Nick rang the bell and after a while heard footsteps approaching. The door was opened by a tall, cadaverous Indian with high cheekbones and serene brown eyes.

‘Dr Das?’

‘That is correct. What can I do for you?’

‘Detective Sergeant Miller, C.I.D. I’m trying to trace a patient of yours, a Mr Lazer. I’ve just missed him at his home and one of his neighbours thought he might have intended calling on you.’

‘Come in, please, Sergeant.’

Nick followed him along the passage and the Indian opened a door at the far end and led the way in. A cheerful fire burned in a polished grate, there was a desk in one corner and the walls were lined with books.

Dr Das took a cheroot from a sandalwood box on the mantelpiece, lit it with a splinter from the fire and turned with a smile. ‘You will excuse me not offering you one of these, Sergeant, but the supply is limited and I can only obtain them with great difficulty. You’ll find cigarettes on the desk behind you.’

Nick helped himself and the Indian stood with his back to the fire, his. face perfectly calm. ‘Mr Lazer is in trouble?’

Nick shook his head. ‘No question of that at all. It’s just that I’m trying to trace someone rather urgently and I think Lazer might be able to help me. I understand he’s a drug addict and registered with you.’

‘That is perfectly correct,’ Das said. ‘Mr Lazer has been a patient of mine for two years or more now. I take a particular interest in people in his unfortunate condition. Very few doctors do, I might add.’

‘How advanced is Lazer?’

Das shrugged. ‘His daily intake is of the order of seven grains of heroin and six grains of cocaine a day. When you appreciate that the normal dose to relieve pain is one-twelfth of a grain of heroin, this indicates the extent of the problem.’

‘Can’t anything be done?’

‘For most patients, I’m afraid not. I have patients who’ve been “dried-out,” as they call it, as many as sixteen or seventeen times. They regress with astonishing ease. The trouble is that most of them have quite crippling personality defects which explains their initial need for drugs, of course.’

‘I find that hard to accept where Lazer’s concerned,’ Nick said. ‘I’ve seen his record. He did rather well with the RAF during the war.’

‘Charles Lazer is a particularly tragic case. He first took heroin and cocaine at a party something like three years ago. Apparently he was quite drunk at the time and didn’t know what he was doing.’

‘And after that he was hooked?’

‘I’m afraid so. He’s dried-out on two occasions, once for almost five months before regression set in and believe me, that’s really quite remarkable.’

‘So there’s still hope for him?’