It was five o’clock in the morning, and Detective Inspector Mike Burden was standing by the window of Chief Inspector Wexford’s office. Outside in the corridor11, Burden could hear Wexford saying good night – or good morning – to Mr Griswold, the Chief Constable. Minutes later, he saw Griswold’s car drive away.
Burden turned round when Wexford came into the room. The Chief Inspector was a big, powerful-looking man with a loud voice. He was tired and his heavy grey face looked a little greyer than usual after the long night.
‘Griswold’s just given me this,’ said Wexford, sitting down in a chair. He showed Burden an envelope. ‘It’s a letter he received from the Reverend Archery.’ Then Wexford took a letter from the envelope and unfolded it. ‘All Griswold told me was that this Archery is a good friend of his, and the letter is about “that terrible man Painter”. I’ll have to answer it.’
‘Who’s Painter?’ asked Burden.