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The Evidence

Christopher Priest
Chapters (29)
  1. Dedication
  2. The Evidence
  3. Snow Upon the Rails
  4. The Mystery of the Two Keys
  5. The Lost Two Hours
  6. Lights in a Darkened Room
  7. The Money Trap
  8. Strangers in a Car
  9. The Enigma of Change
  10. Sad Story of the Death of Kings
  11. Dreadful is the Checking
  12. Presumed Guilty
  13. Questions, Questions
  14. The Death Club
  15. The Riddle of the Hands
  16. Half Answers
  17. A Detective Inspector Calls
  18. The Temple of Wonders
  19. Into the Cabinets of Death
  20. The Alleged Safeguard
  21. The Journeying Boat
  22. Engine of Destruction
  23. A Parity of Arms
  24. The Story of DI Spoder (ret’d)
  25. The False Inspector Harsent
  26. The Concatenated Man
  27. Todd’s Last Case
  28. Also by Christopher Priest from Gollancz:
  29. Copyright

Dedication

Dedication

To John Clute

The Evidence

The Evidence

Christopher Priest

GOLLANCZ

LONDON

Contents

Dedication

Title Page

1. Snow Upon the Rails

2. The Mystery of the Two Keys

3. The Lost Two Hours

4. Lights in a Darkened Room

5. The Money Trap

6. Strangers in a Car

7. The Enigma of Change

8. Sad Story of the Death of Kings

9. Dreadful is the Checking

10. Presumed Guilty

11. Questions, Questions

12. The Death Club

13. The Riddle of the Hands

14. Half Answers

15. A Detective Inspector Calls

16. The Temple of Wonders

17. Into the Cabinets of Death

18. The Alleged Safeguard

19. The Journeying Boat

20. Engine of Destruction

21. A Parity of Arms

22. The Story of DI Spoder (ret’d)

23. The False Inspector Harsent

24. The Concatenated Man

25. Todd’s Last Case

Also by Christopher Priest from Gollancz:

Copyright

Snow Upon the Rails

1

Snow Upon the Rails

What am I doing here? Why did I agree to it? Two whole days of this?

Such thoughts. I was leaning my head disconsolately against the window, feeling the cold from outside as it seeped through the toughened glass, watching as the train passed through an endless frozen landscape of heavy industrial works, derelict buildings and spoilage. At intervals, white and orange floodlights glared down on concrete emplacements. I felt I did not belong, because no one could belong in such a place. The sky was the darkest grey, like an old cinder, daylight was only grudgingly admitted. The hills were streaked with thin snow, the train went slowly. Sometimes it stopped. Sometimes it went even more slowly.

I dreaded what would happen if the train broke down, or I was told to leave the carriage, or there was an unannounced change of trains at some remote junction. This train and this compartment were my only protection, and a degree of familiarity. They insulated me from the frozen landscape beyond the glass.

I was on an all-expenses visit to a distant university, where I was scheduled to deliver the keynote speech at an academic conference. It was on a subject in which I was believed to be an expert, but in fact there was a twist to it I knew nothing about. The title of my lecture was the same as the title of the conference itself: The Role of the Modern Crime Novel in a Crime-Free Society.