“Now, don’t worry, sir,” he said. “We try to make this sad business as pleasant as circumstances allow. You’ll only need to take a quick look at ’is face. You won’t see anything unpleasant.”
George did not trust his legs. He sat still, gripping the arms of his chair, uneasy, frightened that he was going to be sick.
“All right, sir,” PC White said, sitting down again. “Take your time. It takes people like that sometimes. Of course, we’re used to it. I’ve been on this job now for fourteen years. You’d be surprised ’ow some people react. Some of ’em are as callous as can be; others get unnecessarily upset. It depends on their temperament, I always say. Why, only an hour ago we ’ad a young lady in to see the same gentleman wot you’re going to see. She was a cool card all right. I knew I wasn’t going to lave trouble with her, soon as I set eyes on her. Cool as a cucumber; in her trousers and sweater. Don’t ’old with that get-up for a girl myself, but, then, I suppose I’m oldfashioned. A bit too immodest, if you takes me meaning. Well, this young lady comes in, looks at the remains, and although she didn’t know ’im, I had difficulty in getting her away. She stood there staring and staring, and she made me and Joe feel a bit uncomfortable: don’t mind admitting it. But, for all that, she never turned a ’air—not one blessed ’air.”
George licked his dry lips. “Did she say who she was?” he asked in a low, tight voice.
PC White hesitated. “Well, it don’t matter to you, does it, sir?” he said. “I mean we don’t… You see, it wasn’t as if she knew him “
So Cora had already been here. If she didn’t know the dead man, then he wasn’t Sydney. George’s nausea went away.
“I’m all right now,” he said, getting slowly to his feet. “I’m sorry, but this business has upset me.”
“Don’t you worry about that, sir,” PC White assured him “Take your time. Now if you feel like it, just step out into the passage. I’ll be right with you.”
George moved slowly into the white-tiled passage. PC White took his arm and led him to the blind-covered window that George had noticed when he had been waiting to go into the office.
“All right, Joe,” White called. “Now, sir, just a quick look. It’ll be over in a few seconds.”