‘I wouldn’t try lying again if I were you. You asked for evidence, real evidence. I’ve got some for you. For the past couple of hours your trousers, the trousers you were wearing yesterday have been the subject of chemical tests in our laboratory. They haven’t finished yet by any means, but I’ve just had a preliminary report that indicates beyond any shadow of a doubt that you were with a woman last night.’

‘Maybe someone forgot to tell you, son,’ Brady put in, ‘but Grace Packard had intercourse just before she died.’

‘Here, you needn’t try that one.’ Harold put out a hand defensively. ‘All right. I’ll tell you the truth. I did go with a woman last night.’

‘Who was she?’ Mallory asked calmly.

‘I don’t know. I bumped into her in one of those streets behind the station.’

‘Was she on the game?’ Brady suggested.

‘That’s it. Thirty bob for a short time. You know how it goes. We stood against the wall in a back alley.’

‘And her name?’ Mallory asked.

‘Do me a favour, Superintendent. I didn’t even get a clear look at her face.’

‘Let’s hope she hasn’t left you something to remember her by,’ Brady said grimly. ‘Why didn’t you tell us about this before?’

Harold had obviously recovered some of his lost confidence. He contrived to look pious. ‘It isn’t the sort of thing you like to talk about, now is it?’

The constable came in with a cup of tea, placed it on the table and whispered in Mallory’s ear. The Chief Superintendent nodded, got to his feet and beckoned to Brady.

‘Miller’s on the phone,’ he said when they got into the corridor.

‘What about Harold, sir?’

‘Let him stew for a few minutes.’

He spoke to Miller from a booth half-way along the corridor. ‘Where are you speaking from?’

‘Phone box outside Faulkner’s place,’ Miller told him. ‘He’s up there now with his lawyer and Joanna Hartmann.’

‘You’ve spoken to him then?’

‘Oh, yes, thought I’d give him a breather, that’s all. We’ve reached an interesting stage. You were right about the gloves, sir. He didn’t even attempt to deny having had them. Gave exactly the reason for lying about them at the coffee stall that you said he would.’

Mallory couldn’t help feeling slightly complacent. ‘There you are then. I don’t like to say I told you so, but I honestly think you’re wasting your time, Miller.’

‘Don’t tell me Harold’s cracked?’

‘Not quite, but he’s tying himself up in about fifty-seven different knots. I think he’s our man. More certain of it than ever.’

‘But not the Rainlover?’

‘A different problem, I’m afraid.’

‘One interesting point, sir,’ Miller said. ‘Remember Faulkner told us he gave the girl ten pounds?’

‘What about it?’