‘Sirs!’ The head scene-of-crime officer waved them over. ‘You’d better have a look at this.’
He handed Garth a notebook filled with unintelligible chicken-scratch.
‘As you can see, it’s shorthand,’ the officer said. ‘It says here, “ . . . photographer posed, subjects observed to follow, unexpected delay, perhaps they are blind after all . . .” d’you think this might have something to do with the Skinner killing?’
‘Not officially,’ Garth Williams told him pointedly, ‘and I’d appreciate it if you’d not raise your suspicions with anyone besides DCI Lorne Michaels or myself.’
‘Understood. Then what’s the official story, here?’ the officer said without blinking an eye.
Even as he began to speak, Garth had an inspiration.
‘The deceased was Skinner’s accomplice. He was observed attempting to remove something from the scene of the original crime, was caught, tried to escape, and died by misadventure. The rest of the network the deceased and Archie Skinner belonged to are still at large, and at this time they are thought to have infiltrated or intimidated a number of persons whose names we are withholding because of the danger to themselves should their identities be made public.’
The scene-of-crime officer left with a puzzled expression on his face.