‘Doctor Elekton, our divisional surgeon,’ Superintendent Williams said, and completed the introductions.

‘Unpleasant business, this,’ Dr Elekton said. ‘Very unpleasant. I don’t know what you’re going to think.’

‘Shall we have a look?’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘Bear a hand, Sergeant,’ said Williams. ‘Keep it screened from the green, we’d better.’

‘I’ll move my car across,’ Dr Elekton said.

He did so. Raikes and Williams released the tarpaulin and presently raised it. Alleyn being particular in such details, he and Fox took their hats off and so, after a surprised glance at them, did Dr Elekton.

The body of Mr Cartell lay on its back, not tidily. It was wet with mud and water, and marked about the head with blood. The face, shrouded in a dark and glistening mask, was unrecognizable, the thin hair clotted and dirty. It was clothed in a dressing-gown, shirt and trousers, all of them stained and disordered. On the feet were black socks and red leather slippers. One hand was clenched about a clod of earth. Thin trickles of muddy water had oozed between the fingers.

Alleyn knelt beside it without touching it. He looked incongruous. Not his hands, his head, nor, for that matter, his clothes, suggested his occupation. If Mr Cartell had been a rare edition of any subject other than death, his body would have seemed a more appropriate object for Alleyn’s fastidious consideration.

After a pause he replaced the tarpaulin, rose, and keeping on the hard surface of the lane, stared down into the drain.

‘Well,’ he said. ‘And he was found below, there?’ His very deep, clear voice struck loudly across the silence.

‘Straight down from where they’ve put him. On his face. With the drain-pipe on top of him.’

‘Yes. I see.’

‘They thought he might be alive. So they got him out of it. They had a job,’ said Superintendent Williams. ‘Had to use the gear on the truck.’

‘He was like this when you saw him, Doctor Elekton?’

‘Yes. There are multiple injuries to the skull. I haven’t made an extensive examination. My guess would be, it’s just about held together by the scalp.’

‘Can we have a word with the men?’

Raikes motioned them to come forward and they did so with every sign of reluctance. One, the tallest, carried a piece of rag and he wiped his hands on it continually, as if he had been doing so, unconsciously, for some time.

‘Good morning,’ Alleyn said. ‘You’ve had an unpleasant job on your hands.’

The tall man nodded. One of his mates said: ‘Terrible.’

‘I want you, if you will, to tell me exactly what happened. When did you find him?’

Fox unobtrusively took out his note-book.

‘When we come on the job. Eight o’clock or near after.’

‘You saw him at once?’