Bradshaw. 'No difficulty should be found in picking out the planet' I read, 'as no other object in the sky has sufficient lightness at that hour…'

I turned forward a page, then found the front page and read: 'Hotel Porter Found with his Throat Cut'. The article ran on: 'Late last night when the hotel night porter at the

Station Hotel at York was called to go on duty, he was found in his bedroom with his throat cut. The unfortunate man, named Mr Richard Mariner, aged about 50, was found quite dead, and a razor with which the wound had been inflicted was also found in the bedroom.' That might turn out a matter for the Railway Police, I thought – the Pantomime Police, as I already knew they were called throughout the Company.

I looked again at the words 'throat cut'. The average man could read that and give it the go-by. Not if you were a copper, though.

The date at the top of the page was Friday 26 January. On

Tuesday the 30th, I would report to the Railway Police Office on York Station for the commencement of my duties. I'd been sworn the week before at the York Police Court, and collected my suit as provided for in the clothing regulations.

Detectives were allowed a plain suit and they could choose it themselves, providing the cost didn't overtop sixteen bob.

I'd gone with the wife to the tailoring department of one of the big York stores for a fitting, and the design that we – by which I mean the wife – had settled on was a slate-blue mix twill; pilot cloth, 27 ounces to the yard, with Italian silk lining.