PAPER MONEY by Ken Follett

Post that evening. Herbert had been proud to have given them the

tip-off, and told the story in three pubs that night. Then he forgot

about it. Three months later he got a check for fifty pounds from the

newspaper.

With the check was a statement which read: “Two shot in 250,000 raid”

and gave the date of the robbery. “leave it out, Charlie, if she won’t

make a complaint, forget it..

The following day Herbert had stayed at home and phoned the Post every

time he picked something up on the police wavelength. That afternoon he

got a call from a man who said he was deputy news editor, who explained

just what the paper wanted from people like Herbert. He was told not to

report an assault unless a gun was used or someone was killed; not to

bother with burglaries unless the address was in Belgravia, chelsea, or

Kensington; not to report except when weapons were used or very large

amounts of cash stolen. proceed to twenty-three, Narrow Road, and He got

the idea quickly because he was not stupid, and the Post’s news values

were far from subtle. Soon he realized he was earning slightly more on

his “sick” days than when he went to work. What was more, he preferred

listening to the radio to inking boxes for cameras. So he gave in his

notice, and became what the newspaper called an earwig.

better give me that description now After he had been working full-time

on the radio for a few weeks the deputy news editor came to his house-it

was before he moved to the studio apartment to talk to him. The

newspaper nan said Herbert’s work was very useful to the paper, and how

would he like to work for them exclusively? That would mean Herbert

would phone tips only to the Post, and not to other papers. But he would

get a weekly retainer to make up for the loss of income. Herbert did not

say that he never had phoned any other papers. He accepted the offer

graciously. sit tight and we’ll get you some assistance in a few minutes

Over the years he had improved both his equipment and his understanding

of what the newspaper wanted; He learned that they were grateful for

more or less anything early in the morning, but as the day wore on they

became more choosy, until by about three P.M. nothing less than murder

in the sbt or large-scale robbery with violence interested them. He also

discovered that the paper, Like the police, was a lot less interested in

a crime done to a colored man in a colored area. Herbert thought this

quite reasonable, since he, as an Evening Post reader, was not much

interested in what The wogs did to each other in their own parts of

London; and he surmised, correctly, that the reason the Post was not

interested was simply that people like Herbert who bought the Post

weren’t interested. And he learned to read between the lines of police

jargon: knew when an assault was trivial or a complaint domestic; heard

the note of urgency in the operations-room sergeant’s voice when a call

for assistance was desperate; discovered how to switch his mind off when

decided to read out great lists of stolen-car over the air. 4

The speeded-up sound of his own alarm clock I, came out of the big

speaker, and he turned the deck off. He increased the volume on the

radio, then dialed the Post’s number. He sipped his tea While he waited

for an answer.

PAPER “Post, g’morning.” It was a man’s. voice.

“Copy ta please,” Herbert said. There was another pause.

“Copy.”

“Hello. Chieseman here, timing. at oh seven fifty-nine.”

There was a clatter of typewriters in the background. “Hello, Bertie.

Anything doing?”

“Seems to have been a quiet night,” Herbert said.

EIGHT A.M. TONY cox stood in a phone booth on the corner of Quill

Street, Bethnal Green, with the receiver to his ear. He was perspiring

inside the warm coat with the velvet collar. In his hand he held the end

of a chain which was attached to the collar of the dog outside. The dog

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