Five Dead Canaries by Edward Marston

women but their support was offset by the hostility of a superior officer.
    Meeting her in a corridor, Inspector Thelma Gale pounced on Alice.
    ‘There you are,’ she said, ‘dawdling as usual.’
    ‘I’m taking this report to Sergeant Reeves,’ explained Alice, holding up some sheets of paper. ‘She wants it urgently.’
    ‘“Urgency” is not exactly your watchword, is it?’
    ‘What do you mean, Inspector?’
    ‘I mean that you trudge instead of walking briskly. I mean that you’re slow of mind and even slower of body.’
    ‘That’s unfair,’ said Alice, smarting at the reproof.
    ‘I’m not the only one who’s noticed. Others have complained as well.’
    Alice knew that it was untrue but she was in no position to argue. The more she defended herself against the inspector, the harder she’d be slapped down. Thelma Gale was a stout woman in her forties with short hair and a flat, plain face twisted into an expression of permanent disapproval. Her natural authority was enhanced by the smartness of her uniform. She was a formidable character in every way and few people got the better of her in argument.
    She tapped Alice’s shoulder. ‘What did I tell you?’
    ‘You’ve told me a vast number of things, Inspector.’
    ‘This concerned your father.’
    ‘Oh, that – yes, I remember.’
    ‘I warned you not to trade on the fact that you’re the daughter of Detective Inspector Marmion. Admirable as his achievements have been, they don’t entitle you to any preferential treatment.’
    ‘I neither expected nor sought it.’
    ‘And don’t you dare go running to Daddy with complaints about cruel Inspector Gale,’ said the other, wagging a finger, ‘because it will have no effect. I don’t answer to your father. I rule the roost here. Is that clear?’
    ‘You’ve made it abundantly clear, Inspector.’
    ‘Try to do
your
job properly for once and let your father get on with his. He obviously has his hands full at the moment.’
    ‘Yes, he does.’
    ‘Five young women blown to pieces – it’s an appalling crime. Theywere already risking their lives and ruining their looks by working in that munitions factory. I regard them as unsung heroines.’
    ‘So do I, Inspector.’
    Thelma leant in closer to her. ‘What has your father said about the case?’
    ‘He hasn’t discussed it with me.’
    ‘Inspector Marmion must have said
something
.’
    ‘When he comes through the door at home, he leaves his work outside. My mother appreciates that. Besides,’ Alice went on, ‘I don’t live there any more. I have a flat of my own.’
    ‘But you’re also engaged to Sergeant Keedy. What has
he
told you?’
    ‘Nothing at all.’
    ‘Come now – you must have wheedled something out of him.’
    ‘It’s not my place to do so, Inspector.’
    Alice’s face was expressionless under the searching stare of the other woman. To admit that she had taken an interest in the case would have been foolish. It would have unleashed a torrent of denunciation from the inspector, accusing her of trying to get involved in something that was totally outside her remit as a police officer. Behind the censure would be a deep envy. Thelma Gale would be suffused with jealousy at the notion that a junior member of her force was engaged, even tangentially, in such an important investigation. Alice got an even harder tap on the shoulder.
    ‘Get about your business,’ said Thelma, ‘and be sharp about it.’
    ‘Yes, Inspector,’ replied Alice. ‘Do excuse me. Please.’
    Stepping past the older woman, she strode along the corridor and turned a corner, gasping with relief. The first thing she saw was one of her colleagues coming in through the main door and letting in a blast of cold air as she did so.
    ‘It’s so windy today,’ said the woman, straightening her hair.
    ‘Yes,’ agreed Alice. ‘Gale force.’

    Marmion had no difficulty in finding Royston Liddle. He lived with his widowed mother only two streets away from