CHAPTER FIVEMacdonald replied to Weldon’s question by repeating the description of the unidentified boy given to press and radio, adding that the casualty had been found in the station approach. Weldon said at once:
“Well, one thing’s certain. The chap you’re describing wasn’t the chiser who got in with me at Reading. It might have been the boy in the other corner. I didn’t notice him much, but I have a vague recollection his hair was reddish. The chief thing I noticed about him was that he stared: he looked what folks in the north call gormless—a mug, if you prefer it.”
“Did he stare at you?”
“Only by the way, so to speak. He stared at the fellow next to me.”
“Now, sir: will you do your best to describe the latter? You said you were convinced he was a bad lot, so I take it you must ha
