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The Fourth Friend

Page 24

by Joy Ellis


  PC: police constable

  Pear-shaped: go wrong

  Petrol: gasoline

  Pictures: movie

  Pillbox: a concrete building, partly underground, used as an outpost defence

  Pillock: fool

  Pips: police insignia indicating rank

  Piss off: as exclamation, go away (rude). Also can mean annoy.

  Pissing down: raining

  Playing field: sports field

  Pleb: ordinary person (often insulting)

  Portakabin: portable building used as temporary office etc.

  Post: mail

  Planning Department: the local authority department which issues licences to build and develop property

  PNC: Police National Computer

  PSNI: police service of Northern Ireland

  Prat: silly idiot

  Premier League: top English soccer division

  Public Analyst: scientists who perform chemical analysis for public protection purposes

  RAF: Royal Air Force

  Rag: newspaper

  Ram-raiding: robbery where a vehicle is rammed through a shop window

  Randy: horny

  Recce: reconnaissance

  Red Adair: famous oil well firefighter

  Resus: resuscitation room

  Right state: messy

  Ring: telephone (verb)

  Roadworks: repairs done to roads

  Rozzers: police

  RSPB: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

  RTC: road traffic collision

  RV: rendezvous point

  Royal Engineers: British army corps dealing with military engineering etc.

  Rugger: rugby (posh American football)

  Sarge: sergeant

  SCO19: Specialist Crime and Operations Specialist Firearms Command

  Scrote: low life

  Section: to have someone committed to a mental hospital under UK mental health laws

  Semi: Semi-detached house, house with another house joined to it on one side only

  Shedload: a large amount

  Shop: store

  Shout the odds: talk in a loud bossy way

  Sickie: day off work pretending to be ill

  Sixth-form college: school for high school students in final two years.

  SIO: senior investigating officer

  Skip: a large open container used for building waste

  Slapper: slag

  Smackhead: heroin addict

  Snout: police informer

  SOCO: scene-of-crime officer

  Sod: an annoying person

  Sort: to do or make

  Solicitor: lawyer

  Sparky: electrician

  Spook: spy

  Spuds: potatoes

  Squaddie: a soldier of low rank

  Stag do: bachelor party

  Stunner: beautiful woman

  Super: superintendent (police rank)

  Surveyor: someone who examines land and buildings professionally

  Sweeting: endearment, like sweetheart

  Tabloid: newspaper

  Tea: Dinner (Northern English)

  Tea towel: drying cloth

  Till: cash register

  Tip: a mess

  Tipsy: a bit drunk

  Top himself: commit suicide

  Torch: flashlight

  Tutor: university teacher

  Tower block: tall building containing apartments (usually social housing)

  Upmarket: affluent or fancy

  Wacky baccy: cannabis

  WAG: abbreviation for wife and girlfriend, especially of a well-known sportsman.

  Wally: silly person

  War Cry: Salvation Army magazine

  Wash: the washing machine

  Wash: the Wash is an estuary and bay on the east coast of England.

  Water board: company supplying water to an area

  Web-foot: Native of Lincolnshire Fens

  White van man: typical working-class man who drives a small truck

  WI: Women’s Institute, organisation of women in UK for social/cultural activity

  Widow’s weeds: black clothes worn by a widow in mourning

  Wilco: will comply i.e. yes

  Wreckers: someone who tried to bring about shipwrecks to plunder the wreckage (historical)

  Wrinklies: old people

  Yellowbelly: native of Lincolnshire

  Yob: a rude or aggressive youth or person

  Character List

  D I Rowan Jackman

  Jackman is a gentleman; tall, slim, erudite, and has come into the police force with a degree in Anthropology. His one passion, other than his work, is horses. He is a fair boss and has a knack for pinpointing the varied strengths within his team and therefore bringing out the best in his staff.

  DS Marie Evans

  Marie is something of an Amazon; she is 46 years old, tall with long chestnut hair and she always reminds Jackman of a Pre-Raphaelite in racing leathers, because she is a very adept motorcyclist. She is widowed, her husband having been killed racing a vintage bike. Marie works on gut instinct. She is well liked and well respected by her team who give her the nick-name of Super Mario. Although from very different backgrounds, she and Jackman gel perfectly.

  DS Carter McLean

  Carter is a talented detective who gets results. The problem is that he is totally driven to put the bad guys away, and often bends the rules to do it. He is an old friend of Marie, having been a crewmate to her late husband. He is a rich man but he is also haunted by tragedy. As the only survivor of a light aircraft crash that killed his four best friends, he is struggling to cope, but also desperate not to lose the only thing that he has left, his beloved job as a police officer.

  DC Max Cohen

  Max is a young Cockney detective. He is not averse to voicing his opinions and has an ongoing feud with his younger partner, Charlie. However, his overconfident approach to life comes from being the youngest of a large East London family and having to find ways to hold his own. And whereas he can have a go at Charlie, heaven help anyone else who tried it. Max is fiercely loyal to the team and would be a good man to have beside you in a tight corner.

  DC Charlie Button

  Charlie is a scruffy ‘Just William’ look-a-like. He is the youngest member of the team but he is willing and eager to learn. He is good-natured and copes well with having the mickey taken out of him. Charlie’s growing strength is that he has occasional flashes of brilliance, seeing something blindingly obvious that everyone else has overlooked.

  DC Robbie Melton

  Robbie transferred to Saltern-le-Fen after his friend and colleague DS Stella North was shot in a bungled raid. He had not managed to settle after the shooting, but transferring to work with Marie and Jackman put his career firmly back on track. He looks more like a teenager, even though he is in his thirties, has an easy way of talking to people and is all set to be a valuable asset to Saltern CID.

  Superintendent Ruth Crooke

  Ruth has worked her way up the ladder from being a fearless WPC, and has found a real penchant for flying a desk. She is a wizard at budgets and keeping the station running smoothly. She is not an easy woman to work for, being abrasive and short tempered, but she is very fond of Jackman and is the only one who he let’s get away with calling him by his first name, Rowan.

  Professor Rory Wilkinson

  Rory is the area’s Home Office pathologist, and is well liked by all the detectives. He lives with his partner, David, and is happy to share the fact that he is gay with anyone who will listen. He has a wicked, dark sense of humour, but is fiercely intelligent and treats all the souls that end up in his care with the utmost respect and sensitivity.

  Laura Archer

  Laura is the force psychologist and an expert on trauma-induced stress and coping mechanisms. Carter is one of her clients and she is particularly protective of him. His case is both intriguing and worrying and she sincerely wants to help him, but has doubts about his ability to do
such a demanding job.

  Orla ‘Orac’ Cracken

  Orac works in the cellars beneath the old police station. She is in charge of the IT unit and is an expert in computer programming and technology. She is incredibly striking with white-blonde hair and strange eyes. She is something of an enigma as no one knows anything about her, or why such a genius should be working for a rural police force.

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