Jean Fleming shook her head. ‘I know this sounds silly, but it’s his birthday and they’re throwing a party tonight. An all-night affair. Dancing, cabaret, the lot. I’m looking in myself when I leave here. Bella’s put a lot into it. She wouldn’t like Ben to spoil things.’

‘I see,’ Grant said. ‘So what do you want us to do? He’s served his time. As long as he keeps his nose clean he’s a free agent.’

‘You could have a word with him,’ she said. ‘Tell him to stay away. Surely that isn’t asking too much?’

Grant swung round in his chair, got to his feet and crossed to the window. He looked down at the lights of the city in the rain below.

‘Look at it,’ he said, turning to Jean Fleming. ‘Seventy square miles of streets, half a million people and eight hundred and twenty-one coppers and that includes the ones who sit behind a desk. By any reasonable standard we need another two hundred and fifty right now.’

‘Why can’t you get them?’

‘You’d be surprised how few men want to spend the rest of their lives working a three-shift system that only gives them one weekend in seven at home with their families. And then the money isn’t exactly marvellous, not when you consider what you have to do to earn it. If you don’t believe me, try standing outside the Exchange around eleven o’clock on a Saturday night when the pubs are turning out. A good copper earns his week’s money in an hour down there.’

‘Which is a roundabout way of telling me that you can’t help.’

‘I’ve got fifty-two detectives under me. At the present time eighteen have got flu and the rest are working an eighty-hour week. You may have noticed how quiet things are around here. That’s because Detective Constable Brady and I are the only people in the office at the moment. At the best of times we only run a token squad during the ten till six shift. Tonight, you could say things are thinner than usual.’

‘But there must be someone available.’

He laughed harshly and returned to his desk. ‘There usually is.’

She got to her feet. ‘It’ll be all right, then? You’ll see to it?’

‘We’ll check around,’ Grant said. ‘It shouldn’t be too difficult to find him if he’s in town. I can’t promise much, but we’ll do what we can.’

She fumbled in her bag and took out a card. ‘I’ll be at Bella’s place in St Martin’s Wood for an hour or two. After that, I’ll be at home. I’m living in Miss Van Heflin’s old flat at the school. The number’s there.’