The Railway Detective Collection: The Railway Detective, the Excursion Train, the Railway Viaduct (The Railway Detective Series) Read Free

Colbeck with concern.
    ‘Only the driver, it seems. He was foolish enough to offer resistance and suffered for his bravery. The fellow is in a sorry state.’
    ‘Poor man!’
    ‘Save your sympathy for me, Inspector,’ said Tallis, ruefully. ‘All hell broke loose when word of the crime reached London. I’ve been hounded by the commissioners, harried by the railway company, hunted by the Post Office and badgered by the Royal Mint.’
    Colbeck smiled. ‘I thought I caught a whiff of cigar smoke.’
    ‘Anybody would think that I was the culprit.’
    ‘Only a bold man would ever accuse you of breaking the law, sir.’
    Tallis bristled. ‘Are you being facetious, Inspector?’
    ‘Of course not.’
    ‘I’ll brook no disrespect.’
    ‘I appreciate that, sir.’
    Tallis glared at him. The Superintendent was a stout, red-faced, robust man in his fifties with a military background that had deprived him of his sense of humour and given him, in return, a habit of command, a conviction that he always made the right decisions and a small scar on his right cheek.Tallis had a shock of grey hair and a neat moustache that he was inclined to caress in quieter moments. A lifelong bachelor, he had no family commitments to deflect him from his work in the Detective Department of the Metropolitan Police Force.
    ‘This is no time for drollery,’ he warned.
    ‘I was merely making an observation, Superintendent.’
    ‘Keep such observations to yourself in future.’
    Colbeck bit back a reply. There was an unresolved tension between the two men that came to the surface whenever they were alone together, and the Inspector had learnt to rein in his urge to provoke Tallis. The Superintendent had a violent temper when roused. Colbeck had been at the mercy of it once too often. He probed for information.
    ‘What exactly happened, sir?’ he asked, politely.
    ‘That is what I’m endeavouring to tell you.’
    ‘I’m all ears.’
    Clasping his hands together, the Superintendent recited the salient details of the case, stressing the importance of prompt action by Scotland Yard. Colbeck listened carefully to the account. Several questions raised themselves and he put the obvious one to Tallis.
    ‘How did they know that the train was carrying so much money?’
    ‘That’s for you to find out, Inspector.’
    ‘They must have had help from an insider.’
    ‘Track him down.’
    ‘We will, sir,’ promised Colbeck. ‘What interests me is that the locomotive was forced off the tracks and badly damaged.’
    ‘It will be out of service for weeks, I’m told.’
    ‘Why on earth did they do such a thing? I mean, the ganghad got what they wanted from the train. There was no need to derail the engine like that. What was the intention?’
    ‘Ask them when you catch up with them.’
    ‘The other thing that worries me,’ said Colbeck, reflectively, ‘is the ease with which the security arrangements were breached. The money was loaded in boxes that were locked inside Chubb safes. I read an article about those safes when they were installed. They were reckoned to be impregnable.’
    ‘Two keys are needed to open them.’
    ‘As well as a combination number, Superintendent.’
    ‘Only one key was carried on the train,’ noted Tallis. ‘The other was in the possession of the bank to whom the money was being sent.’
    ‘Yet, according to you,’ Colbeck pointed out, ‘the safes were opened and emptied within a matter of minutes. That could only be done with a duplicate key and foreknowledge of the combination number. There’s collusion at work here.’
    Tallis heaved a sigh. ‘This robbery was extremely well-planned, Inspector. I deplore what was done but I have to admire the skill of the operation. We’ve never had to deal with anything on this scale before. That’s why we must solve this crime quickly and bring the malefactors to justice,’ he went on, banging a fist on the desk in exasperation. ‘If they are seen to get away with