CHAPTER TWELVE1
After his debate at C.I.D. Headquarters at Leverstone, Macdonald sought out the rank and file, the constables and point-duty men, all the humble “other ranks” whose careful observation and devotion to duty form the basis whereon is built the whole structure of detection in the wider and more impressive sense. Macdonald wanted to learn more about Sam Borwick, the farmer’s son who had taken to crime rather than going home to work on the land. It was, in a sense, an improbable story, but the roots of it had been indicated by Brough and Staple when they spoke of old Borwick’s miserliness and the hardness of life at High Garth, a life which was not only devoid of even elementary comforts but, for Sam, entirely lacking in independence or the opportunities of doing those things w
