The Retainer

By Ernest Marlin

The phone sitting on Geoff Wilkinson’s desk rang. Geoff yawned and picked up the receiver. ‘Yes?’ he said shortly and then, when the receptionist announced that his next client had arrived to see him, added without much enthusiasm, ‘Show him up.’
Prompted by the imminent arrival of the client whose name he quickly checked in his diary, he pushed aside the file he had been working on and then quickly opened the sash window of his office. He hoped that that might remove the lingering smell of the fish and chips that he had not long ago consumed for lunch. His fingers, he noticed as he straightened his tie, still smelt of vinegar.
It had been raining for some time and the sound of traffic swishing along the wet High Road floated in through the now partially open window. A sudden raucous burst of laughter caused him to glance out of the window and across the street were a group of teenagers loitering in a shop doorway. Yobs, with nothing better to do, he thought. Then he noticed that one of them was a youth he recognised and groaned inwardly. Oh no, he thought. Don’t tell me he’s out already. The last time that he had seen the youth he had just been sent down by the local quarter sessions judge, a miserable old git with an explosive temper, not helped by the fact that the youth in question had made up a story about having fathered a child and having a job, neither of which proved to be true when a suspicious police officer looked into the story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ernest Marlin
• Release date: Sep 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9780992812904

Ernest Marlin

Ernest Marlin Author bio (distinguishing features: a countenance of rare charm):I’m a crime fiction Author, born 1947, spending much of my time untangling the stories in my head into tales of alienation and enchantment. I put my characters through hell, thinking of ways to intertwine my life encounters into their fictional lives.My introduction to books was at the spritely age of 11, when my grandfather bought me William the Detective. It grabbed my attention and I have not ceased reading since. It has reached a point where, to avoid divorce, I have to smuggle books into the house without my wife (‘Higher Authority’) seeing them. This is a bit rich actually, since shoes are to her what books are to me, but in the interest of matrimonial harmony, I apply a Nelsonian eye to any pair of shoes that I catch sight of and have not seen before. Higher Authority, on the other hand, is very strict with me and she has hinted darkly at introducing a stop and search regime as far as I am concerned. She often chooses to bring my manifold faults and transgressions to my attention as I am about to slip off into dreamland. I do, of course, pay close attention, but in the words of the old “curtain lecture” much of what is said “goes in one ear and out t’other”.I am still a practicing lawyer which leads to many an inspiring thought day to day. When I am not practicing law or writing, you can find me reading, spending time with my family or occasionally relaxing with thumb in bum and brain in reverse.The stories I write require themselves to be told. I can’t get them out of my head unless I write them down.There are other inspirations to write, one in particular is a desire to record the people that I’ve known, not merely family and friends, but the people with whom I grew up and to whom for the most part pass quietly through life without raising a ripple on the surface of the water. I have a desire to record something of them. They lived and were real, and I would like to mark their passing.I am the author of ‘The Retainer’ - an intriguing tale of betrayal, blackmail and lust set in the East End of 1970’s London in the cess pit of Whitechapel, an area whose very name conjures up images of squalor, degradation and crime, and ‘A Hero of our Time’ – a romp through the world of law and polo. Both are available to download on the Kindle store in Amazon.A third legal story, this time about suicide (or is it murder?) and the way people sometimes behave in those situations.All three are stories which revolve around the legal system and at the heart of each is a young solicitor who struggles to confirm and belong but cannot escape alienation and disenchantment.Hope you enjoy them.

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