Hardcastle's Traitors

Table of Contents

Cover

Recent Titles by Graham Ison from Severn House

Title Page

Copyright

Glossary

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

HARDCASTLE'S SPY

HARDCASTLE'S ARMISTICE

HARDCASTLE'S CONSPIRACY

HARDCASTLE'S AIRMEN

HARDCASTLE'S ACTRESS

HARDCASTLE'S BURGLAR

HARDCASTLE'S MANDARIN

HARDCASTLE'S SOLDIERS

HARDCASTLE'S OBSESSION

HARDCASTLE'S FRUSTRATION

HARDCASTLE'S TRAITORS

ALL QUIET ON ARRIVAL

BREACH OF PRIVILEGE

DIVISION

DRUMFIRE

GUNRUNNER

JACK IN THE BOX

KICKING THE AIR

LIGHT FANTASTIC

LOST OR FOUND

MAKE THEM PAY

WHIPLASH

WHISPERING GRASS

WORKING GIRL

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

First published in Great Britain and the USA 2013 by
SEVERN HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD of
9–15 High Street, Sutton, Surrey, England, SM1 1DF.

eBook edition first published in 2013 by Severn House Digital
an imprint of Severn House Publishers Limited

Copyright © 2013 by Graham Ison.

The right of Graham Ison to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved.

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Ison, Graham.

Hardcastle's traitors. – (A Hardcastle and Marriott historical mystery; 11)

1. Hardcastle, Ernest (Fictitious character)–Fiction.

2. Police–England–London–Fiction. 3. Great Britain–

History–George V, 1910-1936–Fiction. 4. Detective and mystery stories.

I. Title II. Series

823.9'14-dc23

ISBN-13: 978-0-7278-8312-4 (cased)

ISBN-13: 978-1-78010-448-5 (epub)

Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to living persons is purely coincidental.

This eBook produced by
Palimpsest Book Production Limited,
Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland.

ALBERT:
a watch chain of the type worn by Albert, Prince Consort (1819–61).

APM:
assistant provost marshal (a lieutenant colonel of the military police).

BAILEY, the:
Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, London.

BARNEY:
an argument.

BEAK:
a magistrate.

BEF:
British Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders.

BENT:
crooked
or
stolen.

BLIGHTY:
the United Kingdom.

BLIMP:
an airship.

BOB:
a shilling (now 5p).

BOOZER:
a public house.

BULL AND COW:
a row (rhyming slang).

CARPET:
three months' imprisonment. (The length of time it took to weave a carpet in prison workshops.)

CHOKEY:
a
prison (ex
Hindi
).

CID:
Criminal Investigation Department.

COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE:
official title of New Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan Police.

COPPER:
a policeman.

DARTMOOR:
a remote prison on Dartmoor in Devon.

DDI:
Divisional Detective Inspector.

DOG'S DINNER, a:
a mess.

DPP:
Director of Public Prosecutions.

DRUM:
a dwelling house, or room therein. Any place of abode.

FENCE, to:
to dispose of stolen property.

FENCE:
a receiver of stolen property.

FIDDLE-FADDLE:
Trifling talk or behaviour.

FIVE-STRETCH:
five years' imprisonment.

FLEET STREET:
former centre of the newspaper industry, and still used as a generic term for the Press.

FLIM or FLIMSY:
a five-pound note.
From the thin paper on which it was originally printed.

FLOG, to:
to sell.

FOURPENNY CANNON, a:
a steak and kidney pie.

FRONT, The:
theatre of WW1 operations in France and Flanders.

GAMAGES:
a London department store.

GANDER, to cop a:
to take a look.

GLIM:
a look (a foreshortening of ‘glimpse').

GRASS:
an informer.

GREAT SCOTLAND YARD:
location of an army recruiting office and a military police detachment. Not to be confused with New Scotland Yard, half a mile away in Whitehall.

GUNNERS, The:
a generic term to encompass the Royal Horse Artillery, the Royal Garrison Artillery and the Royal Field Artillery. In the singular, a member of one of those regiments.

GUV
or
GUV'NOR:
informal alternative to ‘sir'.

HALF A CROWN
or
HALF A DOLLAR:
two shillings and sixpence (12½p).

