Others by James Herbert Page A

was concerned.
    ‘Sorry, Henry, but James Stewart was in After the Thin Man, made two years later, and he was the villain; William Powell was still playing the thin guy, Nick Charles, and Myrna Loy was his partner, Nora. His dog was called Asta, by the way, played by Asta the dog.’ I tried not to gloat.
    Henry’s mouth was open, his jaw loose. He quickly regath-ered his wits though. ‘Answer me this one, then. What Roger Corman B movie did Jack Nicholson star in?’
    ‘Ah, you know I don’t have a clue about modern movies,’ I returned disgustedly.
    ‘Modem? Modern? This was Sixties stuff, my friend.’
    ‘Yeah well, anything made after the Forties escapes me. I prefer the really old ones.’
    ‘God, anyone would think you were ancient’
    ‘I just like the black and white style. Films had class in those days. Men and women dressed right and sex was suggested and all the sexier for it, and there was no profanity then. Didn’t need it: the story was everything.’
    ‘It was the Edgar Allan Poe one, wasn’t it?’
    We both turned to look at Ida, who was sitting in the visitors’ chair, stirring her mug of tea with a plastic spoon.
    What?’ I said.
    ‘Directed by Roger Corman, starring Jack Nicholson. He was a soldier or something. Bit part. You know - the horror film, The Pit and the Pendulum.’
    ‘Oh don’t you start!’ Henry was gritting his teeth, his fists clenched. ‘It was The Raven. The bloody Raven, okay?’
    Yes, but Nicholson was in the other one, too,’ Ida offered helpfully.
    ‘No he bloody wasn’t!’ Henry always got wound up over movies; he considered himself the oracle as far as the silver screen was concerned.
    I’m not sure if Philo was deliberately winding Henry up, but he chipped in with a grin: ‘No, Jack Nicholson was in Fall of the House of Usher. That was the one he had a small part in.’
    ‘He didn’t! He didn’t! He didn’t come anywhere near it!’
    That was it as far as the rest of us were concerned. Ida broke into a fit of giggling first, closely followed by Philo. I was just chuckling. Henry gripped the edge of his desk, glaring at all of us, not quite sure yet if the tease was deliberate. Watching Henry, usually so calm and rational, even during his racial diatribes, lose his rag over something so trivial was always fun.
    He gave up in disgust, his only way out. ‘All right, we’ve all got plenty to do today, so why don’t we just get on?’
    I put my empty coffee mug down beside the plastic kettle, which resided on top of a filing cabinet (it was Philo’s job to do the washing up in the small loo just off the main office), then lumbered towards Henry’s desk. It would have been awkward for me to sit on its corner, so I leaned back against it instead, arms folded over my misshapen chest.
    ‘Ida, you’ve got a status report for our old client, the Ownback Catalogue company. They need to know if there’s any chance of getting their money from a customer who’s suddenly gone sour on them. Henry has the details.’
    Our accountant and administrator, still miffed, handed a typewritten brief from the catalogue company to Ida, who took it and began noting the details.
    ‘Check with the receiver’s office if the debtor is bankrupt and the County Court Office to find out if there’s any outstanding judgements against him,’ Henry instructed her.
    ‘I have done this sort of thing before, Henry,’ Ida reminded him, still scanning the two-page letter.
    ‘You’ll need to pay the debtor a visit on this one,’ I advised, only because I wanted the option followed up. ‘If he’s uncooperative, talk to his neighbours - and let him know you’re prepared to do that; he might just want to save himself the embarrassment.’
    Want me to pad out the report?’
    ‘Shouldn’t have to. By the time you’ve checked on what car or cars he runs, his personal possessions, whether he’s paying rent or mortgage on his home, if he works full-time or is he on the dole,