'Hello, Mr Andrews,' said Robert Colbeck.

'Ah!' exclaimed the driver, turning to look at them. 'I had a feeling that I might be seeing you on my train, Inspector.'

'You remember Sergeant Leeming, don't you?'

'Of course.'

Andrews and Leeming exchanged a friendly nod.

'We need to get to Crewe as fast as possible,' said Colbeck.

'Then you've come to the right man.'

'You sound as if you expected us,' said Victor Leeming.

'I did, Sergeant. When a man's head is found inside a hatbox at a railway station, the people they'll always send for are you and Inspector Colbeck.'

'A man's head, did you say?'

'You already know more than us,' noted Colbeck.

'That's the rumour, anyway,' said Andrews, scratching his fringe beard. 'Messages keep coming in from Crewe. According to the stationmaster, it was the head of a young man. It was discovered by accident.'

'What else can you tell us?'

'Nothing, Inspector.'

'Then take us to the scene of the crime.'

'But not too fast,' pleaded Leeming with a grimace. 'Trains always make me feel sick.'

'Not the way that I drive,' boasted Andrews, adjusting his cap. He beamed at Colbeck. 'Well, what a piece of news to tell Maddy! I'm helping the Railway Detective to solve a crime.'

'It won't be the first time,' said Colbeck with a smile.

Caleb Andrews had been the driver of the mail train that had been robbed a few years earlier, and he had received such serious injuries during the incident that it was doubtful if he would survive. In the event, he had made a complete recovery, thanks to his remarkable resilience and to the way that his daughter, Madeleine, had nursed him back to full health. During the course of his investigation, Colbeck and Madeleine had been drawn together in a friendship that had slowly matured into something much deeper.