Chapter 5
METROPOLITAN POLICE, SCOTLAND YARD, 4, WHITEHALL PLACE, LONDON
CENTRAL OFFICE: CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DEPARTMENT
WEDNESDAY JULY 6th, 1888
POLICE SERGEANT HERBERT GIMLET STAGGERED SLIGHTLY as he backed into Chief Inspector Collingwood’s office, a quivering edifice of files and papers balanced precariously in his arms, his chin pressing down onto the top of the pile to try and hold it in place. Carefully he turned around, ready to place the papers onto a battered looking mahogany table in the corner of the office.
‘This is all of ’em, I think, Gov’nor,’ he said, tottering backwards and forwards with the pile of documents like a funambulist suddenly overtaken by a dizzy spell.
Slowly he bent over to the table, carefully setting down his slippery burden of papers, holding them
