“Well, I should have thought I knew you pretty well by this time.”
“Should you, sir? With respect, and judging by results, I must take leave to doubt it.”
“Well, Jannaway, well.”
The detective warmed a little, his grievance coming to an irresistible head.
“Look you here, Mr Shapter,” he said. “If we’re all to be judged by what we go a-boasting of ourselves, we might as well petition the Almighty to open Paradise again, and give us that Valombroso for our head gardener. But He’s not to be took in, like some folks, by the clanging of an empty brass pot; and mayhap He’d ask for a little more proof of what was at the inside of all the noise that pretended to such a bellyful of wisdom. It’s time for a cock to crow when it’s out of the egg.”
“But really, inspector, mayn’t silence sometimes be a little empty too?”
“That’s for you to judge, sir.”
“I am your very humble servant, Jannaway.”
“Then, sir, if you’ll come along with me, I’ll show you where the body of this man Dalston is lying at this moment.”
“Dead?”