4
IT WAS CHARACTERISTIC of that would-be protagonist in criminology, Jim Milsom, that he should push himself to the front, dragging the more modest Mitchell with him, to volunteer his own opinion upon the bloodstained raincoat, but he was brought up against a physical as well as a moral barrier: the police seemed to ignore his presence, and they opposed a rampart of broad official backs to his approach. One cannot slap an official back in order to open diplomatic negotiations. There is nothing in life so daunting as the back of a policeman.
“We don’t seem to be wanted here,” observed Milsom. “If we’re to do any good we shall have to take those official backs in flank.”
“What do you mean?”
“That we go to Scotland Yard and beard the head of the C.I.D. They may, of course, take exception
