'Mr Madden and I have interviewed two of the four survivors of B Company. Neither was our man. The third, Marlow, is in hospital and the fourth, Samuel Patterson, has been traced by the Norwich police. He's working on a farm near Aylsham. His movements are accounted for.'
'Yet these men — and their comrades who were killed — were the only ones Captain Miller questioned?'
'According to the records, yes.'
'And we know he closed the case.' Bennett frowned.
'Then logic suggests he believed one of those killed in battle was the guilty man. That's been your assumption — am I right, Chief Inspector?'
'Yes, sir.'
'But you thought he could have been mistaken?
That it might have been one of these four?'
'That possibility was in my mind.' Sinclair nodded.
'But now I've had second thoughts.'
'Oh?' The deputy sat forward.
'I've been struck by the fact that none of these men — none of those who survived — was questioned again after they came out of the line. That doesn't make sense. I've looked at the verbal records of the interrogations carefully. Miller bore down hard on them. It's plain he thought they were hiding something. Even if he believed the guilty man among them was dead he would have had the others in again. He wouldn't have let it go at that.'
Bennett's brow knotted. 'Then the murderer wasn't from B Company after all. Miller must have decided it was someone else.'
'So it would seem,' Sinclair agreed.
'But without that memorandum, we're not likely to discover who.'
'Correct.'
Bennett sighed. He looked away. 'Is there anything else, Chief Inspector?'
'Only this, sir.' Sinclair dipped into the file. Selecting a paper, he pulled it out and held it up before him. 'I sent a telegram to the Brussels Surete last week asking them to check their records for us. I was hoping they might have a copy of Miller's report. They don't.'
His eye met Bennett's over the top of the sheet of paper. 'In fact, according to their records the case is still open.'
'What?' The deputy sat up straight in astonishment.
'I don't understand. What does that mean?'
'Well, for one thing, the British military authorities never informed the Belgian civilian police that the case was closed.'
The two men looked at each other. Perhaps five seconds elapsed. Then Bennett's eyes narrowed. Sinclair, who had a high opinion of the deputy's quickness of mind, saw the realization dawn.
'That damned memorandum! It's not lost, is it?
They just won't give it to us!'
Sinclair made a slight gesture of dissent. 'Not necessarily, sir. It may well be lost. Now.'
'You mean someone deliberately got rid of it. But we don't know who, or when?'
'That seems likely.'
'The killer himself?'
Sinclair shook his head. 'I doubt that. Unless he was an MP, and even then…' He slipped the paper back into the file. 'I spoke to Colonel Jenkins on Friday and asked him to put us in touch with Miller's commanding officer during the war. It's possible he may remember something of the case. Incidentally, Jenkins said they're still hunting for the memorandum at the War Office depot. I've no reason to disbelieve him. There could be a variety of reasons why someone in September 1917 decided it would be better to destroy that piece of paper, particularly if they thought the guilty party was dead. It was a brutal crime and the victims were civilians. No need to point a finger at the armed forces, they might have thought. Let the dead bury the dead.'
Bennett was studying his fingernails. After a few moments he rose and went to the window. He stood with his arms folded looking out. Sinclair glanced at Madden with raised eyebrows. The deputy returned to the table and sat down.
'Let me sum up, if I may.' He cleared his throat.
'There's no point in my tackling the War Office on this, no way of prising that memorandum out of them?'
'I believe not, sir. If it still exists, if they're withholding it deliberately, they'll continue to do so. If not, we'll only antagonize them.'
Bennett nodded, understanding. His frown returned. 'If you only had a name, something to go on…' He dropped his eyes. He seemed reluctant to continue. 'Then again, it's quite possible the cases are unconnected. The murders in Belgium, the killings here… We can't be sure.'
'Indeed we can't, sir.' Sinclair carefully aligned the papers in front of him and slid them back into the folder.
The deputy lifted his gaze. 'Perhaps, after all, it's time to look… in a different direction.' His glance conveyed sympathy.
The chief inspector acknowledged the words with a slight nod.
Bennett rose. He turned to Madden. 'Would you leave us, Inspector? I want a word in private with Mr Sinclair.'
Twenty minutes later the chief inspector walked briskly into his office. The bulky cumulative file flew from his hands and landed with a resounding thud on his desktop. As though in response, the nervous chatter of a typewriter in the adjoining room fell silent.
Sinclair stood before his desk.
'I rather hoped the chief super's non-appearance this morning might signal his dispatch to the Tower for immediate execution. But it seems Ferris was right we're the ones scheduled for the block.'
'I'm sorry, sir.' Madden scowled from behind his desk. 'I think they're making a mistake.'
'Perhaps. What's certain is Sampson has the assistant commissioner's ear. That's where he was this morning, by the way, doing some last-minute spadework with Sir George, making sure he doesn't change his mind.'
'Is that it, then? Are we out?'
'Not quite yet, though I dare say we would be if Parkhurst wasn't due in Newcastle this afternoon for a regional conference. He won't be back till Thursday.
That's the appointed day. He's called a meeting in his office. Bennett and I are invited to attend. You're excused, John.'
The chief inspector took his pipe from his pocket.
He perched on the edge of his desk. 'Poor Bennett.
He's in the worst position of all, trying to straddle a barbed-wire fence. He knows we're on the right track, even though it keeps going cold. But if he continues backing us he'll find himself exposed. I think he half suspects Sampson's after his job.'
'Surely not!' Madden was incredulous.
'Oh, he won't get it.' Sinclair chuckled. 'But our chief super's fantasies know no bounds. Never mind that. You were saying earlier you had an idea. Now would be a good time to hear it.'
The inspector took a moment to collect his thoughts. 'It all depends on how Miller went about his business,' he began.
'I don't follow you.'
'He wouldn't have worked alone. He would have had a redcap NCO along with him to take notes and type up his reports. But what we don't know is whether he simply drew a clerk at random from whatever pool was available, in which case it wouldn't be much help to us, or whether he worked with the same man regularly.'
'You mean if they were a team?' Sinclair frowned.
Madden nodded. 'If he used the same clerk, then that would be the man who took down the interrogations of B Company and typed up the records.
He'd be familiar with the case. They might even have discussed it.'
