Extras

The Paddington Briefcase, 1988

A case from Edmund Hale's past

London, November 1988. Detective Sergeant Edmund Hale, thirty-three years old and wet through, is standing under the clock at Paddington station. Twenty minutes ago a civil servant put down his briefcase to buy a newspaper, and when he turned round it was gone. It contained nothing of interest, he insists. The Ministry insists rather more loudly. Sixteen people were waiting under the departures board. One of them has the case.

Statements

1. The porter was sure of one thing. "Not a black raincoat. Half of Paddington wears one, and I'd have looked straight past it."

   Hale's readingThe thief was not wearing a black raincoat.

2. The civil servant had bought the last Guardian on the stall. "I'd have seen another one," he says. "Nobody near me had one, I'm sure of it."

   Hale's readingThe thief was not carrying The Guardian.

3. The Swindon train had pulled out ten minutes before the case went missing.

   Hale's readingThe thief was not waiting for the Swindon train.

4. "Two briefcases would have been noticed," says Hale. "Our thief walked in with something else, or with nothing."

   Hale's readingThe thief was not carrying a briefcase of their own.

5. The flower seller by the clock saw the thief hurry past. "Not grey. I'd have remembered grey on a day like that; the whole station was grey."

   Hale's readingThe thief was not wearing a grey mac.