Free Peril on the Royal Train by Edward Marston

‘Or don’t you go into such detail?’
    ‘Indeed, we do.’
    ‘Then I’d be grateful if you could check through the list.’
    ‘That’s what I’m doing, Sergeant,’ said Mudie, going slowly from one name to another. ‘I can’t see any link at the moment. I wish that I could. Ah – wait a moment,’ he added, tapping the page. ‘This looks promising.’
    ‘Go on.’
    ‘There
is
a connection, after all.’
    ‘Who is it with?’
    ‘Jock Laidlaw – he was assaulted by another driver some weeks ago and the attacker was dismissed on the spot. Superintendent McTurk was a witness to the assault.’
    ‘Yes,’ said Leeming through gritted teeth, ‘we’ve met the superintendent.’
    ‘He’d be able to tell you more about the incident.’
    ‘What was the name of the other man?’
    ‘Lackey Paterson.’
    ‘Do you have an address for him?’
    ‘I can give you his last known address, Sergeant.’
    ‘Thank you,’ said Leeming. ‘You’ve been very helpful. We need to eliminate this fellow from our enquiries. If I can’t track down Paterson, I’d like the names of employees who might have worked with him and who knew Jock Laidlaw as well. With respect to your ledger, Mr Mudie, it merely records the bare facts. I suspect that there was more to the assault on Laidlaw than appears there. Now, could I have that address, please?’
    ‘You can have more than that,’ said Mudie with a nervous laugh. ‘I’ll take you there. Glasgow is a rabbit warren. You’d never find your way around alone.’
     
     
    While work to clear the crash site continued in earnest, Robert Colbeck explored the immediate surroundings. Armed with an ordnance survey map, he started at the point immediately above the point of collision and walked due east. What he was looking for was the likely route taken by anyone coming to cause an explosion. A nearby copse offered possible cover and he first investigated that, picking his way through the trees and searching the ground as he did so. It was slow and laborious work but it eventually yielded a dividend. In the shade of a pine tree, he found a depression in the grass that suggested something had been stored there for a while. When he knelt down to examine the flattened-out area, he saw a telltale trickle of powder. Whoever had blocked the line had first hidden small barrels of gunpowder in the copse. He could still see their circular bases described in the grass.
    It would have taken no more than five minutes to carry the gunpowder to the edge of the rock that overlooked the line. Colbeck had the feeling that more than one person was involved. To avoid any chance of being seen, they could have stored the gunpowder in place during the night then set off the blast shortly before the goods train was due to arrive. A loud boom from the quarry echoed across the whole area and told him that stone was being harvested for a less lethal purpose. After covering every inch of the copse, Colbeck stepped out into the sunshine and gazed around. Sheep could be seen grazing in the distance but there was no sign of any human beings. Yet he felt somehow that he was being watched. It was an odd sensation.
    In his top hat and frock coat, he was an incongruous figure in a rural landscape and might be expected to attract attention. Nobody, however, was in sight. Though he looked in every direction, he failed even to get a glimpse of someone. He recalled the earlier occasion when he felt that he was under surveillance by a figure high above him on the hill. That person – if he were ever there – had melted into invisibility. There were many places to hide ahead of Colbeck. The rolling countryside created dips and hollows where a person could easily be concealed. He walked towards them, expecting that, at any moment, someone would pop up into view. But it never happened. He was utterly alone.
    Yet the further he went, the more convinced he became that a pair of eyes was on him. The observation did not feel