HANDFUL:
five years' imprisonment.

JIG-A-JIG:
sexual intercourse.

JILDI
:
quickly (
ex
Hindi).

MADAM:
a brothel keeper.

MANOR:
a police area.

MC:
Military Cross.

MI5:
counter-espionage service of the United Kingdom.

MOCKERS, to put on the:
to frustrate one's plans.

MONS, to make a:
to make a mess of things, as in the disastrous Battle of Mons in 1914.

NCO:
non-commissioned officer.

NICK:
a police station
or
prison
or
to arrest
or
to steal.

NICKED:
arrested
or
stolen.

OICK:
a cad.

OLD BAILEY:
Central Criminal Court, in Old Bailey, London.

ON THE GAME:
leading a life of prostitution.

PEACH, to:
to inform to the police.

PROVOST, the:
military police.

QUEER STREET, in:
in serious difficulty
or
short of money.

RAGTIME GIRL:
a sweetheart; a girl with whom one has a joyous time; a harlot.

RECEIVER, The:
the
senior Scotland Yard official responsible for the finances of the Metropolitan Police.

ROYAL A:
informal name for the A or Whitehall Division of the Metropolitan Police.

ROZZER:
a policeman.

SAM BROWNE:
a military officer's belt with shoulder strap.

SAUSAGE AND MASH:
cash (rhyming slang).

SCREWING:
engaging in sexual intercourse
or
committing burglary.

SCRIMSHANKER:
one who evades duty or work.

SELFRIDGES:
a London department store.

SHILLING:
now 5p.

SIXPENCE:
equivalent of 2½ p.

SKIP
or
SKIPPER:
an informal police alternative to station-sergeant, clerk-sergeant and sergeant.

SNOUT:
a police informant.

SOMERSET HOUSE:
formerly the records office of births, deaths and marriages for England & Wales.

STRIPE, to:
to maliciously wound, usually with a razor.

TEA-LEAF:
a thief (rhyming slang). (Plural:
TEALEAVES
.)

TOBY:
a police area.

TOM:
a prostitute
or
jewellery (see
TOMFOOLERY
).

TOMFOOLERY:
jewellery (rhyming slang).

TOPPED:
murdered or hanged.

TOPPING:
a murder or hanging.

TUMBLE, a:
sexual intercourse.

UNDERGROUND, The:
the
London Underground railway system.

YOUNG SHAVER:
a youth or young man.

T
he maroons had been detonated at the nearby Renfrew Road fire station at twenty minutes to midnight on New Year's Eve 1915, signalling the onset of yet another air raid by the dreaded Zeppelins. In common with most Londoners, Ernest Hardcastle knew that the alert was invariably sounded when the raiders were crossing the coast. It would take some time, at least an hour, for the giant airships, lumbering along at seventy miles an hour, to reach the capital.

The Hardcastle family was gathered in the parlour of their house in Kennington Road, London. It was the home that Ernest and Alice Hardcastle had moved into immediately after their marriage twenty-three years ago, and was only a few doors away from where Charlie Chaplin, much-loved slapstick star of the silent films, had once lived.

In a corner of the comfortable sitting room stood a decorated Christmas tree. But it bore none of the miniature candles favoured by many families; Hardcastle was only too aware of the fire risk that that would present. Painstakingly made paper chains had been strung from each corner of the room to the electric light fitting in the centre of the whitewashed ceiling.

Hardcastle busied himself spending a few minutes dispensing drinks from a cabinet in the corner.

‘A Happy New Year everyone and may it see an end to this wretched war.' On the stroke of midnight, Ernest Hardcastle, his back to a glowing coal fire, raised his glass and took a sip of whisky.

‘Amen to that,' said Alice, raising her glass of Amontillado and joining in the toast together with the Hardcastles' two daughters and their son. Kitty and Maud, at nineteen and seventeen respectively, were now old enough for a glass of sherry. But Walter, the Hardcastles' son, whose sixteenth birthday would not occur until the twenty-fourth of January 1916, was only permitted a glass of brown ale, and that as a special treat.

Hardcastle kissed his wife and his daughters and shook hands with Walter.