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lookedup.
    ‘Paris,’ he said. ‘The murder victim was a Frenchman.’

CHAPTER FOUR
    Superintendent Edward Tallis had dedicated himself to his work with a missionary zeal. Faced with what he saw as a rising tide of crime, he put in far more hours than anyone else in the Detective Department in the hope of stemming its menacing flow. With too few officers covering far too large an area, he knew that policing the capital city was a Herculean task but he was not daunted. He was determined that the forces of law and order would prevail. Tallis was not the only man to leave the army and join the Metropolitan Police, but the others had all retained their rank to give their names a ring of authority. The only rank that he used was the one confirmed upon him in his new profession. It filled him with pride. Being a detective superintendent was, for Tallis, like sitting at the right hand of the Almighty.
    Accustomed to arrive first at Scotland Yard, he was surprised to find that one of his men was already there. Bent over his desk, Robert Colbeck was writing something in his educated hand. Spotting him through the half-open door,Tallis barged into the room.
    ‘What the devil are you doing here, Inspector?’ he said.
    ‘Finishing my report on the Harrison-Clark trial, sir,’ replied the other. He turned to face Tallis. ‘If you recall, I had to postpone it.’
    ‘You are supposed to be in Liverpool.’
    ‘We came back to London last night.’
    Tallis was astounded. ‘Are you telling me that the murder was solved in the space of two days?’
    ‘Alas, no,’ said Colbeck, rising to his feet, ‘but the investigation has reached the stage where our presence is no longer required in Liverpool. To be honest, I’m heartily relieved. It’s an unlovely place and Victor Leeming was missing his wife badly.’
    ‘Wives do not exist in the Detective Department,’ said Tallis, acidly. ‘Duty always comes before any trifling marital arrangements. Leeming knows that. He should have been ready to stay in Liverpool for a month, if called upon to do so.’
    ‘That necessity did not arise, Superintendent.’
    ‘I expected the pair of you to spend more than one night there.’
    ‘So did I, sir,’ said Colbeck, ‘but events took an interesting turn. You’ll find a full explanation in the report I left on your desk earlier on. I also took the liberty of opening a window in your office. When I got here, the stench of cigar smoke had still not dispersed from the room.’
    ‘It’s not a stench, man – it’s a pleasing aroma.’
    ‘Only to those who create it.’
    Tallis glowered at him before stalking off to his office. Colbeck sat down again to finish the last paragraph then heput his pen aside. After blotting the wet ink, he picked up the pages and put them in the right order. When he took the report into the superintendent’s office, Tallis was reading about the murder inquiry. Colbeck waited until his superior had finished. The older man nodded.
    ‘Admirably thorough,’ he conceded.
    ‘Thank you, sir.’
    ‘Though I’m not sure that it’s altogether wise to accept the testimony of an artist at face value. In my experience, they’re rather shifty fellows whose imagination tends to get the better of them.’
    ‘I put my trust in Ambrose Hooper unreservedly. Those three witnesses on the barge confirmed everything that was in the painting.’
    ‘Thieves and an artist.’ Tallis sucked his teeth. ‘Such men are hardly reliable.’
    ‘It was only one member of the Triggs family who kept hold of property that did not belong to him, and he is not what anyone would describe as a thief. Samuel Triggs simply seized an opportunity.’
    ‘That’s what villains do,’ said Tallis, crisply. ‘This fellow stole a jacket and a pair of shoes, thereby impeding the investigation. I trust that you arrested him on the spot.’
    ‘I left that to Constable Praine.’
    ‘You mentioned him in your report.’
    ‘A good policeman, sir –