Chapter Four
W ithin the confines of Scotland Yard a conference was in progress. It was by way of being an informal conference.
Six or seven men were sitting easily around a table and each of those six men was a man of some importance in hisown line. The subject that occupied the attention of these guardians¹ of the law was a subject that had grown terrificallyin importance during the last two or three years. It concerned a branch of crime whose success had beenoverwhelmingly disquieting². Robbery on a big scale was increasing. Bank holdups, snatches of payrolls⁴, thefts ofconsignments of jewels sent through the mail, train robberies. Hardly a month passed but some daring and stupendouscoup was attempted and brought off successfully.
Sir Ronald Graves, Assistant Commissioner⁵ of Scotland Yard, was presiding at the head of the table. According tohis usual custom he did more listening than talking. No formal reports were being presented on this occasion. All thatbelonged to the ordinary routine of CID work. This was a high level consultation⁶, a general pooling of ideas betweenmen looking at affairs from slightly different points of view. Sir Ronald Graves’ eyes went slowly round his littlegroup, then he nodded his head to a man at the end of the table.
“Well, Father,” he said, “let’s hear a few homely⁷ wisecracks from you.”
The man addressed as “Father” was Chief-Inspector⁸ Fred Davy. His retirement⁹ lay not long ahead and he appearedto be even more elderly than he was. Hence his nickname of “Father.” He had a comfortable spreading presence, andsuch a benign¹⁰ and

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