Chapter 14 Day 4, Friday

The paper carried the story, and at Luke Skinner's request, it was placed on a better section: the second story on the front page.The reporter came up with a good headline for the article: "Police Interrogation: Mysterious Lame Man - Who Is He?" .This is similar to the bulletins issued by hospitals, which often describe people in extreme pain as quite "comfortable", when in fact the opposite is notoriously the case. The reporter described the victim in detail, his height, build, short gray hair, and apparent limp, before closing with a question in bold capital letters: "Has anyone seen this lame man?" Sergeant Skinner Grab a newspaper and take it to the cafeteria for breakfast.He is quite satisfied with the content of the report.A small sidebar mentions that the suspect's detention has been renewed and extended for twenty-four hours.

At eleven o'clock Price and Cornish took the van to the identification place on St Anne's Road.Burns, Skinner and Mr. Patel also arrived later.Two queues were arranged for identification, each with a suspect and eight similar-looking people.Because of Price's nose injury, eight others in his line also had plaster casts on the bridge of their noses. Mr. Patel didn't hesitate.Within twenty minutes, he successfully identified those two people and reconfirmed that he was willing to testify in court for his testimony.Burns was delighted.Neither gangster saw him, nor was he part of a gang, and if all went well, Mr Patel would not be intimidated.

They drove Patel back to his small shop.The volunteers got paid and left.Price and Cornish were back in cells.Burns plans to file formal charges against them when he returns. Burns and Skinner had just entered the police station to arrange the prosecution when a duty sergeant at the front desk stopped them. "Jack, someone called you." He glanced at his notebook. "Miss Armitage, a florist." Burns was confused.He has not ordered flowers.But then again, wife Jenny is coming back in a week.A bouquet of flowers would help add romance.good idea. "It's about a lame man," said the sheriff.

Burns picked up the address and returned to the car with Skinner. Miss Armitage also had a twin sister.They opened a small flower shop on the upper high street. Half of the products are displayed in the store, and the other half are displayed on the sidewalk outside, facing the endless river of cars going to Highbury in the south or the industrial area in the north. , bearing the car exhaust that rolls over like waves. "Perhaps it was the man," said Miss Verity Armitage. "He seemed to fit the description. You said it was Tuesday morning, didn't you?" Inspector Burns confirmed with her that Tuesday morning was correct.

"The man bought a bouquet of flowers. Not a very expensive kind, in fact, about the cheapest flowers in the store. Six chrysanthemums. He didn't have much money from the looks of him, and he was a poor fellow. Now The papers said he was wounded." "Very wounded, miss. He can't speak and is in a coma. How did he pay for it?" "Oh, he paid in cash." "Is it a coin? From a trouser pocket?" "No. He produced a five-pound note. From a purse. I remember he dropped it on the floor, and I picked it up for him, because he's not so good on his feet."

"What kind of wallet is it?" "Cheap, plastic, black. Then I gave it back to him." "Did you see where he put his wallet?" "In his pocket. Jacket pocket. Inside pocket." "Can you show me the chrysanthemum?" They returned to the canteen of the Dover Street Police Station for lunch.Burns looked somber with disappointment.Credit cards leave a record: name, but also address or bank account number from the credit card company.But the cash... "What would you do with a bouquet of flowers one afternoon in August?" he asked Skinner.

"Dedicate flowers to girlfriend? To mother?" Both pushed their plates aside and frowned at their teacups. "gentlemen?" It was a timid call from across the long dining table, uttered by a very young female police officer just out of training school.Jack Burns looked across the table. "Ok?" "I have an idea. Are you talking about the lame man?" "Yes. I was in need of a good idea. What do you think?" She blushed.Young rookies usually don't interrupt senior detectives. "Sir, if he's in that place, it's the road and bus station five hundred yards ahead. And five hundred yards behind him, there's a cemetery."

Burns put down the teacup in his hand. "What do you do now?" he asked the girl. "File classification, sir." "That can be saved for later. Let's go to the cemetery. Come on." As always, Skinner drove.The local policewoman showed the way.It was a large cemetery, lined with hundreds of graves.The cemetery is owned by the local municipality, but is poorly managed.They started from a corner and inspected rows of tombstones one by one.After about an hour, the girl found it first. Of course, the flowers have faded, but they are indeed French chrysanthemums, drowning in a pool of sewage.The tombstone shows that the remains of Mavis Joan Hall were buried inside.It is also marked with the year of birth and death, the date and the words "rest in peace".The deceased was an old woman who was seventy years old when she died, and twenty years have now passed.

