW H Oxley
    Release dateFeb 13, 2014
    ISBN9781310555435
    The Missing Gun
    Author

    W H Oxley

    Having spent years hustling a living as a photographer in England and Germany. I took up writing when i found myself in the middle of a German nowhere with not much to do. At present chilling out in the sun and hanging out with the lowlife on the French Riviera..

    Read more from W H Oxley

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      Book preview

      The Missing Gun - W H Oxley

      Smashwords Edition

      Published by Smudgeworks

      The Missing Gun

      Hawker of the Yard

      W H Oxley

      Copyright 2014 W H Oxley

      For an author’s blog with a difference try

      Riviera Lowlife

      whoxley.blogspot.com

      https://whoxley.blogspot.fr/

      By the same author

      Srebrenica

      The Shanghai Policeman’s Daughter

      A Hanging Job

      Hitler’s Banner

      An Accidental Millionaire

      Steam

      The Teaboy

      Hawker of the Yard series

      The Great Petrol Coupon Robbery

      Did the Butler Do It?

      Who Killed Alfie

      Hawker Goes to War

      The Body at the Brickworks

      Bombs Beef and Bullets

      The Home Guard Raiders

      Limehouse Blues

      The Flying Squad

      Originally set up in 1919 to combat a spate of armed robberies and keep tabs on known offenders, the Flying Squad was a mobile squad of detectives based at Scotland Yard able to operate anywhere within the Metropolitan Police district regardless of divisional boundaries. In addition to investigating armed robberies, their task was to maintain close contact with the criminal community and collect information on past and future crimes. As this would involve frequenting the pubs and clubs of London’s underworld, it was not a suitable career choice for a teetotaller. Drinking in those days was somewhat restricted by licensing hours: in addition to having to close at ten pm, all pubs had to shut between two and six in the afternoon.

      By 1940 forensic science had made great strides, particularly in ballistics, blood grouping and fingerprints, but the existence of DNA and much else remained unknown; thus, in the Holmesian tradition, detection still relied heavily upon observation, deduction and interrogation. At a time when neither computers nor mobile phones existed and the wavebands used by radio patrol cars tended to be unreliable in built-up areas, the easiest way for police to keep in touch with headquarters was by making use of the numerous police phone boxes (since immortalised as Dr Who’s Tardis) scattered about London at strategic points.

      Chapter 1

      ‘He was wearing a gas mask and carrying a violin case when he walked into the shop. Well I didn’t think much of it at the time: a lot of people go around wearing gas masks. There’s a little old lady in our street who hardly ever takes hers off, terrified of gas she is. You see her go past our house on her way to the grocer’s shop, clutching her shopping basket and purse, with her face covered by her gas mask. My little brother reckons she looks like a Martian in a Flash Gordon film. The air raid warden tried to explain to her that she only has to put it on when the siren goes off, but she won’t take any notice. Says she doesn’t trust air raid sirens any more than she trusts Germans. So when this man walked into the shop wearing a gas mask, I just thought that maybe he’d been gassed in the last war and didn’t want to take any risks this time. My dad was in the last lot, and he told me some terrible stories about chaps being gassed in the trenches. He never goes anywhere without his gas mask, does my dad. Mind you, he’s not daft enough to wear it all the time.

      I wanted to join the army as soon as war broke out, but Mr Goldstein said I was indispensable. I know the business so well that I can usually tell what sort of people they are as soon as they walk in the shop. We get all sorts in there, and one of the things that made me think this chap in the gas mask was the nervous type was his behaviour: he was all twitchy and kept walking up and down. A lot of people are like that in a pawnbroker’s shop, particularly if they want to pawn something. So I just left him to it. If they want to redeem something I can help them, but I’m not allowed to value the pledges. Mr Goldstein has to value the pledges, and he wasn’t going to be back for at least another hour. That’s why the pledge department was closed. Valuing is a specialised business, particularly the musical instruments – we specialise in musical instrument you see. The pledge department has a separate entrance, but sometimes when it’s closed they come into the shop. We get a lot of violins, and so when I saw what he was carrying I thought that maybe he wanted to pawn one. I noticed that he seemed to be paying a lot of attention to the jewellery on display, and so I said, ‘Can I help you, sir?’ but he ignored me. We get a lot of them like that. It’s usually because they can’t make up their minds whether they want to pawn it or not. Sometimes they just walk out without a word and come back ten minutes later asking how much we can let them have on such and such a thing.

      When he placed the violin case on the counter, I thought that he’d finally made up his mind to pawn a violin, but when he opened the case it was empty – nothing inside! So I thought that perhaps being in a hurry he’d forgotten to put the violin in the case when he came out. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that’s happened. A lot of people are bit anxious about going to a pawnbroker’s, and they make all sorts of silly mistakes. We had a woman came in once and said, ‘How much can you let me have on this clock?’ Then she reached into her bag and took out a turnip. It wasn’t until Mr Goldstein pointed it out to her that she realised what it was. Then again, there was always the possibility that it was empty because he’d already pawned a violin and wanted to redeem it.

      So I asked him, ever so politely, ‘Excuse me, sir, but are you trying to redeem a violin or pawn one? But I couldn’t understand his reply because of the gas mask. So I said, ‘Maybe it would be a good idea if you were to take your gas mask off, sir.’ That’s when he pointed to the trays of wedding rings. There’s a big demand for wedding rings at the moment, what with all the fellows rushing off to get married before they’re sent over to France. So I said to him, ‘I will be delighted to show you the rings, sir, but before I do so I must ask you to remove your violin case from the counter.’

      That’s when I saw the gun! It suddenly appeared in his hand, and

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