IT WAS ANOTHER FOUR days before Rafferty felt sufficiently recovered to return to work. He found Superintendent Bradley’s mood even more abrupt than it usually was, and he was not at all inclined to show sympathy to his still sniffing subordinate.
‘So you’re back at last,’ was his greeting when Rafferty put his head round the superintendent’s door to announce his return. ‘About time. All those days off, for nowt but a piddling cold.’
‘I had flu, sir,’ Rafferty defended himself.
‘Flu? Nowt but a malingerer’s name for a bit of a chill. Catch me taking all that time off for a few sniffles. Anyway, now you’re back, I want you to get on and try to produce a result on these burglaries. We’re getting bad press on them, and I want it to stop.’
Unflattering attention from the media was Bradley’
