It plummeted through the air and the porter waiting to take it from him had the presence of mind to step back smartly out of the way. The trunk hit a lady's hatbox with such force that it broke the strap attached to its lid. A small crowd of passengers stood beside the piles of luggage and a collective gasp of horror went up. As the lid of the hatbox flipped open, its contents were tipped roughly out. Reginald Hibbert could not believe his eyes.
Rolling around below him on the platform was a human head.
CHAPTER TWO
Seated at the desk in his office, Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck was writing a report on his latest case. Details of a brutal murder in Seven Dials were somehow robbed of their full horror by his elegant hand but they remained fresh and disturbing in his mind. He was nearing the end of his work when the door suddenly opened and Superintendent Edward Tallis burst in without bothering to knock.
'Stop whatever you're doing, Inspector,' he ordered.
Colbeck looked up. 'Is there a problem, sir?'
'There's always a problem at Scotland Yard. Problems arrive on my desk by the dozen every day. Policing a city like London is one long, continuous problem that defies solution.'
'I think you're being unduly pessimistic, Superintendent.'
'Be that as it may, I've a new assignment for you.'
'Here in London?'
'No,' said Tallis. 'In Crewe.'
'That means a railway crime,' said Colbeck with interest, getting to his feet. 'Have the LNWR been in touch with you?'
'They requested you by name.'
'I'm flattered.'
'This is no time to preen yourself,' warned Tallis. 'The London and North West Railway want immediate action. A severed head was found in a hatbox that was unloaded at Crewe station this afternoon.'