He pretended to notice Wield for the first time, went close to him and put his mouth next to his ear.

'Ah, Sergeant Wield,' he murmured. 'Any messages for me?'

'No sir,' said Wield. 'Not that I know of.'

'Not even from the other bloody side!' bellowed Dalziel. He looked as if he was about to thump the sergeant with the paper.

'It's all a mistake, sir,' interposed Pascoe hastily.

‘Mistake? Certainly it's a bloody mistake. I go down to Birmingham for a conference. Hello Andy, they all say. How's that Choker of yours? they all say. Fine, I say. All under control, I say. That was the bloody mistake! You know what it says here in this rag?'

He unfolded the paper with some difficulty.

'It has long been common practice among American police forces to call on the aid of clairvoyants when they are baffled,' he read. 'I leave a normal English CID unit doing its job. I come back and suddenly it's the Mid-Yorkshire precinct and we're baffled! No wonder Kojak's bald.'

Pascoe risked a smile. Lots of things made Dalziel angry. Not having his jokes appreciated was one of them.

The fat man hooked a chair towards him with a size ten foot and sat down heavily.

'All right,' he said. 'Tell me.'

For answer, Pascoe shoved Wield's report towards him.

He read it quickly.

'Sergeant.'

'Sir!'

'Oh, stop standing there as if you'd crapped yourself,' said Dalziel wearily.

'Think I may have, sir,' said Wield.

This tickled Dalziel's fancy and he grinned and belched. There had obviously been a buffet bar on the train.

'How'd it happen you had a recorder in your car, lad? Not normal issue these days, is it?'

'No, sir,' said Wield. 'It's my nephew's. It'd gone wonky so I'd been having it repaired.'

'That was kind of you,' said Dalziel approvingly. 'At an electrical shop, you mean?'