"See her date of birth. August, 1906. Her birthday was last Tuesday." "But what was she to do with the lame man?" "Perhaps it was his mother." "Possibly. Then he might be named Hall," said Burns. On their way back, they stopped as they passed Armitage's flower shop.Miss Verity Armitage confirmed that the chrysanthemums should have been bought from her shop.Back at Dover Police Station, Skinner contacted the Bureau of Missing Persons and asked to locate someone surnamed Hall.There were three missing Halls, but two of them were women and the other was a child.

"Somebody must know about this guy. But why hasn't he been reported missing?" Burns said angrily.The setbacks are now one after another. The smart and beautiful policewoman is back in the file room.Burns and Skinner went to Price and Cornish's cell.The two gangsters have been formally charged with maliciously wounding an unidentified adult man.At a quarter to four two policemen set off for Highbury Kearney Court.The Registrar of the court had worked hard to get the case scheduled at the last minute.This time, the two gangsters will not return to Dover Street.According to Burns, they should be put in a real prison after a week of remand.Most likely Pentonville Jail.

Things have changed in the courthouse.This time they were placed in courtroom one, with the dock in the center, facing the bench, rather than in a corner.The magistrate this time was Jonathan Stein, a salaried judge with a lot of experience and practiced cases. Price and Cornish arrived again in a police van, but another van marked "HM Prison Service" was waiting to take them to prison.Mr. Lou Slade sat at the table facing the judges' bench, while at the Public Prosecutions a young lawyer was to lodge an application for remand. Years ago, the police acted as prosecutors in local courts, and many old-fashioned people liked it that way.But then, from the initial court appearance to the final trial, all prosecution matters were transferred to the unified public prosecution body: the Crown Prosecution Service.One of their jobs is to assess whether a case prepared by the police has a realistic chance of conviction before a judge and jury.If the prosecutor's office does not approve, the case will be withdrawn.There have been more than one disgruntled detective whose case has been withdrawn after hard work and painstaking efforts to put the real culprits in the dock, hence the acronym CPS of the Crown Prosecution Service. Nicknamed "Criminal Protection Service".The relationship between the two sides has not always been good. One of the big problems with the Crown Prosecution Service is that it is underfunded, oversized and underpaid.Predictably, the institution is sometimes used as a mere stepping stone, with young and inexperienced first-timers jumping to private law firms to earn a fortune after a stint there. Prosecutor Miss Prabani Sunderland is smart and beautiful, the jewel in the heart of her Sri Lankan-born parents.It is also her first time to take over a major case, but this case should not be a problem. Remand will be a formality.Judge Mr Stein will not grant parole to Price and Cornish.Both of them have such a horrendous history of violence that Judge Stein has now brought them before him.Remands are only available for one week, so there will be several more remands until the defense is selected, prepared and ready.Then there is the process of imprisonment. After all the evidence of the charges is submitted, the magistrate will send the two gangsters to the criminal court, where the judge and jury will attend the trial.At that point, Miss Sunderland will assist an experienced lawyer selected by the Public Prosecution Service - even the Crown Counsel - in doing everything possible to convict the suspect.All she had to do was put on a show.It's a program, just a program. After Judge Stein nodded, Sunderland stood up, looked at his notes, and briefly laid out the charges.Defense lawyer Slade stood up. "My client denies the allegations and will be prepared to enter a full defense at that time," he said. "We ask for a week's remand in custody, Judge," said Miss Sunderland. "Mr. Slade?" The magistrate was asking whether Mr. Slade intended to bail.Slade shook his head.Judge Stein sneered. "Very well. Remand for a week. I'll..." He glanced at the two lawyers over his half-moon spectacles, "and hear from you again next Friday morning." It was understood throughout the courtroom that he meant that he would hear and agree to remand in custody for another week, and so on, until both the prosecution and the defense were ready to go to criminal court. Price and Cornish, still handcuffed but now being held by prison guards, headed in the direction of Pentonville Jail.Mr. Slade is back in his office and should have an answer to his mutual legal assistance application by Monday morning.His client had no property to pay for his defense, and he had to find a lawyer from one of four law schools in London who could take the case for a very low fee. He already had a few candidates in mind, and the case would be considered by the registrars of great powers, but it was also possible that he would go to a novice who had just qualified and needed experience, or an old professional who wanted to make some money.It doesn't matter.In a society where violent crime is on the rise, a serious personal injury case doesn't make too many waves. Jack Burns is back in Dover Street.His desk was full of files and files.He still has a lot to do in order to keep the work from getting backlogged.He still has some questions to settle about the lame man's case.