The fire started in the dead of night. It ate hungrily through the interior of the empty shop then spread to the houses either side of it. Terrified occupants leapt from their beds and ran out into the street. They hammered on the doors of neighbouring houses to wake people up. Panic spread quickly. The noise brought even more people dashing out through their front doors, horrified to see the flames. There was pandemonium. It was not long before the deafening clang of fire engines filled the air. Nobody heard the burglar alarm that was ringing away in a road nearby.

Two uniformed policemen were walking side by side on their beat when they became aware of the commotion. Breaking into a run, they turned a corner and saw two men in the gloom, leaving a bank at speed. The policemen tackled the robbers and tried to arrest them, but they came off worst. One of them was stabbed and the other was clubbed viciously to the ground. The bank robbers jumped into a waiting car and were whisked off at speed. The policemen lay on the pavement in pools of their own blood.

Harvey Marmion was summoned by the insistent ring of the telephone. Sensing an emergency, he scrambled out of bed and tried to wipe the sleep out of his eyes as he padded downstairs. When he picked up the receiver, he heard the voice of Claude Chatfield barking at him.

‘There’s a police car on the way to pick you up,’ he said.

‘Where am I going?’ asked Marmion.

‘It’s somewhere near Paddington Station. I’ll meet you there.’

‘What’s happened, sir?’

‘There’s been a bank robbery. Two policemen were on duty nearby and sought to arrest the burglars. One of our officers was stabbed to death and the other is still in a coma.’

‘What were their names?’

‘Does it matter?’

‘It matters a great deal to me,’ said Marmion with concern. ‘Sam Collard has a beat near Paddington Station, and I know for a fact that he’s working nights. He’s a close friend of mine.’

‘Then I’ve got bad news for you, Inspector. I’m afraid that Collard was the murder victim.’

The phone went dead. Marmion was too stunned to replace the receiver.

Prompt action by the fire brigade meant that the blaze at the houses either side of the empty shop was quickly brought under control. No other premises were affected. The families who had been forced to flee their homes were allowed back inside them, only to discover that the arrival of the fire engines had been a mixed blessing. In dousing the fire, the water had caused a lot of damage to their properties, smashing windows, soaking their walls, and drenching their furniture. Neighbours were quick to offer them help. When the flames were finally under control, the fire brigade started to clear up the mess in the empty shop, trying to work out how the fire had started in the first place.

Preoccupied with their own crises, nobody in the street realised that a murder had taken place less than a hundred yards away.

When the police car took him to the scene of the crime, Marmion found that Claude Chatfield was already there. The superintendent was trying to calm down the bank manager, Douglas Boucher, a short, red-faced, pompous individual with piggy eyes. Marmion was introduced to Boucher, but he was more interested in the fate of his friend.

‘What happened to Sam Collard?’ he asked.

‘An ambulance took the body off to the nearest hospital,’ said Chatfield. ‘Constable Lee was also taken. Collard was pronounced dead at the scene. Lee is in a coma but is expected to recover.’

‘I’d like to take on the job of speaking to Collard’s wife,’ volunteered Marmion. ‘It’s dreadful news to pass on, but I feel that it’s my duty.’

‘I understand,’ said Chatfield. ‘You are obviously the best person for the task.’

‘What about my bank?’ wailed Boucher. ‘That’s the major crime here.’

‘I disagree, sir.’

‘So do I,’ added Marmion. ‘One police officer was killed, and another was wounded. And they met their fates when they were trying to arrest some men who robbed your bank. You should be grateful that they acted so bravely.’

‘Well, yes,’ said Boucher, ‘I admire their courage, of course, but the fact remains that a substantial amount of money was stolen. I was fast asleep when the news was brought to me. Imagine how I felt when I got here and realised what had happened.’

Chatfield was blunt. ‘Inspector Marmion and I were also dragged out of our beds in the middle of the night, sir,’ he said. ‘So don’t expect sympathy from us on that account. You should be trying to work out exactly what did occur here.’

‘Isn’t it obvious? The bank has been robbed.’

‘Yet, when you arrived, there was no burglar alarm ringing.’

‘No,’ said Boucher. ‘It had been switched off.’

‘How did the robbers manage to do that?’ asked Marmion. ‘Burglar alarms, for obvious reasons, are usually very difficult to tamper with. When they entered the premises, it would have gone off immediately. How on earth did they silence it?’

‘It’s a question that only the people who installed the system could answer,’ said Boucher. ‘I’ll contact them as soon as their office opens.’

Marmion shook his head. ‘I doubt if the alarm was at fault, sir,’ he said. ‘May I ask if any of your employees have left the bank recently?’

Boucher was indignant. ‘You’re surely not suggesting that one of my clerks was involved.’

‘I’d like an answer to my question, please.’

‘Everyone who worked for me was thoroughly vetted beforehand.’

‘We’ve dealt with bank robberies before,’ said Chatfield.

‘Yes,’ added Marmion, ‘and an employee has been involved in every instance.’

‘Well, that’s certainly not the case here,’ insisted Boucher. ‘I can vouch for every single person that I employ.’

‘What about those who no longer work at your bank?’ asked Chatfield. ‘Can you vouch for them as well?’

Boucher fell silent.

After her visit to the hospital the previous evening, Alice Marmion had spent the night at the family home. She and her mother were now having an early breakfast so that Alice could get off to work in time. Ellen Marmion reached for the teapot.

‘Not for me, thank you,’ said Alice, raising a hand.

‘It’s cold outside. You need something to keep you warm.’

‘I’ve already got it. All I need to do is to remember Joe’s brother and my whole body is on fire. I’m surprised that steam doesn’t come out of my ears.’

‘Was Dennis that bad?’

‘Well, you’ve met him. He’s very bossy. Dennis thinks that he’s always right.’

‘It was very rude of him to stalk off like that.’

‘We were grateful that he left,’ said Alice. ‘It meant that Joe and I had some time together.’

‘That’s the best medicine Joe could have.’ They shared a laugh. ‘I hope that the sound of the police car didn’t wake you up in the middle of the night.’

‘I slept through it, Mummy.’

‘I wish that I could. I always know when your father is no longer in bed.’

‘I daresay that it will be the same when Joe and I are married. When Daddy is contacted during the night in the future, he’ll wait for the police car then drive to our house to pick Joe up. Isn’t that a lovely thing to say?’ she added with a giggle. ‘Our house, I mean. It’s only a matter of weeks to go and we’ll be moving into a place of our own.’

‘It will be a lovely moment, Alice.’

‘The whole occasion will be wonderful.’

‘I’m not so sure about that,’ said Ellen. ‘Your father and I will be as delighted as you and Joe, but Dennis will be there as well. He’ll be glowering away, I daresay.’

‘We had to ask him and his wife. He’s family.’

‘I know and he has a right to be at his brother’s wedding – though Joe was determined not to have Dennis as his Best Man.’

‘That would have been a disaster – in every sense.’

Ellen stifled a laugh. ‘I hate to say this,’ she admitted, ‘but Dennis does have a point. If Joe does move in here, the word will soon spread. You and he will be under the same roof most evenings. People have suspicious...