‘I understand, sir. Now I wonder if you’d mind going over the events of last night again. I know you’ve already discussed this with Constable Brady, but it would help me to hear for myself.’

‘Well, as I told Mr Brady, I had a date with Grace at half-eight.’

‘Just one moment, sir. What happened before that? What time did you get home from work?’

Harold smiled bravely. ‘To tell you the truth I’m not actually working at the moment, Superintendent. It’s my back you see. I had this accident about a year ago so I have to be very careful.’

Mallory looked sympathetic. ‘That must be difficult for you. You were saying that you had an appointment with Miss Packard at eight-thirty?’

‘That’s right. In The King’s Arms, the one near Regent Square on the corner of Lazer Street.’

‘And you kept that appointment?’

‘I was a couple of minutes late. When I got there she was leaving with two blokes.’

‘Who were they?’

‘I don’t know – never seen ’em before.’

‘Did she often do this sort of thing?’

Harold sighed heavily. ‘I’m afraid she did. She was sort of restless, if you know what I mean. Always looking for something new.’

It sounded like a line from a bad television play, but Mallory simply nodded and went on, ‘What happened when you arrived and found her leaving with these two men?’

‘I tried to stop her, tried to reason with her, but she wouldn’t listen.’ Harold flushed. ‘Then one of them got hold of me – great big bloke he was. He twisted my hand in one of these judo locks or something. Put me down on my face. That’s when the landlord moved in and told ’em to clear off.’

‘And what did you do then, sir?’

Harold frowned as if trying to remember. ‘Oh, had a drink with the landlord – on the house.’

‘Did you go straight home afterwards?’

‘No, like I told Mr Brady, I was too upset. I walked around in the rain for a while, then I had a coffee in the station buffet. Got home about half-nine. Me mum was in bed so I took her a cup of tea and went myself.’

Mallory had been making notes. He added a sentence and as he glanced up, Miller said, ‘Excuse me, sir, I’ve been expecting a message.’

He went out into the main office, picked up the telephone on his desk and rang through to Mallory. ‘Miller here, sir. He’s lying.’

‘That’s certainly nice to know,’ Mallory said calmly. ‘I’ll be straight out.’

He put down his phone and smiled brightly at Harold. ‘I’ll only be a moment.’ He got to his feet and said to Brady, ‘See that Mr Phillips gets a cup of tea, will you, Constable? There should be some left in the pot.’