Coppell grunted, and then said, “You want me, sir?”
“What can you tell me about this Rapelli case?” enquired the assistant commissioner, who was the chief of the C.I.D. department and directly responsible to the commissioner.
“Only what I’ve read in the Globe,” growled Coppell.
“Didn’t you know about it this morning?” The assistant commissioner sounded surprised.
“Oh, West told me about the arrest and said he wanted to ask for an eight-day remand. He didn’t suggest there was anything out of the ordinary about it.” Coppell’s voice was raw with an overtone of complaint. “Or any doubt.”
“There appears to be a great deal of doubt,” remarked the assistant commissioner. He was an able man who was inclined to veer whichever way the wind was blowing, not one to stand much on his own. “Do you know if West had been informed of the alibi story?”
“I’ve been out to the Guildhall, that Commonwealth Police Conference luncheon, and only just got back,” Coppell said defensively. “I’ll see West at once.”
“Let me know what he has to say,” ordered the assistant commissioner. “The Home Office is extremely disturbed.”
“Soon as I can,” promised Coppell.
He put down the receiver and glowered out of a window which overlooked a mammoth new building and showed a silvery slip of the Thames. He picked up the receiver of a telephone which was connected with his secretary, and as she answered he demanded, “Do you know if Superintendent West is in?”
“I have no idea, sir.”
“Then find out and let me know. Don’t let him know I’ve enquired.” Coppell put down the receiver, stood up and changed the direction of his glower; he could now see Lambeth Bridge and a corner of the roof of the Houses of Parliament through a haze caused by a slight drizzle. He was a proud man, and particularly proud of his position; and he was very jealous of it. West had broken the first rule of a hearing; spoken to the court when not under oath. Even apart from that, he had been grossly inefficient: he should have made sure there was no alibi before authorising Rapelli’s arrest.