‘You know, I think we’re going to crack that case at last. Limehouse had a tip-off last night, and it’s really put our hands on something. You remember Herbie the Fence? The little man with all the answers? Well, just look out that report, will you, and the interrogations of Wilbright and Sharp…’

In effect it had been a tip-off that Herbie had got the goods on him, and Limehouse Division had raided his premises. In a cellar they had discovered some of the furs which had been stolen, furs originating from the warehouse where Jimmy Fisher had been shot. Herbie was sitting in the cooler waiting for Gently’s expert attention: he hadn’t been charged with anything and so was free meat for the chopper.

‘Take your time over him, Gently, take all the time in the world. If we can crack Herbie we’ll have the whole consignment sewn up…’

So there it was, his day mapped out for him, another day with Jimmy Fisher. Not a word about jobs in the country, not a whisper of Inspector Hansom…

Gently returned to his office dourly and made arrangements for the interrogation. Herbie and he had had previous engagements, and even equipped with a lever, he knew what he was in for. At lunchtime he handed the business over to Pagram, with Herbie, still uncracked, going as strongly as ever. From the canteen he sent out for the lunchtime papers. They contained mostly rehashes, but there was one fresh development.

PUBLIC SEE THE JOHNSON PICTURE

Angry Scene At Exhibition

With his fork in his hand, Gently skimmed the column of letterpress. Only one paper had got it, and judging from the misprints it had been a rush job:

Ruction and tumult disturbed this old Cathedral City when the Palette Group’s Summer Exhibition was opened this morning. Cause of the contention was Shirley Johnson’s ‘Dark Destroyer’, the last picture she was known to have painted before she was murdered.