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Brebner, Percy James, 1864-1922

"Being Some Further Investigations of Christopher Quarles"

Little did I
guess how soon I was to climb those stairs again.
Next morning I was conscious that the night off, although not spent
exactly as I had intended, had done me good. Some knotty points in a case
I was engaged upon had begun to unravel themselves in my mind, and I
reached the office early to find that the chief was already there and
wanted to see me.
"Here is a case you must look after at once, Wigan," he said, passing me
the report of the murder of a man named Parrish, in Gray's Inn.
Now, one of the essentials in my profession is the ability to put the
finger on the small mistakes a criminal makes when he endeavors to cover
up his tracks. I suppose nine cases out of ten are solved in this way,
and more often than not the thing left undone, unthought of, is the very
one, you would imagine, which the criminal would have thought of first. I
fancy the reason lies in the fact that the criminal does not believe he
will be suspected. I said nothing to my chief about my visit to Gray's
Inn last night. Experience has shown me the wisdom of a still tongue, and
knowledge I have picked up casually has often led to a solution which has
startled the Yard.


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