CHAPTER 91
“Well, there you have it, Chief. I only wish we’d got you here for the first instalment,” said Inspector Young. “I felt in my bones there was something wrong, and so did Brown, but what could we do on the evidence? Everyone said, ‘Just what was to be expected.’ ”
“We’re tarred with the same brush, Young. We both hate these cases which conform to expectations,” replied Chief Inspector Macdonald. “All the same, I agree with you in regretting that your Chief Constable didn’t report to us in the first case, but it’s no use crying over spilt milk. The trouble now is that we start with a bias. Whereas in the first case, when Gerald Vanstead was killed, the village folk all said ‘Just what we expected,’ now it’s ourselves—the police—who’re inclined to say the same thing about the boy
