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the lads and lasses downstairs. I was saying as much to the girl who had her head split open in making this arrest, only this morning.’
    Tucker’s concern was as usual not for his officer’s welfare but for the PR aspect of the incident. ‘You need to go easy here, Peach. We operate in a very difficult racial climate, in this area.’
    Correction:
we
operate and
you
piss about up here, thought Percy. He sat very erect and addressed himself to a point on the wall behind the Chief Superintendent’s head. ‘I appreciate that, sir. And I am glad that you are counselling that we operate zero tolerance whenever there are incidents of racial violence like this. It is the quickest way of stamping them out, in my opinion. And the officers who have to deal with this escalating problem will be gratified to know that they have your support. They will be very happy to take a hard line: we have been waiting for a lead on this.’
    He nodded his approval and half-rose to his feet, as if anxious to rush away and announce this brave new world to the men and women straining at the leash on the floors below them.
    Tucker was looking pleasingly pale. He was as usual not quite clear how he had arrived at a stance which was the very opposite of his inclination. ‘You mustn’t be headstrong, Peach. I have an overview of this situation which you cannot be expected to have when you are more closely involved in it.’
    â€˜Ah! Your overview, sir.’ Peach recognized a familiar phenomenon, settled sadly back on his chair and shook his head with elaborate melancholy. He looked like a man who had been hit over the head with a sock full of wet sand.
    â€˜Indeed, Peach. My overview tells me that we have to be excessively cautious in this area. My advice – my reluctant advice, Peach – has to be that you should let this Atwal fellow go with a caution. To do otherwise might be to provoke resentment among our Asian community.’
    â€˜And to release him without charge would certainly fuel the resentment of the National Front and the British National Party and every other right-wing lunatic. They gather extra votes every time we do not act in cases like this.’ For a moment, Peach found himself abandoning his baiting of his inadequate superior to speak with a real passion. ‘The police service needs to be seen to be even-handed, sir.’
    Tucker shook his head sadly. ‘If you had to go into some of the meetings I have to attend, Peach, you wouldn’t dismiss racial tensions so lightly.’
    And if you had to pick your way through the blood on the streets and see your own officers at risk, you wouldn’t be such a time-serving and contemptible disappointment to us, thought Percy. He found himself unexpectedly tight-lipped and staring for once straight into Tucker’s face as he said, ‘I’ll question Atwal and his cronies myself, sir. Then I’ll make a decision.’
    Tucker looked uneasy in the face of this confrontation. But the only alternative to giving Peach his head was to get involved himself, which he was never going to do. ‘Better come back to me for a final approval, if you decide to charge him. My advice is a caution.’
    Advice which was being offered without knowledge of a single detail of the case, thought Percy grimly. But he knew that he was going to have difficulty in getting the witnesses he needed to convince the CPS that they should take on an assault case. He would probably have to let the arrogant young hoodlum downstairs go with a caution anyway. The matter would end with this silly sod in front of him thinking his wiser counsel had prevailed.
    To make his disapproval manifest, Peach spoke every syllable with elaborate slowness as he said, ‘Was there anything else you wanted to say to me, sir?’
    Tucker stared at him for a moment, a rabbit now caught in headlights. Then his memory clanked into gear and he said querulously,