Watson took out his pocket watch. He and Makepeace had been waiting for over an hour. The Detective Chief Inspector could see clerks silently studious in the next room. Occasionally, one of their number would get up and walk over to a colleague and ask a question or go to the bookshelves that lined three walls of the communal office to check a reference in some legal tome. Otherwise, the scene could have been one from a chapel prayer meeting. At the far end of the room sat what the two police offers took to be the chief clerk, sitting at a larger desk than the other workers. The man was either writing, reading, or casting a roving eye over what Watson took to be the subordinates.

‘I doubt I could do this kind of work for long, sir.’ Makepeace whispered to his superior officer. There was...

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